Sullivan choir, guitar ensemble part of Padres game national anthem performance

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The San Diego Padres home game Sept. 18 against the Colorado Rockies was preceded by more than 300 middle school and high school music students performing the national anthem, and 85 of those students were from Sullivan Middle School.

"They were thrilled," said Sullivan Middle School music teacher Stacy Pecore. "It was such a wonderful experience."

The Padres began Choir Night in 2011. Sullivan first participated in 2014 – when the Padres also hosted the Rockies – and had 47 students that year. Guitar ensemble performers as well as school show choirs were invited to participate in Choir Night, and students in the Sullivan guitar ensemble class Pecore teaches joined the Sullivan choir students on the field.

Pecore and the Sullivan students practiced for approximately four weeks prior to the game. A rehearsal of approximately 90 minutes at Petco Park preceded the performance by the student choirs and guitar ensembles.

Xander Bogaerts played shortstop for the Padres that night. The Padres also had a giveaway of Xander Bogaerts jerseys for the first 40,000 fans. "All of our students got the shirt," Pecore said. "They and all the choir school members wore the shirts on the field."

Bogaerts had a single, a double, a triple, and a walk in five plate appearances that night and scored three runs in the Padres' 11-9 victory over the Rockies.

Prior to the national anthem the music students shared the field with the Padres, who were warming up. Two of the Sullivan students ended up with baseballs. "The baseball players tossed them to the kids," Pecore said.

"The students were thrilled to have been on the actual baseball field and to have baseball players warming up next to them," Pecore said.

Some of the students were able to see themselves on the scoreboard screen. "That was fun," Pecore said.