>> [applause] my goodness. well, hi, everybody. clear everybody here is happy. and you know this is a contrast to when happened before during last year's time when we were here at laguna honda and talking about the decertification and the challenges and the issues. ir will start over. i'm san francisco mayor london breed.

[applause]. and all these people behind me have official low saved laguna honda. [applause] and the difference between then when we had a decertification and now is the sad faces the tears and now the smiles, joy and excitement. for the people when work at laguna honda this is in the just about their jobs. this is about their patients. this is about the people this they help every day. the people this depends on them. for help for support because they can't take care of themselves. we know what is at stake. when the decertification came to us. we knew we had no other choice but to come together to make hard decisions and to fight for

laguna honda. and fight we did. and as a result, we worked really hard and i gotta say no one worked harder then and there the people who physically worked here. and we did all the paperwork. but it was touch and go for i minute and one of the best decisions this the department of public health made, doctor coal fax was to send the best add administrator anywhere to help us and guide this ship. i want to thank roland pickins for his work. [applause]. times i came up to lug luge and walked the halls with roland i know you want to keep him. you got a new director. sandra will be great!

it was so like over the past year see the excitement serving folks. how people felt and mote the patient and family members and hear the stories. we had no choice. and we had to make very decisions that were criticized. i want to thank david chu for the lawsuit. . because it did take a lot of courage because people discouraged us from going there. but we reached out to everyone on the state level and on the federal level. and i got to point out key leaders on the federal level who were instrumental with helping us to get tow this moment. i want to star with jackie spear. who really not only sounded the

alarm but worked hard up until the day she left office to help support us and man, what will we do without our fierce leader nancy pelosi. she was absolutely invaluable in this process. and really pushed aggressively it make sure that it was clear where we stood on saving this institution. i want to thank our governor and gavin newsome and scott wiener for heard work on the state wide level and helping us get to this point. so, this irrelevant was a collective effort of national support of state support and of course of a lot of local leaders. i said our city attorney and the supervisor who represents this district, melgar and thank the president of the board of supervisors aaron supervisor

peskin. >> and i want top extra super thank the members who are the staff but especially our partners in helping. seiu for your work. because of the advocacy that was helpful to put the pressure on. but again i want to keep back to the doctors and the nurses and the clinicians and the people who distribute the food and hands that make the food. the blessed machine when makes the food the people from the food makers and creative to the folks who have patience and people taking care of everyone and the folks in between who show up daily to take out the treasure to make sure that we are discarding needles appropriately there are many moving parts to laguna honda and the people here when you have done to work hard to fight your concerns about what was

happening in the uncertainty. you know men of you could say i don't want it and i gallon some place and he wills do manage so my financial situation is protected but no you rolled up your sleeves and worked hard and smart and said i'm stick with laguna honda i want to take care of the people i care about the patients at laguna honda. thank you all so very much. thank you. [applause] whoa! if i don't when to say anymore. but i want to say -- to the department of public health e approximately and i know grant colfax will talk about how this works because it is different layers the patients at laguna honda depend on medicare and medicaid and the state after

going through the various processes and trying to get up to parmaking adjustments to new policies. giving a list of new rules that weep had to adjust to, we got to the accomplice on my birthday august 11 we submitted an application. and in record time the state responded with, you are approved. what does this mean? that means the majority of the money over 200 million dollars a year this we rely on from medicare from the state will now come flowing in laguna honda to ensure that we protect this institution so that those who are most vulnerable and those who could least afford tell not only be in laguna honda and get the passport and care but mean this is if sillity will be open

to the next generation of folk who is need it the most for another 150 years. >> so i can go and on. i will come back later. in the meantime i want to say that doctor colfanatic be proud a pandemic now make sure we save laguna honda you got a lot of great things under your belt and appreciate this more than anything else. and we are truly grateful to you and the folks you put in accomplice to get us here. ladies and gentlemen, to provide the specifics when this means is doctor grant colfax. thank you, thank you mayor breed. thank you mayor breed. have we been waiting for this day or waiting for this day!

