RedHawks bat girl joins dad in family business

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - You know him as Super Fan.

He’s become a staple at Newman Outdoor Field.

Helping the crowd stay pumped and leading the fans in cheers.

While you know him as a Super Fan, you might not know he’s also a super dad.

“Embarrassing but exciting at the same time,” Super Fan’s daughter Ede said. “Doing the pushups and shaking his butt all the time it’s funny it’s also very embarrassing.”

“Same,” added Ollie. “It’s exciting but it’s embarrassing too.”

Ede and Ollie are Super Fan’s 11 and nine-year-old kids and they’re now a part of the RedHawks family themselves.

“We were running short a bat kid and Ole just shouted out to Matt Rau, ‘just have Super Fans kid do it,” Super Fan recalled. “And Ede happened to be wearing a jersey at the time and she was wearing Birkenstocks and she just slayed it. Just killed it.”

Ede is responsible for collecting the team’s bats and gloves and guards after their at-bat and keeping those things organized inside the dugout.

She caught on quickly and has found herself a new summer gig.

“I mean as soon as Ole started teaching me I really started to like it and I really started to love it,” Ede said. “So I was really excited then. Especially Chris Coste wanted me back so the next day I just went back and I did the same thing and I’ve been doing that ever since.”

“I’ve done this for a very long time, done a lot of really cool things and that was definitely the top,” Super Fan said of working with his daughter. “Then it just became a thing. She was killing it every time and coming into this summer we’re bringing Oliver in and so now it’s Ede and Oliver.”

Ollie is learning the ropes of the family business from his big sister. He’s in charge of keeping the umpire fully stocked with baseballs and runs the crew out water in between innings.

“She taught me a lot about sometimes how easy it can be and sometimes it can be a little difficult too.” Ollie said.

“Right now he’s doing balls and so I have to tell him to keep an eye on the ump to know how many balls he has to get,” Ede explained.

The bat boy gig is traditionally just that, reserved for boys.

But Ede embraces her non-traditional role with pride.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of bat girls so I think it’s cool for me and for everyone else,” Ede said.

And her dad couldn’t be more proud.

“I think it’s important for young girls to recognize that they can do whatever they want,” Super Fan said. “Just because you don’t fit a certain build, doesn’t mean you can’t. And she’s just been proof of that the whole time she’s been alive.”

The kids volunteer their time for the gig but it’s paying out big in terms of memories and quality time for the whole family.

“It’s really cool for me to spend time with my kids because if they weren’t doing it, it’s just time away,” Super Fan explained. “So it’s kind of fun to spend time. I have another daughter that would prefer to be dancing on the dugout with me but we’re going to give that some time.”

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