The last Saturday of the Preseason saw the second edition of the “Memorial Levantini” take place.
After two years due to a pandemic, the Kennedy diamond returned to remember the unforgettable first president of Lampi Milano as well as one of the most generous and talented players in baseball for the blind.
On a splendid day with late spring temperatures, the speeches of Alessandro Selmi (President of Milan 1946), Alberto Mazzanti (President of AIBXC and LIBCI) and Jean Zucca (President of the FIBS Lombardia Regional Committee) opened the event program, with the coordination of the exceptional speaker Maurizio Scarso, supported by journalists expert in Paralympic sports Claudio Arrigoni (“La Gazzetta dello Sport”) and Lorenzo Roata (RaiSport). At the end of a minute of silence with the teams lined up, the unforgettable number 20 of the Lampi was remembered with a very suggestive ceremony, through the launch of a series of white-blue balloons with the words “Il Leva 20”.
The two Milanese teams faced each other in a match of only 5 innings with Emanuele Monti (President of the Health and Social Policy Commission of the Lombardy Region) who delivered the first ball to the lead off of Thunder’s Five Milano Radouane El Hachimi. A thrilling and tight game as per tradition, with the two teams fighting no holds barred between never domi senators and new faces in search of a place in the spotlight. The blight of winter made itself felt with a few misses on second base and a few running mistakes. Thunder’s ahead in the upper part of the third inning with Nesossi, but Capitan Comi and his teammates overturned the result in the lower part of the fourth round. Definitive 2 to 2 put on the scoresheet by the team of President Dragotto, with the stainless Dedaj pushed home by the evergreen Cusati at the beginning of the fifth inning without the opponents being able to respond in the same second half.
The approximately 200 spectators were able to enjoy a pleasant show overall with the Thunder’s attack always formidable and the Lampi defense running in but already dragged by an Allegretta in Championship form.
This was followed by a mixed-rank match with 6 girls from the Under 18 of Milan 1946 Softball, who were equally divided into two teams together with the visually impaired and blind athletes. Some players of the Milan 1946 first baseball team have tried their hand at beating the flippers, guiding the blindfolded girls and the athletes on the bases.
The first ball of the meeting was given to Giuseppe Allegretta by Prof. Raffaella D’Amore, Headmaster of the Institute of Higher Education “Marie Curie – Piero Sraffa”.
At the end of the two matches, the award ceremony took place, with speeches by the presidents of the Milanese teams of BXC Allegretta and Dragotto who, together with President Selmi, reaffirmed the importance of the “Baseball for all” project, for which it was recently launched a fundraiser to which you can contribute by donating through the following link: https://gofund.me/95e67965
Added to these were the interventions by Adriano Chiesa (manager of the Thunder’s Five Milan and one of the first promoters of the project), Silvia Fossati (President of Municipality 7 of the Municipality of Milan), Alberto Piovani (President of UICI Milan), Pierangelo Santelli (President CIP Lombardia) and Adele Patrini (Lombardy FIBS Regional Councilor delegated for Paralympic sport).
The ceremony ended with the words of Francesco Levantini (Claudio’s brother), in the hope that the dream of the first baseball field for the blind could soon become reality.
At the following link you can see the report made on the memorial by TGR RAI Lombardia:
