CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Calallen grad Valerie Perez is trading in her boots and jacket to go full-time with baseball, but one thing that will never change is her firefighter passion.
"The Corpus Christi Fire Department would like to thank Valerie Perez for 10 years," CCFD announced on Perez's retirement.
On National Firefighter Day, May 4, Valerie Perez signed off for the last time. Moving full-time to Savannah, GA as the head coach of The Firefighters, the third team in the Banana Ball organization.
"Representing Corpus while I'm in Savannah is something that's always going to be close to my heart. We still have all of our family here and a lot of our friends here, so we're leaving but it's something that we're never going to forget and we can't wait to come back."
The Firefighters played 19 games with sold out crowds in their inaugural season. This summer, they have 33 planned on the schedule with 3 million fans on the lottery list for tickets.
"We had a lot of positive feedback. Our first game that we won our opening weekend in Savannah the owner actually was like that's the first time the Bananas lost that the crowd cheered and went wild."
Perez served 10 years with the Corpus Christi Fire Department, creating memories that made it tough to say goodbye.
"Anytime you go through that sort of depth of an event with somebody you're going to have an unbreakable bond. That goes to show how hard it was on my last shift and how emotional it was to leave these guys."
Her entire life has been centered around a team. From Calallen softball, to becoming a firefighter, playing for Team USA Women's Baseball and now joining Banana Ball.
"One of my first draws to the Fire Station was actually the similarities of how it feels to be in a locker room with your teammates. Same thing going back to a locker room and leading that locker room in Savannah, it's going to be a pretty good transition for me."
"The Firefighters start their season May 23-24 in Kansas City, home of the Royals, facing the Savannah Bananas."
For the Banana Ball schedule click here.
