{"id":142034,"date":"2026-04-12T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/?p=142034"},"modified":"2026-04-12T15:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T20:50:21","slug":"joel-takes-the-mound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/uncategorized\/joel-takes-the-mound","title":{"rendered":"Joel Takes the Mound!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/files\/2026\/04\/Joel-on-the-Mound.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"749\" src=\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/files\/2026\/04\/Joel-on-the-Mound.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-142036\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/files\/2026\/04\/Joel-on-the-Mound.jpg 600w, https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/files\/2026\/04\/Joel-on-the-Mound-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The GiGi\u2019s Playhouse friendship with players on the Drake University Softball team started when centerfielder Tatum Aragon started her internship at GiGi\u2019s Playhouse in August of 2025. In addition to leading or co-leading a wide range of GiGi\u2019s programs, Tatum started bringing her teammates to GiGi\u2019s for Fantastic Friends on Friday evenings.  Happily, volunteering at GiGi\u2019s turned into another team sport for our Lady Bulldogs.  <br><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/files\/2026\/04\/Joel-with-Ball-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"592\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/files\/2026\/04\/Joel-with-Ball-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-142038\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/files\/2026\/04\/Joel-with-Ball-1.jpg 592w, https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/files\/2026\/04\/Joel-with-Ball-1-222x300.jpg 222w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 592px) 100vw, 592px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the Spring season was announced, Tatum was eager to schedule a game to spotlight GiGi\u2019s and invite us to assemble a group to cheer them on.\u00a0 &#8220;Play Ball&#8221; was set for Saturday, April 11, and the team pulled out all the stops for us.\u00a0 The GiGi\u2019s gang was invited on the field to sing the National Anthem before the game, and Joel Marcel was asked to throw out the ceremonial first pitch \u2013 in style!\u00a0 The public address played \u201cFirework\u201d by Katy Perry as Joel stepped to the mound to go to work.\u00a0 For anyone who knows Joel, it was the perfect choice for his \u201cwalk-up\u201d music!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joel\u2019s appearance served as inspiration and set the stage for a great game.\u00a0 The Drake women beat the Southern Illinois Salukis, 10-7, in dramatic fashion!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Way to go, Joel, and thank you, Drake University Softball!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons alignwide is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/sfcalendar\">We need volunteers like Tatum! To join the GiGi&#8217;s Team, click here:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GiGi\u2019s Playhouse friendship with players on the Drake University Softball team started when centerfielder Tatum Aragon started her internship at GiGi\u2019s Playhouse in August of 2025. In addition to leading or co-leading a wide range of GiGi\u2019s programs, Tatum started bringing her teammates to GiGi\u2019s for Fantastic Friends on Friday evenings. Happily, volunteering at&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23446,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23446"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}