200 million dollars in medicaid dollars will flow to lug luge. a great day. i really want to thank everybody. because with this funding secure laguna honda is here to stay. and -- this represents a new beginning for laguna honda. going forward, laguna honda will be the if model of the new modern guild nursing facility. our job is to ensure the health of our community especially for those who are most vulnerable. and laguna honda is a key part of that mission. over 150 years laguna honda served san franciscans. it is a place and will continue to be a place where we provide compassionate long-term care for low income people when need us.

for them, this is not just a skilled nursing facility. this is their home. this is why all of dph pulled together with our colleagues at laguna honda and collaboration with many others to put time, resources and effort to making significant improvement this is lead to our ref certification. we brought in experts skill in the nursing home care to sustain improvements from clinical operations to staff training. we moved record pace and for those. you who know this city it was a referred pace. outstanding pace to hire our new nursing home administrator and ceo sandra simon. [applause] and sandra 2 assistants jennifer wade and

jill. yea. our new leadership team is in place. and we were not alone we could not do this alone we had partners who worked with us advocated for us and done everything in between to get us here. we could not have done this without passport and mayor london breed. thank you, mayor. i was not happy going in the mayor's office and giving her the news we were decertified the mayor said you can and will do it i want it done. thank you, mayor. i want to thank yes. i want to which thank the support of city attorney chu. and his team lead boy julie. amazing work. this team the teach attorneys

every day worked with us. advocates. you we think the legal side is remove from the clinical side this was a close relationship. thank you, david for you and your team's leadership thank you to the board of supervisors president supervisor peskin and melgar incredible making sure weave got it done and i want to thank the leadership of the health commission for effort in guidance. and of course, we are grateful for the leadership and support of speaker pelosi and not without laguna honda itself this team crucial low included the per inship and support of the leadership and membership local 1021. under the leadership of theresa

and union employees. we had to mission in minds! and thank you roland pickins. i called you. you anyhow that call was coming you took on daily responsibility, leading the change. you truly went above and beyond. thank you. and you know i don't i feel like with roland and the team it does come to minds the quote from st. francis do what is necessary then possible and soon you will do the impossible. i feel like this reflects the ethose you and your team brought to this work. [applause]. most of all we are grateful to our residents and their families. who despite uncertainty in the

situation were supportive of us. gave us the reason and will to succeed. and if you stay patient centered you keep resident in mind the work will take care of itself we went become to when is benefit for the residents of lug laguna honda this is why laguna honda represents the best san francisco and why we work so hard and success have gone low for our residents, fells and our city. thank you, and i would now like to turn it over to city attorney david chu. [applause] brother and sisters inference france the sun is shining today. who ask happy about this day! so, let mow sill this every time i come to laguna honda i think this is true for so many, we may have had quibbles with regulators the last couple

years. when i step through the doors, we feel the care. we feel the professionalism. we feel the spirit of the city of st. francis in this building and that would not be the case but for the men and women behind us first i want to star boy thanking and sallowing the staff and workers of laguna honda. thank you very much. friends, this hen quite a journey. it turns out it was one year ago this month when this facility under the threat of closure our office joining the mayor, dph the leadership of the institution and otherings we filed a let you to continue funding. pause resident transfer and keep laguna honda open. we all heard from countless resident fells and staff when

faced uncertainty. who were worried more transfer exclude the tolls the transfers could have on vulnerable patients. and through this litigation, we reached a fair settlement to condition funding pause transfers and give the institution the troop apply for recertification. there were thanks today. and of course i want it echo the thifrpgs for federal and state partners but irrelevantment to thank the local willful, mir, doctor colfax, dph come laguna honda staff there is a joke with relationships with lawyers and health care professionals. i'm so proud we came together to preserve this critical institution that so many of most vulnerable san franciscans rely on. i want to take a moment and

acknowledge folks from my office work helped lead us today. san francisco city attorney's office we are the best municipal law office in the country no part because of those who are part of team laguna honda. i wish that the folks were here next to right in front of me were behind us. i want to tick a moment and thank julie. hen row lip ton. tera steely. and medina. glen levy. michael. jessy smith. sarah, jen. star. katie. lilly and pam. >> [applause] jop love it when lawyers and heck folks come together. i want it take a moment and acknowledge the efforts of my former city attorney lewis.

