Opening day is a celebration for baseball clubs and their fans across New York. A local woman may be the lead designer for one of those clubs, but she brings a lot more to the table, office and the diamond.

"I was always involved in sports growing up. I've been playing sports my entire life and I always wanted to stay and stick around in sports. So being able to design for a triple-A baseball team is honestly so unreal. I love it so much," said Buffalo Bisons head designer Ally Marcano.

That's an understatement for Marcano, who originally found employment in corporate design for just a few months when the local affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays had their job posting go up.

"The worst that they do is say no," Marcano said. "So I applied and got the job, it was pretty cool."

Fast forward and her team is celebrating a long-awaited Copa De La Diversiõn identity that Ally led the way in creating.

"We really liked the idea of the blue and the yellow, so yellow for light and then blue," she said, going over early drafts of the logo, color selection and imagery on her iPad where she hard drew the first sketches. "Our electricity comes from the water. So we wanted to incorporate the blue somehow."

The traditional Taino, or sun, symbol in a neon presentation was inspired by some local murals and graffiti, but also drew some incidental inspiration from her first alma mater, Coastal Carolina University.

"Not intentional at all, I swear," she said, sitting across the cubicle from the similarly tinted Chanticleer logos. "I realized that after I was like, man, 'I made them the the same color.' "

She spent four years at Coastal Carolina, a year during a master's program at the University at Buffalo, and played softball on the global stage.

"I am actually myself half Puerto Rican. And so I actually grew up and played softball in Puerto Rico my entire life," Marcano added. "I had thrown out the first pitch on Hispanic Heritage Night last year and I had worn my Puerto Rico jersey for that day as wellr."

She spent years on the mound from PR to high school just outside of New York City before making her way to Western New York.

"Buffalo honestly became my second home, just being able to play for the college here and being able to be close to home where my parents could come visit where I was when I was at Coastal, they couldn't come as much and just being able to see play over here represent the city, the community and people just bringing everybody together is pretty cool," she said.

The game is still a part of her life no matter the size of the ball. She now spends home games up in the press box showing off her designs on the video board.

"It's something like every little kid dreams of. Like when you go off the bat, hearing your name, getting calls," she noted. "Seeing your picture go up on the board and getting to design everything from the background stats and how your headshot looks. It's it's so cool. I kind of just live vicariously through the players as if it's me down there."

That's also where she'll help others in the community when she hires interns, passing along the knowledge and experience.

"Just seeing the different game day operations and what goes into behind the scenes of an actual game is honestly so cool," Marcano said. "I, in a million years, never would have thought, 'Wow, I have these people how to do this for my game when I played.' So just like kind of inspiring young kids that are even girls. So you can always be involved in sports, whether it's on the field or off the field."

But being a versatile part of the organization means she'll head down to the field again from time to time to help with skill camps.

"This was my first glove, my freshman year of college. And usually every year you get a brand new glove. But I refuse to part with this one. So I got my name on the side," she said pulling out an aged and weathered white glove, or at least what used to be white with her last name and Puerto Rican flag proudly showing through the years. "I love helping out the little kids, especially like they're like, 'What is it girl throwing?' That was my favorite."

It may not be the Yankees or Mets, but being part of a major organization in a sports town hits different for Marcano.

"Just being a part of a whole sports community is honestly really awesome, especially for baseball," Marcano noted. "Roberto Clemente opened the door for Latino players to play baseball. So I think it's pretty cool to have this around."

So whether you'll be rooting for the Red Wings (or Plates), Syracuse Mets (or Salt Potatoes), the big leaguers or the newly appointed Luces in Buffalo, it's an experience.

"Getting to see the kids super excited about a sport made me feel like, you know, that was me when I was that age. So I really love to give back to everybody and it's just a blessing to be here," she said.