North Mississippi Community Remembers Lane Rodgers

Tupelo, Miss. (WCBI) — The North Mississippi community gathered today at Ballard Park in Tupelo to remember Lane Rodgers, the 10 year old boy who tragically lost his lost last night.

Rodgers was struck by a large tree limb which became detached due to strong winds from a severe storm. Rodgers and other members at Ballard Park were evacuating at the time.

One of Rodger’s teammates, Ethan Conlee, was near him teammate at the time of the accident. The young boy looked back on his favorite moment with his friend and teammate.

“…it was my second tryout and he was pitching to me and I was hitting and it was fun.”

Conlee also described how Rodgers was a versatile ballplayer who could do it all. “He played centerfield, pitcher, shortstop, pretty much everything”, recalled Conlee.

Both Rodgers and Conlee played for the 10U Mid-South Storm and were participating in the GIT-R-DONE tournament at Ballard Park, which was hosted by Richey Sports.

Clay Richey, owner of Richey Sports, was at the park today to give his condolences to the family and be with the baseball community on this tough day.

“It’s sad, I mean we just have to pray for the family and hope they get through this and we just have to help them get through it”, says Richey.

Richey also canceled the tournament today for it to be a day of remembrance for the young ballplayer. He said that baseball will resume Monday.

One baseball coach in attendance said that the number of people who showed up to the park on Sunday to pay tribute and donate to the Rodger’s family was close to “a thousand”.

The funeral for Lane Rodgers will be Tuesday, June 16th, at 2 P.M. at United Methodist Church in Byhalia.