SRU alumna delivers the ‘wow!’ as the Pittsburgh Pirates manager of ballpark entertainment

April 4, 2024

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — There are moments throughout a Main League Baseball sport that make the followers cheer, boo or just say “Wow!” These moments are most frequently authored by gamers who’re paid tens of millions of {dollars} to hit dwelling runs, make diving catches and throw strikeouts, however typically these moments are pushed by individuals who aren’t taking part in the sport.

For Pittsburgh Pirates video games at PNC Park, the particular person creating these moments is Celine Halt.

“I need followers to stroll out of the ballpark saying, ‘Wow!,” stated Halt, a 2020 Slippery Rock College graduate with a level in resort, recreation and hospitality administration. “We do all the things that is enjoyable in regards to the ballpark that is not a part of the baseball sport.”

Halt is the supervisor of ballpark leisure for the Pittsburgh Pirates. She organizes pregame and between-inning programming, such because the ceremonial first pitch, the T-shirt cannon and video content material that seems on the scoreboard. She supervises greater than 60 seasonal staff who present in-game leisure, together with members of the Bucco Brigade and the individuals who play the well-known characters who take part within the Mrs. T’s Nice Pittsburgh Pierogi Race.

That is proper, Sauerkraut Saul’s boss is an SRU graduate.

“I really like what I do,” stated Halt, who started working with the Bucco Brigade in 2017 when she was an SRU pupil. “Working for the Pirates was a dream of mine even earlier than I used to be in school. It is nice to have the ability to lead the group that I used to be as soon as a part of and dealing to enhance and improve all of our visitor experiences. I really like interacting with our followers and creating ‘wow’ moments for them.”

A local of Murrysville, Halt grew up as a fan of Pittsburgh sports activities and skilled a lot of these “wow” moments herself.

“That is my hometown group, so there’s nothing cooler than saying you’re employed for a kind of huge sports activities groups that you simply grew up watching their video games and going to their video games,” Halt stated. “I bear in mind going to my first sport after I was in all probability in third grade and telling my dad that I wished to be one of many individuals taking pictures T-shirts or getting the foul balls, however I by no means knew how that job might come about till I used to be at Slippery Rock and I had these proper connections and being in the fitting place on the proper time.”

After graduating from Franklin Regional Excessive Faculty, Halt solely utilized to 1 school – SRU. The College provided the foremost she wished, proximity to dwelling and alternatives by way of the College Program Board, a student-run group that brings quite a lot of leisure and academic packages to campus.

“SRU gave me all the instruments that I wanted to enter the actual world and break into the sector that I wished, which was leisure, recreation and hospitality,” Halt stated. “I gained so many experiences that opened doorways for me that led me to my present profession path, in addition to ones that I might have by no means even dreamed had been attainable. And being at Slippery Rock, I felt like a reputation, and never a quantity. I used to be concerned in so many alternative issues on our campus and having the ability to be in so many alternative locations.”

Amongst her many actions, Halt was a member of Alpha Xi Delta at SRU. Through the 2017 baseball season, a fellow Greek life member who labored on the Bucco Brigade requested the sororities if anybody was concerned about making use of.

“My thumbs by no means typed so quick asking for an software to be a part of this,” Halt stated. “I went by way of the interview course of and began my first sport a month later and I used to be on the group for nearly three seasons.”

Halt took an internship with Carnival Cruise Line in 2019 as a part of the Enjoyable Squad Leisure Employees. She lived on a cruise ship for 4 months and deliberate occasions for friends, comparable to trivia, karaoke and events.

Poised to finish her diploma at SRU within the spring of 2020 and proceed her profession with the cruise-line trade, Halt encountered a snag in her plan.

“I used to be one of many COVID graduates,” Halt stated. “The entire hospitality trade was placed on maintain.”

She labored on and off in its place trainer and took a contract job as a recreation director at an aquatics and sports activities facility in Massachusetts for eight months, earlier than deciding to reapply to the Bucco Brigade in 2022.

Throughout her interview, one in every of her earlier supervisors informed her there was a full-time opening with the Pirates.

“I went from making use of to be on the Bucco Brigade to making use of to steer the Bucco Brigade,” Halt stated. “I obtained the job on April 4, 2022, which was every week earlier than Opening Day. I had a really fast turnaround.”

Halt has labored full-time with the Pirates ever since. She was promoted from coordinator of fan engagement to coordinator of gameday presentation throughout her first season and, previous to the 2024 season, to supervisor of ballpark leisure.

As she’s taken on extra duties, Halt has turn out to be extra concerned with areas throughout the group together with issues like scoreboard operations. That concerned a visit to spring coaching in Bradenton, Florida, to collect video content material that might be used all through the season.

Through the season and on sport days, Halt is concerned with writing the script for the sport. That features cueing the nationwide anthem singer, scheduling what the sport hosts do throughout inning breaks and different kinds of promotions and “fan activations” (assume T-shirt cannon or singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Sport”). She works at area degree and wears a headset that permits her to speak with the director and producers in scoreboard room of the press field.

However very like the sport on the sector, her work does not ever comply with the identical script.

“We’ll have the Bucco Brigade reply to what’s occurring within the sport and ensure we’ve got shock and ‘wow’ moments for our followers,” Halt stated. “For instance, we would discover out it is a child’s eighth birthday and we’ll ask him if he needs to carry the end line tape for the Pierogi Race.”

Halt works at the least 12-hour days for every of the group’s 81 dwelling video games. When the group is on the street, she is making ready for the following homestand, and throughout the offseason she is revamping techniques and processes for the following season. This contains holding the stopwatch for all Pierogi Racer candidates (40 seconds is the minimal).

Wanting again, Halt does not assume twice about selecting SRU.

“On all of the tasks, management alternatives and issues I discovered in my courses, all of them helped me a lot to get me to the place I’m now,” Halt stated. “I made loads of connections and SRU ready me nicely. If I needed to do it yet again, I might choose Slippery Rock each time.”

Halt is amongst eight present full-time staff for the Pittsburgh Pirates who graduated from SRU (identify, 12 months, title, diploma):

• Amanda Reilly, ’23, Coordinator, Inner Occasions (strategic communication and media)
• Catherine Dumm, ’22, Undertaking Supervisor (communication)
• Celine Halt, ’20, Supervisor, Ballpark Leisure (resort, recreation and hospitality administration)
• Jodi Hummert, ’99, Director of Safety Operations (sport administration)
• Chris Hunter, ’94, VP of PNC Park Operations (sport administration)
• Jeff Podobnik, ’89, VP of Florida and Dominican Republic Operations (sport administration)
• Joe Billetdeaux, ’87, Director, Alumni Affairs, Promotions and Licensing (sport administration)
• Jim Trdinich, ’86, Director, Participant Relations and Workforce Historian (communication)

MEDIA CONTACT: Justin Zackal | 724.738.4854 |  [email protected]