MORGANTOWN — Though the postseason looms for the Morgantown and University High softball teams, today’s matchup at Mylan Park will have a more meaningful impact than playoff seedings.
The crosstown rivals will join together to participate in “StrikeOut Cancer,” a game that helps raise cancer awareness and to honor survivors and those lost to the disease.
MHS partnered with the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, which organizes StrikeOut Cancer to use “the personal experiences, community leadership and professional excellence of fastpitch softball coaches nationwide to help increase cancer education and promote healthy living through awareness efforts,” according to the association’s website.
MHS coach Lorri Lipscomb has a testimony to learning about the effects of cancer — she lost her brother and sister nearly a year apart to different types of cancer.
“Cancer awareness is something near and dear to me, and most people out there have been touched by it in one way or another,” she said. “This gives us an opportunity to honor some people who are cancer survivors or may have lost someone along the way.”
Mountainview Elementary teacher Teressa Richardson, a breast cancer survivor, will throw out the first pitch. UHS will join the effort as each team will wear special T-shirts commemorating the game. Signs can be filled out to memorialize those who have died or for survivors.
“We’ll just be playing for people who have or have had cancer,” Lipscomb said.
The Mohigans (13-3) battled the weather for the last week and a half — they’ve played just two games since April 11, including a 10-0 win over Fairmont Senior on Monday night. Rainouts and cancellations have been tough on MHS’s schedule heading into the OVAC and sectional tournaments. Sectionals begin May 2 and the Mohigans are favored to be the top seed in Region I, Section 2.
The Hawks spent last week at Disney’s Wide World of Sports for their spring training trip.
First pitch is set for 5 p.m. Tuesday.