>> i will close by saying this together we have preserved this incredible institution and restored a safety net for san francisco. laguna honda taken care of most vulnerable we look forward to this happening for the next 100 years. with this my honor to bring up someone helping to represent our neighbors and residents of the city of san francisco the supervisor of d 7, supervisor melgar. >> thank you very much. i want to say thank you, mir for your leadership and for being able to tune out the noise. while the task at hand needed get done. sometimes we have contentious rep with the board and the major's office. [laughter] and i remember very vivid low that meet whenning we decided no we need to work together. tune out the noise and figure

out how to get this done and cord nit and work together the messaging together the same page and get it done. this was you, mayor. thank you very much. for your leadership. i want it thank a couple people in your office. this is shawn your chief of staff. thank you for all that. and someone when has in the been thanked from dph besides pickins whom i appreciate is doctor baba. and i look forward so much to working with sandra simon through the work ahead. come with years of experience as a nursing home add administrator in san francisco worked at the jewish home the other institution that does this time of work. i thank you for stepping up. in doing this. and of course local 1021. for all of the partner help the

work and strategy and communication and organizing all of that thank you. i also. to say thank you to the advocates joe request urban. the doctor palmer the california advocates enoughsing home reform and gray panthers than i organized the letters to the feds and a annoying folk and made sure everybody understand to preserve the people we serve and the gem for 150 yearers florence nightinggale over seen in terms of making sure we are doing right. and being true to our san francisco values. thank you so much, everyone. keep going it is now on us to make sure this never happens again. we have the appropriate compliance, training but also

the wonderful things we need to make sure this is the tradition continues to serve san franciscans thank you and with this i will bring up the machine of the day. our ceo and director of the san francisco health network mr. roland pickins. [applause]. good afternoon will everyone. supervisor melgar said, wonderful day to be in the saddle of the statute of florence nightinggale. this is a great day for everybody the laguna honda. nurses, doctors and therapist and the staff most of all or residents and their families whom laguna honda their home. will past 18 months seen nothing short of trans formation laguna

honda in a world class the world class skilled nursing facility. one this will continue to serve for generations to come. our goal has been dem strit this we meet the highest standards and meet them every day. we have prouven this in multiple surveys the past 18 months. those results taken an extraordinary effort with extraordinary dedication and attention it detail. everyone working at laguna honda in every capacity has done outstanding work. and they have done this under stressful and challenging circumstances. and i'm so proud of them. and grateful. for their commitment to our residents. i want to express my thanks to theical cal department of public health and the federal center for medicare and medicare

services working with us on this journey and recognizing the progress we made. we all share the same goal to provide the best service public to those who rely on public funded health care. and finally, i'm grateful to residents and families who have been patient and supportive of our people and our efforts. it hen has been stressful for them. with today's recertification our residents can feel secure about the future of the accomplice they call home. today, we are all prud of what we accomplished together. we are a different and better laguna honda. and we intends to keep this journey going. for our residents, city and our nation. . by meeting high standards every day, day in and day out and in

every way. this is how we will ensure san francisco can be proud of laguna honda for decades to come. and finally as i introduce our next and final speaker whom none of this would be possible were not for she and her members and those of our other union partners my long-term cowork and friends kristin hardy vice president of 21 san francisco. [applause]. >> thanks roland for this great introduction this might have been the best in awhile. but i'm kristin hardy. i'm the vice president for san francisco for 10 to 1 and this is a very, very proud moment for me. i'm a san francisco native born

and raised and i grew up and born and raised in this neighborhood. i live 5 minutes from here i drive past this place every day and i am also a 12 year employee at san francisco general hospital with customer competence roland back in the day when than i were there. i anyhow when colfax appointed and pulled terry i was mad. and brought them here i knew they were the right people to the make sure laguna honda survive and got through what it needed to get through. i wanted to say, it is in the one person. it is me and my members that you see behind me the nurses. janitors the hair dress ors, central supplyers. my nurses. clerks. everybody and everybody i come from general hospital i know when the level of care is like i

want to appreciate my members. i have one of my fabulous leaders here with me. debbie dobson, she has taken charge on making sure that she hen in the weekly meetings when i'm not available to join. she has been there. and i can get an update with her and our rep who k could not be ear jessica done a fabulous job day and night supporting the workers. helping them understand education and training than i needed. third and second and first shift whatever was. we are celebrating the work of member and resident and bringing back laguna honda so we want to know i just want everybody to know that this is a hard work of our member and this was i team effort not just my members the residents joint effort i don't think we do this often but my political alis.

