MIDLAND, Texas — The Midland United Girls Softball program is an opportunity for girls to get involved in softball. However, in the wake of the shooting in Uvalde, MUGS came together to offer support, prayers and eventually proceeds from a t-shirt fundraiser, for the people in Uvalde.
The players and coaches are proof that some things are bigger than sports. This is especially true because the shooting directly affected one of MUGS's own.
"We have one of our local players here that plays in our rec league here," Ryan Rodriguez, a coach that organized the fundraiser, said. "She has a couple family members that were out there [in Uvalde], and I wanted to go out there and try to help what I could do for these families. It’s tragic and it happened so quickly."
Before the slate of games, every team scheduled to play on Thursday evening gathered in one big circle to offer up their thoughts and prayers to the people of Uvalde.
"Well Ryan set this up," Rick Maddox, president of MUGS, said. "He called me and asked me about it, and I said that’s a perfect idea. It would be great. So we got all the teams together this Thursday night, and we circled up and had a prayer."
Prayers and soon to be funds heading towards Uvalde.
"I wanted to do what I could do and use my resources, and that’s what I came out here for," Rodriguez said. "I came out here and you saw the stickers. The shirts that we started, we’re gonna give those away. I mean not give them away but you know all the proceeds are going to go towards them."
Even though Midland may be four and a half hours away from Uvalde, west Texas is proving that we're right there by Uvalde's side.
"I mean we’re Texas," Rodriguez said. "We got to take care of each other, and we want to show them that we have their back."