The employees of Cerritos College were all smiles after an easy 8-4 defeat against the students of the school in a kickball game on April 19.
Flyers were put up, infographics were made and emails were sent out to as many people as possible to inform them of the college’s first employee vs student kickball game.
Director of ICC, Corey Gutirrez, put this event together in hopes of a fun day that included everyone and not just the students.
“It was so I could get everyone involved like not have just students,” Gutierrez said.
The day started at noon when people came to check in to the event via the Cerritos College app and the first 100 people received free food.
The Steamin’ Burger provided multiple burger options as well as gave out fries and a drink to those who earned a meal ticket.
Employees and students gathered around the Nancy Kelly softball field to have lunch together and get some pregame activities going.
The tailgating included playing games such as corn hole, Jenga and ax throwing.
Many staff and students hung out and got to know each other before the game started.
The students decided to take the field first to get some practice in and by doing so, many made new friends.
The employees followed them and got to work on their approaches and game plan.
Tyler Moran, who works in the Equity Center, like many others received an email and decided to join in on the fun.
She said the best part of the game was, “Meeting everybody and being able to come together and have a good day, have a good game and have fun.”
Soon after around 2 p.m., the teams lined up on the field by their respective dugouts to stand for the national anthem.
Gutierrez then invited the two team captains up for a coin toss to determine who would be the home team and the students were the decided home team.
The game then began and both teams failed to score until the employees got it started in the second inning where they scored six runs.
The students lacked on the defensive side and when it was their turn to kick, the employees were able to shut them down.
It wasn’t until the third inning that the student team was able to score four runs.
With fans and dugouts cheering loudly for their teams, the game went by rather quickly as it lasted four innings.
The employees were able to add a pair of runs to their lead to secure the win over the students.
When the employees recorded the last out they raised their arms in satisfaction and went around cheering while giving each other high fives.
Since the student team had so many players there were a few students who didn’t get to kick, so there was an exhibition round just for fun after the employees claimed victory.
Richard Carlos, welding major, said he was informed by his friends about the event and he decided to play since he’s always on campus and thought this would be a perfect chance to have some fun while getting to know new people.
“The best moment was just everyone having fun and catching a few of the balls and scoring two points,” Carlos said.
From another perspective, Theater Arts instructor, Forrest Hartl, said the best moment was hoisting the trophy over the students in victory.
Gutierrez thought there was a pretty great turnout and he would consider doing another event like this again in the future.
