Final Quarter feature: Savannah Bananas teach FOX40’s Vanessa Romo “Banana Ball”
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) – The Savannah Bananas are not your average baseball team. They are ballplayers, yes, but they are ballplayers who like to sing, dance and fly out of chairs.
“It always exceeds all expectations of what I explain to people,” laughs Dalton Mauldin. “So much happens every game that someone will post on social media and I’ll ask, ‘when was that?’ You have to just be here.”
The players on the team come from all walks of life, but they have one thing in common: a knack for entertaining.
“I got hurt in college,” said Mauldin. “I couldn’t practice, travel or play so I need to do something else if I can’t play again…started songwriting, and (owner) Jesse (Cole) saw a video of me on Twitter that went viral. And here I am.”
Now, he sings during games in front of sold-out crowds.
“We just want to entertain them and put on the best show we possibly can for them,” said Reese Alexiades, a member of the Savannah Bananas who played collegiately at Pepperdine.”
The traveling show attracts talent from all levels, including in the softball world.
Jocelyn Alo, a former standout at Oklahoma, recently signed a one month contract to join the Savannah Bananas after a college career in which she became the NCAA’s all-time leader in home runs.
“I am having fun again and that’s what I was looking forward to the most,” said Alo. “And now, so many other little girls want to play Banana Ball as well.”
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