our wonderful mayor. board of supervisors, melgar is my supervisor and aaron. [laughter] and the rest. you know, i'm just glad we are at this day and like i want to i especially want to thank our city attorney david chu. he has been a great alli for us in the labor movement. i know we don't do too much with attorneys and at a federal level you know secretary came through and tap in the and just -- grant colfax and the administration you have done an awe some job you kept us in the loop. mark leech. everybody else that represents other members.

my brother. vice president of organizing. brandon dawkins. used to work here at laguna honda and a shop store and a shout out to my president to speak theresa who is a cna used to work here and is still a member and wants to give her love and support to all you guys and administration i am turn it back over to doctor grant colfax. upon again, thank you for being here a great day and think we will you heard the story and the different partners involved. many groups that helped lead the way and i think we have time for a few questions. for the mayor.

my grand mother lived here. well, my grand mother lived here for about 13 years. and i used to come up to laguna honda when it was the patients in the old location and the new. and the difference is the building butt people and the care she got were the same. and to think that there are other people who could not get this care was heart breaking this was a life safer for me personal low and my family when we could not take care of her daily. it was hard. and it was harder to leave her some accomplice like laguna honda until i first coming up here every day. the nurses rubbing my back while i was crying i did in the want to leave my grand mother they made me feel okay. her nurses like albert and denise and others.

just the joy this changed in her from no smiles to smiles demonstrated all i needed to know the care she experienced over the years of coming here an accomplice i thought what would have happened. so there are other people who need this accomplice. and when was important to us buzz in light of when was going on with the recertification. you know when this monies for the families who can't you know get their family member in laguna honda, that was weighing on me heavily as the people who are already here getting services. when are we do when we have to tell people, no when they need this place and so this was so important on a whole level and i'm grateful to god today for you know putting forth a blessing to not only the people who work here and live here and

those who will be able to eventual low call laguna honda home and cared for at the end of their life in most case and live with dignity. this is truly amazing we are happy to be here because it is a challenging time for so many people this is a joyous occasion. thank you. [applause]. >> okay. thank you so much, appreciate it. thank you for being here we move forward together. thank you. [applause].

what you accomplished took a lot of hard work. there was a lot of blood, sweat and tears on that field where you were practicing probably longer hours than you really wanted to. and i know that your coaches really pushed to push to push you very hard, to get to a place where something like this was possible . but these teams are more than just about winning games. it's really about creating teamwork. it's really trying to put forth your best foot and realizing what you're capable of. there are long term relationships that

are established as a result of hard work and going through such a challenging time together. and we in the city and county of san francisco, as the mayor, i want to express just how proud i am of what you accomplish and what you delivered for san francisco, because it's not just about the base ox. it's about the entire city and county of san francisco and what each and every one of you represents. i want to take this moment to acknowledge phil ginsburg, who's going to be talking a bit. i don't think anyone's a bigger cheerleader for the base. oxton phil ginsburg, because. he is so proud to talk about this team, even when you're not present and about what you all are doing and being this all female baseball team that represents san francisco. he, along with our

various commissioners who he will recognize in just a moment who are joining us here today. but it means a lot to be here with family and friends, to take a moment to pause and reflect on all your hard work. i want to just also go back to the 12 you team that even though you came in third, you got to understand why you came in third in the national. and that is a big deal and it is definitely time for you to fight harder and harder and harder and continue to go up the ladder. the 14 new team, from my understanding, they've been they've been working together since they were nine years. i think that's the term that they used. and from the time they were nine news, all the way to 14 news, they had their minds and their sights set on this national champion and they delivered it. and i want to say congratulate to all of you for doing the hard work to make

us proud for doing the hard work that even though we know some of you play for teams in your respective schools, you still have to study hard and teamwork and the work that you do to have good grades in order to play you still take the time out to be a part of this extraordinary team. and i always look forward when we launch our baseball season in san francisco at kimball park. my favorite team to walk by is usually the base ox of all of the women who are playing baseball out there, toughening it out just as much as the boys . so we're going to do two things to really, really exciting things. first, i want to announce that in honor of your win, city hall will be lit up in orange tonight. for all of you. and i want to ask coach burke and coach alcantara to

come up forward to accept a proclamation. to all the coaches, to all the assistant coaches, to the staff, to the volunteers. we want to express our appreciation because we also know know that the reason why you work with this team has everything to do with your love for baseball, but also your love for supporting young people and helping to lift them up and because of your hard work and their hard work combined, what i want to do today is something very special. today, officially , on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, we're going to declare it base day in several cisco. thank you. thank you so much.

