By Pat Gainor, Guest Writer

It’s no secret that the Cincinnati Reds are in the midst of one of their most dreadful seasons in recent memory. Amidst a historically bad 3-22 start to the season, major injuries to notable players like first baseman Joey Votto and second baseman Jonathan India, the team selling off beloved players like third baseman Eugenio Suarez,  and of course, Reds president Phil Castellini’s irreversible alienation between the fans and ownership.

However, that doesn’t mean that everyone has lost hope for this team. For Eryn Martin, a junior marketing major at Xavier, a job with the Reds Rally Pack cheerleaders couldn’t have been more perfect. “I just happened to find it on a job search thing and I’ve been a Reds fan my whole life,” says Martin, “It’s the perfect job, just cheering a lot for the team I like.”

If you’ve been to a Reds game this past year, you’ve probably seen the Rally Pack around the stadium, doing their best to help everyone in attendance have fun. “In the middle of the fourth inning, when the Redzilla goes around and shoots little balls into the crowd, that’s us,” said Martin, speaking to the various jobs the Rally Pack has throughout games, “And during the seventh inning stretch, we’re the ones standing on the dugout singing to everybody and throwing t-shirts out.”

Eryn also spoke excitedly about how thrilling the job is for her every day and how Opening Day was among her favorite moments. “I was really close to a lot of my favorite players, and it was just really cool seeing how excited the fans got and getting to be like ‘Okay, I’m the one that’s going to be getting up on the dugout for the seventh inning stretch.’” She also talked about how she got to meet Joey Votto. “It was crazy,” she said, “He’s been playing for 20 years, and I’m 20, so he’s been my lifelong Reds player.”