Sports

Brent King Throws First Pitch at 'Home Run for Chelsea' in Ramona

One player remembers distributing fliers when Chelsea King disappeared.

The father of slain Poway teen Chelsea King was in Ramona on Sunday morning to throw the first pitch for the annual Home Run for Chelsea charity youth baseball tournament. About 1600 players participated in the tournament at several baseball parks in San Diego county. Brent King and his wife, Kelly, visited the locations to encourage and thank players.

At Well Field Park in Ramona, Brent talked about their son Tyler's successful baseball season in their home state of Illinois and encouraged players to keep balance in their lives.

The family was living in Poway in 2010 when Chelsea, 17, disappeared during an after-school run in a Rancho Bernardo park. Her body was found nearby a few days later and John Gardner was convicted of her murder. Chelsea's life has been memorialized by Chelsea's Light Foundation, a non-profit which raises money for scholarships and peer counseling, and Chelsea's Law, which provides for life sentences for the most violent sex offenders and increased monitoring of sex offenders on parole. The Kings are working with people in several states to establish similar laws.

Find out what's happening in Ramonawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On Sunday, one young Ramona player, Blake Workman, told Patch he remembers his baseball team helping to distribute fliers when Chelsea went missing. He said it's great to see how the support for the Home Run tournament has grown since its inception two years ago.

Find out what's happening in Ramonawith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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