all right. and at this time, as i said, you know, if girls can play baseball, men can be cheerleaders. so, phil, i'm looking forward to seeing you in a skirt with pom poms cheering on the base ox team as their number one fan. ladies and gentlemen, the director of rec and park for the city and county of san francisco, phil ginsburg . all right. okay well, thank you, mayor. the mayor says that i am the biggest bay sox fan, but as we all know, the biggest fan of kids and of sports in this city is our mayor who comes out to every opening day at cbl. cheers for the bay sox is loudly as i do in all of our kids so

let's make her an honorary part of this team, shall we? all right. are you are you now that's what i'm talking about. well done, mayor. all right, folks, you're here. you've been in kentucky. you finished third. you won a championship. i think that was that last night. you were no how last week you were at over at oracle with your names on the big screen. this we're having a moment here. bay sox. and by the way, you know, we got women's world cup. we got the bay sox. it is women in sports are having their moment and you know, there's a saying that we like to say is bay sox fans throw like a girl right. amen. amen so a little bit about this amazing history of this program. mayor this started in 2015, and i want to give a big shout out to one of the founding

mothers of this program, rochelle rocky hensley or henley sorry, is rocky here is rochelle. oh, there she is. rocky. rocky played professional baseball for the colorado silver bullets, has been an amazing member of our team. and this in many respects, rochelle, rocky, whatever you would prefer to be called at the moment, you know, this is your dream come true. we started this program in 2015 with one team, 12 girls now we've got five teams. we've got 60 girls, we've got a national third place finisher, and we've got a national championship. so i want to give a big shout out. the mayor singled out a couple

of folks. i want to repeat to the 12 and under coaches. sandro alcantara and justice alcantara for can you both stand up one more time? where's justice. okay. our 14 and under coaches james burke and karen sanchez, a volunteer here. we have a amazing group of practice coaches as well. manny blackwell, dan resnick and vlad hernandez. and of course every program in every sport needs a team mom or a team dad, someone that keeps the trains running on time. make sure people are where they're supposed to be.

registers for tournament points is the center point of all the information. and this particular team mom is very special because she is also a wreck and park commissioner annie jupiter jones is. yes indeed. i also want to sing out, single out just a couple people from the amazing rec and park recreation staff because today is about the bay sox but the broader message is youth sports are alive and well in san francisco. every everybody plays and i want to give a big shout out to our recreation superintendent, nick williams, and our manager of sports and athletics, jimmy chin . so we had 23 or 20 423 or 24 girls playing on these two teams, 24 i think you said about

the 12 and under team, all of these girls created such a great team atmosphere. every player was welcomed with open arms. the positive team culture helped help propel us to an amazing tournament experience. and when asked about the 14 and under, team coach burke said every single player had their moment. it was truly a team win and i don't say that lightly. it was pretty amazing. and before this year, mayor, the 14 and under team that won this national championship had only ever won one game at nationals. one game they put in tons of work and finished as our national champions representing san francisco. and before i close up with a little cheerleading mayor, i definitely want to acknowledge three of our other commissioners who are here, our

vice president of our commission, kat anderson commissioners joe halsey, who was very involved in in, in cbl and flame for your entire life, right, joe? i mean, pretty much at the fire department, you ran the show. did you ever anticipate a national championship for a women's for a girls baseball team? now and commissioner vinita lewis our mayor, our commission meetings, do you think they're serious business and a whole lot of noise? it's basically just a base love fest. all day, every day here at city hall. right all right. so i before i bring back bring up commissioner tim. mom, the mayor asked me to do a little cheerleading this place. we have a microphone, but this place has pretty good acoustics . it's got a big dome up there. they can hear us all over this building. and the mayor hopes that there are still a few people working around here today. so here's what we're going to do. bay sox and fans

