E-Twins off and running… Sellout crowd takes in 2019 season opener
Published 6:00 am Thursday, June 20, 2019
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Northeast Community Credit Union President/CEO Teresa Arnold throws out a first pitch in Tuesday's Elizabethton Twin home opener in the ballpark that now bears NCCU's name.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton Mayor Curt Alexander cuts the ribbon along with members of the Elizabethton City Council to signify the grand opening of the $2.3 million Elizabethton Twins Clubhouse.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
Boyd Sports and new general manager Brice Ballentine couldn’t have been more thrilled than they were on Tuesday night when the 2019 edition of the Elizabethton Twins started their march toward a third consecutive Appalachian League Crown.
With an announced crowd of 1,459 an only maybe a spot or two open to sit in, the Elizabethton Twins picked up where they left off in 2018 by winning 3-2 in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the ninth on Tyler Webb’s huge two-run double.
Where to park
One of the biggest questions that may have to be addressed as the season progresses and especially if attendance remains steady is fan parking.
At 6 pm, there was minimal parking with only a space or two available.
Granted that Ballentine and his team love having to deal with that issue right out of the gate is something that they relish because a full parking lot means full seats.
A pleased city council
It didn’t take long to see how proud that the Elizabethton City Council as well as City Parks and Recreation Director Mike Mains were after the long road that had to be taken to ensure that the Twins would be back in Elizabethton.
With the ribbon cut Tuesday night signifying that the new 2.3 million dollar clubhouse renovation was completed and opened plus seeing all the people in the stands had to reassure the city council their decision was the right one to make.
An energetic crowd
One could tell from the start that the crowd was glad to see another season get underway at Northeast Community Credit Union Ballpark.
The crowd had a wide range of fans present from infants up to those in the golden years and they had one thing and one thing only in mind and that was to see an E-Twin victory.
While passing throughout the ballpark, the one thing that rang out constantly was how fans couldn’t get over the large turnout.
Several long-time fans even were commenting that they had never seen a crowd as large as the one that attended Tuesday evening’s contest.
From cowbells to verbal prodding, the visiting Bluefield Blue Jays were hounding from start to finish as most of the 500 lucky fans donned their new championship back-to-back t-shirts that given out as the fans entered.
Beer not an issue
With many concerns coming into the new season surrounding the sale of alcohol, fans had to be pleasantly surprised by how smoothly everything around the issue worked out both for the fans and Boyd Sports.
Most all of the concession stands worked at a brisk pace from start to finish making sure the fans had all the ballpark foods and beverages they could handle from hotdogs, pizza, tacos and nachos to Dippin’ Dots and pretzels.
The sky is the limit
With the hard work being put in by Kassi Butcher and the Elizabethton Twins marketing team, this could turn out to be one of the most successful ones that the Twins have experienced from crowd turnout to concession sells.
From all indications Tuesday, Ray Smith and his coaching staff and the team looked prime to make it a three-peat as Appy League champions as well.
