For the fifth consecutive year, the Port Washington Baseball program hosted their prestigious Coaches vs. Cancer event on Saturday, April 16, at Guggenheim Elementary School. All three baseball squads were in action against Mineola.
The idea of Coaches vs. Cancer is to help raise money for the American Cancer Society for cancer research. Varsity Baseball Coach Matt Holzer feels that this event was created to show the boys that as athletes, it’s important to give back and help out in the community.
“Cancer unfortunately touches everyone at some point, whether it’s friends and family or even yourself,” said Holzer. “It’s one of those diseases that’s important to donate as much money as possible to try and come up with a great cure for.”
Last year, they raised around $2,000. The goal this year was to raise the same amount if not more and they have reached that goal once again. Holzer was pleased that the trend of playing in comfortable weather and with tremendous support from the community continued. He and the rest of the coaching staff are thankful for all the parents who came out and volunteered to make this event possible.
Schreiber Athletics Director Stephanie Joannon also took part in the festivities and praised the staff for putting in a lot of effort to make this event a continued success for the community.
“I think this event means a tremendous amount to the players, coaches, parents and the community,” said Joannon. “I’m very proud of all our coaches and teams that take on this cause every year.”
Spectators had a chance to buy T-shirts and enjoy some food and beverages as they cheered on the baseball teams throughout the day.
The eighth-grade team kicked off the festivities with a 14-1 win. The varsity team followed up with a 9-2 victory and the junior varsity team capped off the day winning their game 14-3. At the end of the day, it was all about giving back to the community and helping to raise money for a great cause. According to Holzer, it’s not about winning but it’s about making a difference.
“I think baseball is secondary today,” said Holzer. “It would be nice to get the ‘W’ but as long as we raised a good amount of money for the American Cancer Society, that’s the main goal today.”
On May 7, the softball teams will host their own Coaches vs. Cancer
at the PAL Field. The eighth grade team will play at 12:30 p.m., the
junior varsity team will take the field at 3 p.m. and the varsity squad will close out the day at 6:30 p.m.