and supporters, everybody stand up. we're going to raise the roof off this joint. when i say we are, you say base ready? we are. we are. we are. when i say base sox, you say champs. base sox. bay sox. when i say bay sox , you say sf bay sox base all together. now we are number one. we are number one. we are number one. all right, let's go. bay sox. and mayor. i didn't even do that with pompoms. all right. let's bring up our commissioner , the woman who keeps it all together. commissioner jupiter jones. are you ready to come on up. to the mic is yours. and what i'm going to present to you, i don't have a

proclamation, but the mayor asked me to. to bring the magic back. so for each team member, if you guys look outside, you see that little ferris wheel and there's a big slide that's going up. starting on thursday, civic center gets its first summer carnival, complete with, you know, corn dogs and water ice and soft ice cream and rides and games and for winning the national championship and for finishing third in the nationals. each and every one of you gets one of these free carnival passes which commissioner jupiter jones is going to give out. so thank you. nice to talk you guys. so i didn't know i was talking, but i just want to say on on top of everything else that's been said about this amazing program with its amazing players, it's amazing coaches. it's amazing families is just how much this program could only happen in san francisco. right. because for this to happen, the city has to support it. the city has to

believe that girls can play baseball, that girls can do anything and they have to put their money where their mouth is and make sure that it happens and as a city kid, i know that this could only happen in san francisco. so thank you, mayor. thank you, everyone in this city for supporting this. it doesn't happen without you right? so i'll leave it at that. and i think i'm introducing our 12 year coach coach andrew, to come up and give us some highlights about the 12 youth team. all right. thank you very much, commissioner jupiter jones. i i just want to say when i reflect on the teams i've coached, the most important thing is, is having an atmosphere where girls feel seen by each other and by the coaching staff. and i do want to say that i, i feel like

our 12 youth team did a great job of embracing one another, support each other when we had tough times and celebrating like mad when we had good times. so i just want to say 12 of you, i'm very proud of you and the most important thing to work out and leave with is that we all have this journey of baseball. we fall in love with it. we have big dreams and i want you to know on this journey of baseball , i want you to enjoy it. work hard and remember head, heart, hustle will always get you far, no matter if you go just to the base box, to high school, to college, if you think about those three pillars of our program, head, heart and hustle, you always keep your head in the game. you don't give up on yourself or your teammate and you work hard. even when the coach isn't looking. it'll help you be successful. people and baseball players. all right. and i believe i'm now able to

introduce use the 14 year coach james burke, because i'm not it anymore. uh uh, also didn't really know i was going to be talking for too long, but hello and thank you to city of san francisco and to the mayor london breed for having the san francisco bay sox girls baseball team here today to be celebrated for their amazing special victory this summer. and the baseball for nationals in kentucky. i'm extremely grateful . i was extremely grateful and happy to be able to have the opportunity to coach the bay sox this summer. i've always heard nothing but amazing things about the bay sox. i've had bay sox on my middle school teams and even in rec and park. and when i finally got to step in and be

the coach this summer, um, it lived up to all the expectations that i thought it was going to come with the effort, the amazing effort from all the girls. this summer was just truly remarkable. we were like, hey, what if we practice three days a week this summer? what if we go ahead and practice with the san francisco 14 new team as well? and we just keep getting better and better and better and every girl showed up to every single practice. and the girls, if they couldn't make it to practices because they were breaking other barriers in joining other teams and playing another tournaments this summer and continuing baseball. so again, one of the big things that i really loved about this summer was the base represented san francisco well, and they represented baseball in san francisco well. there's always a lot of talk about baseball in san francisco and the talent. and again, we're just always proving how san francisco baseball does have some of the best talent in the united states. and i love that the base proved that here. i do want to

do some shout outs real quick. first to manny, who's sitting there, honjo annie, i saw firsthand how you kept this program going through all these years. it's amazing what you've done. your leadership is the reason why these girls have won this year and you've kept this program alive through your leadership and the way they just represented everything. so well is because of you. so thank you very much. that was very awesome . also, i want to give a shout out to african park for keeping the program alive. it's been amazing. shout out to the parents. this is a big thing. yeah. um, i'm firsthand knowledge. what i'm saying. if the parents all support and create a positive atmosphere, teams can do wonders. and because of that, the base ocs were able to do what they did

