Middle Tennessee rallies around family of Asher Sullivan through #Bats4Asher
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Hundreds of baseball teams and players are posting to social media to honor Asher Sullivan.
For weeks, communities all over Middle Tennessee prayed and rallied for 10-year-old Asher after he was swept up in a storm drain.
On Saturday, May 18, Asher “officially passed away,” according to his family.
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In his honor, baseball and softball players are remembering him on social media through the sport.
Asher’s father, Dr. James Sullivan, said Asher played every sport imaginable, but especially loved baseball.
“Baseball is a community,” ballplayer Maddux Desposito with 5 Star Midsouth said. “And you need to have a community.”
Now, Asher’s name is being honored on fields and screens nationwide with #Bats4Asher.
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“We want to honor the family in this way to let them know we are thinking of them,” Johnny Garrett, president of the Goodlettsville Baseball Program, said. “We are heartbroken for them, and hopefully seeing some of this to them provides them with a little bit of hope that times will get better.”
Players from the Washington Nationals and local Little League teams, such as Hooligans Baseball, Wilson Mash Softball, Jackson Youth, Nolensville Baseball, the Mount Juliet Mustangs, and 5 Star Midsouth, have posted using the hashtag.
“[We] really wanted his legacy to be able to live on through baseball and to let his family know that the baseball community supports them and will be there for them,” Coach Glenn Desposito with 5 Star Midsouth explained.
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One softball player for the Clutch Angels told News 2 that her team prayed and played for Asher, and they are not stopping.
“We would just say, ‘Lord, please…help him get better,'” Isabelle Gomez, softball player for the Clutch Angels, said. “I know that if he was there, he would want us to do our best.”
Asher’s obituary said, “In Asher’s ten years on Earth, he lived more of a life than many who have an entire lifetime to experience the world.”
It also said Asher was very proud to have visited all 50 states and 48 of the 63 U.S. National Parks.
Asher’s organs were donated to four people, saving their lives, according to his family.
In the obituary, his family wrote that he “leaves behind a legacy of love and light that will continue to inspire us all.”
Middle Tennessee baseball and softball players said they won’t let him be forgotten.
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“Asher was fighting the best he could,” Gomez said. “If you could just keep Asher in your prayers because he is going through a hard time.”
“You will be remembered, and you will live on to be great through the sport of baseball,” Maddux said.
The family announced that a memorial fund will be created in Asher’s honor. The details concerning the fund have yet to be released.
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