Faith in the Freshman

Jenna Klipfel, 21, a senior business major at Concordia University, takes part in the wiffle ball marathon to raise money for diabetes.

IRVINE – It’s the bottom of, let’s say, the 200th inning, and Concordia University freshman G.M. Ciallella cranks a pitch over the left field fence – also known as the school’s basketball gym – to tie the game 316-316.

Welcome to what’s billed as the world’s longest Wiffle Ball game, a 60-hour marathon that began on the college campus at midnight Friday, continued Saturday and was set to wrap up at noon today.

Partly a way to build campus spirit, the two-and-a-half-day ballgame was created as a fundraiser for diabetes. The dual motivations were on display as Ciallella took advantage of the opposing team’s inattention to dash home and score on a later play.

“Anything to win, anything to win,” hollered Ciallella, himself a diabetic. “I mean, it’s all about the cure. Sorry.” Read the rest of this entry »

Peter Ferry plays wiffle ball at Concordia University Irvine

Peter Ferry likes to play Wiffle ball, and he’ll be playing it at least once a year now while he’s studying at Irvine’s Concordia University.

Ferry, 19, a sophomore from Milwaukee, Wis., came up with the idea of trying to break the world record for longest Wiffle-ball game, to raise money for diabetes research, after Ferry’s dad, Patrick, said that he was the current record-holder, at 52 hours. Read the rest of this entry »