Wednesday, September 03, 2003

By Margaret Smykla, Tri-State Sports & News Service

The four Kohnfelder sisters of Green Tree live together, traveled together to Europe in 2001, throw annual parties and, for 60 or so too-brief but shining seconds at PNC Park last week, raced as pierogies together.

The occasion, for which Lucy, 23, Olivia, 26, Becky, 34, and Nora Kohnfelder, 37, donned zany costumes to become Sauerkraut Saul, Oliver Onion, Jalapeno Hannah, and Cheese Chester, respectively, was the pierogi races, held after the fifth inning of all Pirates baseball home games.

	The Pierogies mix it up with the Pirate Parrot at Thursday's game with the Marlins. Inside the Pierogi costumes are sisters, from left standing, Nora Kohnfelder as Cheese Chester and Becky as Jalapeno Hannah; and on the ground, Olivia as Oliver Onion and Lucy as Sauerkraut Saul. (Matt Freed, Post-Gazette)

In them, the four pierogies appear on the Jumbotron screen as animated characters darting among local sites such as The Andy Warhol Museum, a Mount Washington incline, South Side and others, before crossing the Clemente Bridge into PNC Park.

There, their live counterparts emerge from right field to race, amid pratfalls and other shenanigans, to the finish line by first base.

Thursday's race with the Kohnfelders began with Oliver Onion and Jalapeno Hannah running onto the field holding hands. When Oliver bent over to tie his shoe after the Pirate Parrot, to create havoc, pointed out it was untied, Sauerkraut Saul barreled into Oliver and both fell. Hannah, angry at Oliver for falling for the Parrot's trick, hit Oliver with her purse before chasing him and the Parrot off the field.

Amid cheers and high-fives from fans, including father Earl Kohnfelder, brother Roger Kohnfelder, and friends, Cheese Chester won the race.

The high jinks were choreographed by Nora Kohnfelder, who works part time at PNC Park as a technical director for the Jumbotron, cutting and dissolving between live action and graphics replays. The script, which she wrote to let her sisters "do the fun part," was approved by Eric Wolff, director of in-game entertainment for the Pirates, who gave the go-ahead for the sisters to appear at Nora's request.

"The anticipation was half the fun," said Lucy, who rehearsed with her sisters during the innings before the race in the hallways off the service tunnel under the stands.

While Olivia, Becky and Nora found the costumes hot and awkward, especially the large shoes, an experienced Lucy said it was simpler and lighter than the Chuck E. Cheese outfit she had worn in a previous job.

"I knew what to expect and the shoes didn't seem that big," she said.

	The faces outside the costumes, from left: Nora, Becky, Olivia and Lucy Kohnfelder. (John Heller, Post-Gazette)

The sisters are the daughters of Mary and Earl Kohnfelder of Mt. Lebanon, where they grew up, attending St. Bernard School and Mt. Lebanon High School. They have three brothers.

Nora, who works in corporate communications at FedEx Ground, said the best thing about being a pierogi was "being out there and tripping over each other."

Olivia, a logistics representative for Bayer Polymers, and Becky, a data conversion operator for the U.S. Postal Service, enjoyed explaining to friends from outside Pittsburgh what a pierogi is, and about pierogi races.

"You run out and suddenly see the lights, and you're on the field and the crowd is cheering," said Lucy, a server at the Montour Heights Country Club, describing the highlight of the experience.

All the sisters said they would gladly do it again.

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