ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) – Thursday afternoon, the Mountain View Park Little League field in Escondido was filled with hugs and tears.
It was not for a victory on the field but rather a troubling loss off of it. It held a memorial service and visitation for 13-year-old Junior Tapia.
“I wish I didn’t have to do this, you know, but it has to be. It’s beautiful. It’s coming out nice. We’re just expecting the support of the community. I have a hole in my heart,” Norma Tapia, Junior’s mother, said.
As ABC 10News reported, Junior was a passenger and killed in a suspected DUI crash on North Broadway and Country Club Lane in Escondido late last month.
“He’s gone and it hurts but I’m always going to have him here,” Rosa Lopez, Junior’s grandmother, said as she patted her heart.
There were fellow young ballplayers who wheeled Junior’s stark white coffin to the visitation.
The big-time baseball player with the big-time smile was missed by many as they waited to visit with him.
“That he gave an impact to the community and thanking them for the help and the support,” Tapia said.
Some wore the gear of the team he loved, the San Diego Padres.
“He loved them, all of them. But he loved Tatis and Machado more, I think,” Lopez said.
“He knew all of their stats, all of the players, everything,” Ana Lopez, Junior’s sister, said. “And he always stated his one goal, his one wish was to always, always at least get a ball or a jersey from Tatis or Machado.”
A team spokesperson told ABC 10News that the Padres’ community relations team had worked directly with the family to provide signed items.
It makes that one wish come true as Junior will be buried with those items, which his grandmother showed us, a signed Fernando Tatis Jr. jersey and signed balls from El Nino himself and Manny Machado.
“I know he’s so excited right now looking down at us now that he has a ball and his jersey signed by Tatis. Thank you very much, Tatis. Thank you very much, Machado, Padres in general,” Ana Lopez said. “Honestly, to me, it’s a home run. It’s a home run to heaven.”
