Smith: Play ball! And never, ever forget

Saturday’s opening day at the Mark West Little League fields was glorious, memorable. And it wasn’t all fun and games.

As players gathered in their pristine uniforms and parents prepared to chant and cheer, announcer Brian Burke directed everyone’s attention to near home plate.

There, he presented memorial banners to two women - Lisa McCracken and Michelle Daniel Clark - who’d lost people they loved to a harrowing tragedy more than a quarter-century ago.

On June 4, 1989, rain fell as four fine Mark West players, all students at Piner High, traveled toward an all-star game in Fort Bragg. Not far from Cloverdale, the station wagon carrying them was struck head-on by a huge, sliding truck.

Brent Towers, Nate Bartholomew, Nick Mataya and Roy “Trey” Daniel III were killed, as were Trey’s dad and coach, Roy Daniel Jr., and Trey’s younger brother, Shane.

The banners presented Saturday to the survivors of Brent Towers and the Daniels featured likenesses of baseballs bearing all of the lost boys’ names. A third banner will be mounted on a prominent building there at the Mark West Little League complex.

And there’s more. Brian Burke announced that league directors will restore the plaques that were placed following the crash in a small grove adjacent to the ballfields at Piner.

The Opening Day crowd applauded the memorial honors and the women representing the boys’ families. Then came the first pitch of season 2015.

IN THE ‘LYME’ LIGHT: A neat young woman named Alexandra Mitrovich came up with that name for an unusual event she’ll host April 25 in Santa Rosa.

There will be fashion modeling, food, raffles and auctions, dance performances and a heap of information on a disease 17-year-old Ali knows too well.

The Cardinal Newman High junior contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite about four years ago. She was debilitated for a long time but at present is free of symptoms and medication.

Intent on becoming an infectious disease doctor, she now plans “In the Lyme Light” to improve awareness and raise funds to build Inanna House, a place for treating and teaching about tick-borne disease.

Ali tells about herself and the April 25 event in the Newman gym at lymediseaselife.com. She invites everyone.

IL CAPITALE UMANO: It’s the native title of “Human Capital,” an Italian film that will have a special benefit screening - with pre-show refreshments - Thursday evening at the Summerfield Theater.

The showing will raise money for scholarships by the North Bay Italian Cultural Foundation. A reception is at 6 p.m., the screening at 6:45.

Admission is $10, and reservations can be made in advance by phoning 591-9696.

Also on Thursday, the Mary’s Pizza Shack next to the theater will donate to the Italian foundation a portion of every meal order accompanied by a coupon. They’re at the theater and at nbicf.users.sonic.net.

The Hollywood Reporter calls the film a big winner in Italy’s version of the Oscars, a “chic thriller” and “an engrossing if anxiety-producing tale about two families whose destinies are tied together by a road accident.”

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD.