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Baseball team shuts out pro-life organizations, cancels family night hours before first pitch

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An independent baseball team in Colorado has canceled its Family Night just hours before the first pitch, shutting out pro-life organizations that were sponsoring the event.

The Rocky Mountain Vibes were slated to host Family Night during their game on Friday, but due to objections to two organizations partnering on the event, the team canceled.

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Exterior view of UCHealth Park, home of the Rocky Mountain Vibes, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on May 1, 2020.
(Jamie Schwaberow /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

Save the Storks, one of the sponsors, said in a Facebook post that UCHealth, the health system company behind the Vibes’ stadium’s name, “was behind this shut down.”

“We were delighted when the Rocky Mountain Vibes team came to us and asked if we could partner for Family Night. Now we are extremely disappointed and confused by this decision of the owners of the franchise and corporate owner of the UCHealth Park,” Save the Storks president Diane Ferraro said in a statement. “UCHealth is a company that says they offer care for women and families but is shutting down a night specifically intended for them.”

Ferraro also said in the statement that the event drove 3,000 tickets sold. Now, she’s pleading for those who bought tickets to ask for refunds.

Rocky Mountain Vibes mascot Toasty in parking lot with fans.
(Jamie Schwaberow /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images))

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“We are encouraging our supporters to request refunds for their tickets and not attend an event that no longer welcomes families,” she said.

Julie Bailey, vice president of Pikes Peak Citizens for Life, said the team emailed the two organizations at 10:30 local time Friday morning with the news of the cancellation.

“We’re very disappointed,” Bailey told Fox News Digital. “We’ve been working on this several months. We’re just very disappointed.

“This is just a reflection of the culture we’re in.”

The Vibes released the following statement regarding the cancellation of the events to Fox News Digital:

“The Rocky Mountain Vibes today pulled out of a partnership with an organization that was scheduled to sponsor tonight’s Friday Night Fireworks show. While we value all our sponsors and ticket holders, they do not make decisions regarding the nature of our post-game entertainment, or groups that come out to our stadium to raise awareness for their causes. The Vibes made this decision after seeing the proposed assets from the partner in question because they felt that the partner would hinder the team’s mission in providing fun and affordable family entertainment. Any statement placing blame on any outside party for cancellation of tonight’s events is inaccurate. The Vibes made this decision internally and stand by their choice.”