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City honors late little leaguer with baseball complex name

City honors late little leaguer with baseball complex name
Posted at 10:54 PM, Mar 28, 2017
and last updated 2018-06-19 15:00:58-04

A baseball complex in Belton is getting a new name in honor of a player who lost his battle with cancer in November.

The Belton City Council passed the resolution Tuesday night after the Belton Youth Baseball Association asked in February to name the baseball fields at Heritage Park the Jace Jefferson Complex.

Twelve-year-old Jace Jefferson lived his life for baseball.

"His life consisted of playing and being on the field and if he wasn't on the field, he was cheering someone on that was on the field or teaching him something he thought they needed to know," said Meloney Jefferson, Jace's mother.

Meloney said brain cancer took her son's life away in November of 2016 after a battle that started in June of 2015.

"He was a great friend, a great baseball player, a great mentor," Meloney said.

Because of that, the life he lived on the field will live on in his name.

"We want people to remember that Jace had the values and the sportsmanship that we want here in Belton and he really embodied that," said Eric Johnson, the Belton Youth Baseball Association President.

"I never imagined that he made the impact that he made to have a whole complex named after him," Jefferson said.

Even though Jace will never get to be on the fields again, his family and friends say his name will always remind them of his spirit and inspire them to do what you love.

The Belton Youth Baseball Association said it will cover all the costs to put up new signs with Jace's name and then plan the naming ceremony.

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