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WingSwept employee throws first pitch at Mudcats game

By Dave Thomas
Citizen Journalist

There aren’t many baseball fans that would turn down the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a baseball game. Sure, most might not fight for the chance to sing the national anthem, even though they couldn’t possibly do worse than Roseanne Barr at a San Diego Padres game in July 1990.

Tim Lage, senior account executive at WingSwept Technologies, throws the first pitch at a Mudcats game Saturday, July 18. Lage beat out other coworkers during a competition earlier this month. DAVE THOMAS, GCNT

And even though some first pitches go horribly wrong for public figures at Major League games (examples: Mariah Carey or Cincinnati mayor Mark Mallory), fans remain confident that they could step in front of thousands of fans and deliver the heat.

A Garner employee got the chance to attempt to do just that. Tim Lage, senior account executive at WingSwept Technologies (an IT consulting firm based in Garner) beat out 11 other employees at a staff pitching competition earlier this month for the chance to throw out the first pitch at the Carolina Mudcats game Saturday July, 18.

See more pictures from the Mudcats game »

The competition, the brainchild of community relations director and current N.C. State University undergrad Lauren Rhodes, was a bullpen session for WingSwept’s annual mid-summer throwdown: a buffet dinner and tickets to the game in the air-conditioned luxury box at Cattails Restaurant, overlooking the first base line at Five County Stadium in Zebulon.

“We do two larger-scale events each year: this and [a] Christmas party,” said WingSwept president Jay Strickland. “We also do monthly events, like go-karting and bowling, but we make sure to do those during the day as not to take away from family time.”

At the competition, each participant had five pitches to throw as many accurate heaters as they could. Lage threw three to five of his pitches over the plate for strikes, clocked at a blazing 61 mph to win the competition. One spectator at the competition swore he saw a smoke trail as one pitch left Lage’s hand.

“Surprisingly, I’m not nervous,” Lage said moments before taking the field July 18. “I’m not going to throw it hard; I’m just going to go out there and put it over the plate.”

And with his coworkers and their families cheering him on from above, Lage confidently strode out to the mound (or, rather, the area in front of the mound – pitchers are extremely superstitious, even in the Minors) and delivered a strike. Sure, Albert Pujols, first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, wouldn’t have had any trouble crushing it into the next time zone, but it was still a strike.

The company party gave Lage a raucous ovation upon his return to the box, and he was all smiles – even when a few coworkers razzed him about throwing from the same area as the 5-year-old who threw out the second pitch.

Even with the Mudcats falling to the Chattanooga Lookouts 11-2, Strickland had surveyed his employees as they watched the game with contentment. The party had been a success for the group of colleagues, and there aren’t many better ways to spend an evening than surrounded by family and friends.

Editor’s note: WingSwept provides Web hosting services for The Garner Citizen.

Related articles:

• Photos: How’s this for a job perk?
• WingSwept gets training grant
• WingSwept gains Garrett & Moore as valued customer

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