When 10-year-old Aidan Walls stepped up to the pitcher’s mound at San Manuel stadium to throw the ceremonial opening pitch during an Inland Empire 66ers home game on Aug. 22, he appeared a little nervous. Once the crowd clapped and cheered him on, his successful pitch to a 66ers catcher brought a huge smile to his face and his nerves disappeared. Walls, a fifth grader at Loma Linda Academy, is a Loma Linda native who has a passion for sports, said his father, Brett Walls, who co-owns Garden Pediatrics in Redlands with his wife, Cameo Carter. Walls participates on the football, baseball and basketball teams at his school, where he plays the positions of quarterback and wide receiver, shortstop and guard, respectively. The IE 66ers invited Aidan to join in on the opening pitch ceremony that evening. “He wasn’t too nervous about it; he was focused on getting the ball to the catcher,” his father Brett said. “When I asked him about how he felt afterward, he said, ‘That was really cool.’ As a parent, it was one of those things where we were really nervous but also really proud on the other hand,” said Brett. “That was one of those opportunities where he could exercise his abilities in front of a larger crowd.” As he left the field, Aidan, with a bright smile on his face, gave the nearly filled stadium a wave. The family owns season passes to the IE 66ers games, and Aidan was cheered on by his family, friends and others who came out to enjoy the evening game—45 members of the crowd came specifically to watch him pitch. Though his father describes him as quiet, his love for sports is evident in his participation at school and his longstanding support for his favorite professional football team, the San Francisco 49ers. “That’s his team,” Brett said. “If you asked him if he wanted to play professionally, he’d say he’d want to play with them.” Aidan is the oldest of three children, and lives with his parents and two brothers, Morgan, 8, and Owen, 6.

Little Athlete Throws First Pitch at 66ers Game