Sports

Merrick-North Merrick Little League renames ball field as 'Forever 9 Field'

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Robbie’s Run, which commemorates 9-year-old Robbie Levine of Merrick, who died of heart failure in 2005 while rounding the bases during a Little League practice, attracted more than 1,700 participants between the annual event’s 5K, mile- and half-mile races through Merrick streets and fields on Sunday.

As part of the festivities, Joseph Rocco, president of the Merrick-North Little League, announced that the league was naming its front baseball field at Levy-Lakeside Elementary School in Merrick as the “Forever 9: Robbie Levine Foundation Field” in honor of all the work that Robbie’s parents, Jill and Craig Levine, have done to fundraise to purchase automated external defibrillators for youth ball fields. The announcement came as a surprise to the Levines, who said they were deeply moved by the gesture.