LANCASTER, Pa. — The Lancaster Barnstormers recently made a grieving family's return to Clipper Magazine Stadium a home run with a well-timed win in a Seat Upgrade promotion sponsored by the Pennsylvania Lottery.
Brandie Banks lost her husband, Derek, to COVID-19 in January 2022. Derek was a huge Barnstormers fan who loved visiting Clipper Magazine Stadium to watch a game, she said.
"Going to a Barnstormers game was one of his favorite things to do," Brandie Banks said of her late husband, with whom she has three daughters.
Derek Banks passed away at age 40. Since his death, Brandie Banks said, she and her daughters had not gone back to a game.
"We weren't ready," she said. "Going to a game without 'D' just seemed wrong."
But this summer, the Banks family decided it was time to go back to the ballpark. On July 20, Brandie and her daughters bought tickets for the Barnstormers' game against the Lexington Counterclocks.
"We decided it was time," she said. "And it would make Derek so happy to know that we were going—not just because he loved it, but because we did, too."
Brandie and her daughters had just arrived at the game and were heading for their seats when they were approached by members of the Barnstormers' staff, who informed them they had won a Pennsylvania Lottery Seat Upgrade promotion.
They were awarded field-level seats directly behind home plate, along with some free Barnstormers caps.
"As those two ladies walked away I cried," Banks said. "No one had an idea of our situation or that it was our first game back after losing my husband and my girls' dad. It made our night so very special.
"It just felt so right to be back. Plus the boys won!"
The Barnstormers won the game 8-6.
