CC Sabathia's PitCCh In Foundation To Host Its First-Ever Pickleball Tournament at The Racquet Lounge in Southampton

When Amber and CC Sabathia let it be known to their board of the PitCCh In Foundation that they wanted to have a pickleball tournament, board member Tim Clepper had a friend who just so happened to own The Racquet Lounge in Southampton.

Located at 125 Sandy Hollow Road, the private members only club that just opened last year is one of the few on the South Fork that offers tennis, pickleball and padel all at one location. The owner invited the Sabathias out to the club and offered to host the charitable event at no cost to the foundation. And thus, the first-ever PitCCh In Foundation PiCCkleball Tournament was born.

The tournament will take place on Friday, July 5, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at The Racquet Lounge, and will include many of Sabathia’s celebrity friends from across sports, entertainment and business to benefit the foundation. It will include a brunch, open bar, music and prizes for participants and winners.

The tournament is made possible by the generosity of Major League Baseball, Fanatics, the online license sportswear company, and Diageo, a British multinational alcoholic beverage company that has many worldwide sites including Southern Glazer’s in New York. The event will hit right after the famed “white party,” thrown by Fanatics founder Michael Rubin every Fourth of July on the East End.

Former attendees at Sabathia’s events, which included the PitCCh In Golf Outings and Celebrity Softball Games, include Tracy Morgan, Saquon Barkley, Jennifer Lopez, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, Leslie Jones, AJ Andrews, Ja Rule, Alex Rodriguez, Tiki Barber, Bun B, Action Bronson, Peter Rosenberg, Ashley Nicole Moss, Ryan Ruocco, Johnny Damon, Dellin Betances, Shiggy, Rudy Gay, THE KID MERO, Sharlee Jeter, Nigel Sylvester, Bridget Kelly, Willie Colon, Dascha Polanco, and more.

“To donate an entire location is a very expensive buyout, especially on July 5, but the owner of the club was willing to make a very generous in-kind donation to support the foundation, through his relationship with one of our board members,” Amber Sabathia said on Monday. “And our board member, Tim Clepper, was just really talking about what the foundation does and how passionate CC and I are about the foundation and how many years we have put into it. CC and I have always called it our fifth child.”

The foundation was founded in 2010 by CC Sabathia, the former Major League Baseball all-star, Cy Young Award winner and World Series champion, and his wife, Amber. The mission of the foundation is to enrich the lives of youth by raising their self-esteem through educational and athletic activities. The foundation is far reaching as it works in the Tri-State area as well as previous locations of where Sabathia previously pitched in, including Cleveland and Milwaukee, as well as Vallejo, California, the hometown of both CC and Amber Sabathia.

The foundation includes a backpack program to elementary school youth in both New York and California, equipping students with essential school supplies. It also includes a mentoring program for middle-school aged children, scholarship programs for graduating seniors in New York and California, an internship program for college students, baseball clinics across the country, and a holiday caravan to provide gifts for those in need. It also includes field renovations to sports facilities.

One thing that all foundation events are sure to have is fun.

“In the past, in addition to our celebrity softball, golf and basketball games, we’ve also done scavenger hunts in Central Park. We’re big on not doing traditional galas,” Amber Sabathia said. “CC is an athlete himself, so we like to do something fun that gets people moving, and anyone can play pickleball. Even after celebrating the Fourth of July, everyone can come out and play, and it’ll be perfect timing.”

“I always say ‘change costs,’ and for us to be impactful and serve our communities, we have to raise the funding for our foundation,” she continued. “But people also want to have fun while they’re doing it and we feel like this is a great way for people to give back, make a difference, but also make it a family event and bring your family out, bring your kids out.

“There will be a brunch, it will be a ton of fun. The day after Fourth of July families will still be together, still celebrating into the weekend. As soon as we got the invite to have it at The Racquet Lounge and we knew they were supporting the event, it was a no brainer for us because we feel like this is a fun day, a way families can get together, friends can get together, a little friendly competition.

“Hopefully no one pulls any muscles or gets injured while playing pickleball. When we started the golf event it was because of COVID and we had to be outside. We had to do something, and now we’re on our fourth year of our golf event in September. That is also lots of fun and celebrities love to come out and support.”

For more information on sponsorship packages and pricing, email Carol Gill at cgill@pitcch.org, or go to https://bit.ly/pif-picckleball. For more information on the PitCCh In Foundation, visitpitcch.org or visit the PitCCh In Foundation on Instagram.