Learning while helping Sox
Putting a first-year baseball franchise together extends well beyond the on-field product.
The off-field personnel are every bit as critical.
"You need a lot of people to do a lot of different things," Butler BlueSox owner Leo Trich said. "We've advertised on our Website for summer interns and we've picked up a number of them.
"Some people were recommended to us by Slippery Rock University, others called us looking for an internship and some saw the website and inquired about it."
A few of the interns are former Butler County athletes. Former Butler High girls basketball standout Amy Achesinski, now starring on the court at Mercyhurst, is among them.
Former Karns City football, basketball and track standout Steve Black, now a marketing major at Penn State, will intern with the BlueSox. So will Dallas O'Donnell, a former Butler pitcher now majoring in sports management at SRU.
"Part of my studies are to do volunteer hours and the BlueSox are close to home for me," O'Donnell said. "I came to the team's open house in March and everything worked out.
"Right now, we're trying to sell season tickets and tickets to groups. We're going around to local businesses, putting flyers and schedules in windows, letting people know the BlueSox are here."
Black said he's always been interested in the sports business and working with people.
He was going to seek an internship in Pittsburgh or with the Class AA minor league Altoona Curve before the BlueSox came into existence."This is much closer and I'll be involved in a lot of areas with the team," Black said. "I'll be spending two or three days a week in the office, selling tickets, dealing with local advertisers, helping out with on-field activities. ... This is really going to be beneficial."BethAnn Zangrilli is a public relations major at SRU who had planned to intern with the Altoona Curvce. Her brother, Dan, is the broadcaster for the Curve."He told me there were Prospect League teams forming in Slippery Rock and Butler and I should check them out," Zangrilli said. "Everything worked out and now I'm designing the (BlueSox) program."I'll help with game-day events and selling tickets, too, but the program design is invaluable experience for my major."Zangrilli thought of minoring in sports management, but decided to devote full energy to public relations.She ran cross country, played basketball and softball at Keystone Oaks High School.Monica O'Donnell is a Butler graduate majoring in marketing at Penn State. She played two years of lacrosse in high school."I'll be doing press releases and I'm writing stuff for the Website," she said. "The game-day events will be fun."I'm thinking about going into law school after I graduate and hadn't really considered sports marketing as a career before. I'm anxious to see what this is like and whether I may want to consider a sports team for my future."
Achesinski, a marketing and advertising major at Mercyhurst, also remains open as to her life's work."I may go into sales, marketing, advertising, public relations, I haven't decided at this point," she said. "This summer will give me a better idea of what I want to do with the rest of my life."Achesinski had contacted NexTier Bank for a possible internship, but none were available."They are the main sponsor for the BlueSox and directed me there, where internships were available," she said. "I'm going to be involved working in a lot of different areas with the team, which will be awesome."Zach Pennington of Lyndora, now attending California (Pa.) University, is another summer intern with the BlueSox.Slippery Rock High School graduate Craig Bicehouse, a former soccer player there, now attends Grove City College and is one of three college students hired to work game-day activities.