this summer and do so well. the culture was just amazing. and again, shout out also to all the past players of the bay sox and the current president, players of the bay sox. you're all amazing. there's so many cheerleaders from the from the past teams who always come back coach talk up the program team that give back and then the present players today who were keeping it alive and really making this one of the most awesome programs and giving it an outlet for girls to play baseball in san francisco. so again, it was just a really awesome and i said it before, all the girls on this team had a moment. it was truly remarkable. i've i've coached middle school, high school, college and i've won a couple championships and this was truly actually felt like one of the one of the most unique awesome amazing championship wins because every single player on this team did something special to go six and zero in any tournament is hard.

we had nine pitchers, three catchers. i can go on and on and on and they did it. they won. it was truly amazing. everybody had a great time. and thank you again for everybody here. great job. way to put in the effort. thank you very much. all right. i'm back. before we move on, do we have any of our young ladies who might want to say a few words today. come on up. hello, madam mayor. general

manager ginsberg, park recs commissioner and the coaches, players and baseball families. my name is simone and i'm the captain of the 14 new team i've been playing with the bay sox for the past five years, and i know i speak for all the girls in our program when i say that we are part of an amazing organization filled with growth, encouragement and many unforgettable memories and lifelong friendships. playing with the bay sox has taught me many skills, including leadership and determination that translate to all parts of our lives, not only baseball. this summer, we traveled to kentucky for the annual baseball for all nationals tournament. we went six and zero, winning first place in the 14 new minors division. this accomplished. it proves how far we have come as a team over the last few years, despite the fact we were a public and city run entity. unlike most of the competitive travel teams, we play against. last year we won one game at nationals, which at the time was a big accomplishment for us. after losing by a landslide each and every game back in 2021. as a team, we have put in so much time and effort to get to this point and it's so exciting to see our work wasn't for nothing

and our perseverance has paid off so that we can call ourselves national champions. we wouldn't have been able to do this without all the coaches who have gotten us to this point. coaches karen, manny, andrew and justise, not to mention the head of our program, annie jupiter jones, who have stuck with us through the highs and lows of as a team with coach burke able to give us new perspectives this year. so on behalf of all the bay sox team, thank you so much for all your time, effort and constant support. we're also extremely thankful and grateful to have the city of san francisco and its parks and rec department for providing girls like us the ability to grow together as a team and opportunity to represent the city on a national stage. our hope is that the foundation built, which we have been lucky enough to be a part of, will continue to grow and allow us to keep succeeding both on and off the baseball diamond. thank you again. and go sox. hi my name is belén henriquez carillo and i'm the 12 you team captain. and

i've been with the base since i was six. i'm lucky to be able to be in this organization for a very long time, thanks to this organization and parks and recs , i've been able to play in five sf ibl seasons and go to three bfa tournaments. although i'm very grateful for that. the best thing about baseball is the people. thanks to the base oks. i've made many friends and am able to play with people like me now. i can finally have people i can relate with and share the same interest in baseball as me. i also want to thank all of the coaches for being very supportive and accepting anybody, regardless of their experience or skills. that way, anybody has an opportunity to play. bass has had a positive impact on my life. thank you base and i will always be grateful for that because girls belong in baseball. thank you.

okay, we have one more thing now . i don't know about you, but i love wrestling. and usually you get a belt when you wrestle or you box. but today we, the bay sox, they're getting a belt for playing baseball. so so we have some wwf style belts. to really honor the team and to our to our great team captains. didn't they do a great job. so this team is not only creating folks who work well together, but it's creating leaders. so thank you so much to each and every one of you, to all the parents, to all the players. congrats relations. we are again so very proud of all that you have done, which means you got to work even harder. and maybe we make it four days a week of practice next year and

so with that, thank you also for coming. and we'll take a few pictures and you can enjoy city hall while we're here. but don't forget to come back tonight. see, this is why you don't give belts for baseball hall. don't forget to come back tonight and take some pictures of city hall lit up in orange honoring the national champions. the bayside sharks.