Riverdale’s baseball team won’t be fighting for the state championship this year. Instead it will join an even greater fight against childhood cancer.
To raise research funds and awareness for childhood cancer, Riverdale’s team will hold “One Tribe, One T, One Hope,” the second annual Alex’s Lemonade Grand Stand, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 26 at the Reservation-Jones Field.
The Grand Stand is a community baseball event that brings together T-ball and high school players to help raise critical funds for pediatric cancer research.
“It’s going to be a fun game for everybody,” said Michael Puckett, event organizer and board member of the Murfreesboro Baseball Association.
During the event, the Warriors will take on their fiercest competitors – Team Alex, a 4-year-old T-ball team and a 7-year-old coach-pitch baseball team from the Murfreesboro Baseball Association.
The teams will meet in a special T-ball game to raise money on behalf of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for childhood cancer. Admission is free and open to the public. All donations and proceeds will benefit childhood cancer research.
“It’s a real team effort to raise as much money as we can,” Puckett said.
Puckett said about 30 kids from the Murfreesboro Baseball Association will play a non-competitive, four-inning game against the Warriors’ combined varsity and junior varsity teams.
“My kids think they’re playing a major league baseball game,” Puckett said.
Joining in the chaos is Ozzie, mascot of the Nashville Sounds, who will play with both teams.
“He bridges the age gap to make sure the kids have fun,” Puckett said. “It’s a great opportunity for them to relax and have fun playing baseball.”
Puckett said this fun event is about a very serious issue, which affects children of all ages.
“Childhood cancer is the No. 1 killer of kids by disease,” he said, adding the baseball game is a way to get kids between the ages of 3 to 17 years old involved in the fight against the disease.
Along with ice cold lemonade, the Warriors will serve up traditional ballpark fare and include various family activities for children of all ages including coloring butterfly mobiles for the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, a raffle drawing for Sounds tickets, Alex’s Foundation merchandise and carnival games.
Karli Costlie, a 3-year-old eye cancer survivor, will throw out the first pitch. James Whitlock, director of the childhood cancer program at Vanderbilt’s Monroe Cantrell Children’s Hospital, will speak about importance of Alex’s Lemonade Stand in funding research locally.
The Lemonade Grand Stand grew from Alexandra “Alex” Scott’s lemonade stand and her dream of finding a cure for childhood cancer. Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a cancer that affects the nervous system, at 4 years old and eventually fell to the disease at 8 years old.
But her legacy lives on with Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer, which has raised more than $25 million to fund more than 80 research projects nationwide.
Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.
More Info …
Visit www.alexslemonade.org/stands/2900 |
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