Following the cancer diagnosis of someone close to the team, the players decided to strike back against the disease.
When Burlington Township High School senior Zachary Evans and his fellow teammates learned their baseball coach’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, they knew they had to act. Evans, the team’s senior captain, said they looked to their fellow teams at school that put on events to raise funds for cancer research in the past.
“All of the sports teams at the school do some kind of cancer classic,” Evans said. “We wanted to bring something special to the baseball community.”
So Evans and his teammates approached their coach with a simple idea to play one game that would incorporate a way to raise funds for breast cancer. Weeks later, that simple idea transformed into a two-day “Strike Out Cancer” tournament the team plans to make an annual event. This year’s tournament will take place on April 7 and April 8 at Maple Shade High School, with proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Jason Stec has coached the team for 11 years and taught history at the school for 13 years. He said when his wife Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer in December, he seriously considered forgoing his coaching duties this season, but his wife urged him not to. When his players came to him to ask about planning a game to raise funds for breast cancer research, Stec and his wife were deeply moved.
Some members of the team had done research and found the Strike Out Cancer logo online. From there, Stec said he thought the game they had scheduled against Maple Shade might be a good fit for the event, and in speaking with their coach, Keith Williams, he learned they were also interested in creating a tournament to benefit cancer research. Things accelerated quickly, with two more teams from Deptford High School and The King’s Christian School joining.
“It wasn’t planned on being this big,” Stec said. “It kind of got big on its own.”
Parents and students wanted to lend their support to the event, Stec said. The team created shirts with the Strike Out Cancer logo, which are pink featuring a breast cancer research ribbon and a baseball, and they sold 1,500 shirts in the first week. At Burlington Township High School, the staff will wear the gear or pink to school on April 6 to show their support for the team’s efforts.
The tournament kicks off 4 p.m. on Friday, April 7 at Maple Shade High School with Deptford facing off against King’s Christian. At 7 p.m., Burlington Township will play Maple Shade. On Saturday, the winners of each game will battle it out at 1 p.m., with a consolation game for the two other teams following.
Parents are donating their time to work the stands and man donation boxes during the tournament, Stec said. Volunteers will sell t-shirts both days, and Stec said he has received the support of the Maple Shade Babe Ruth Association, which will donate all the proceeds from food sold to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation as well.
Stec’s wife, Michelle, suggested the foundation. He said each year, the salon where Michelle work holds a cut-a-thon event benefitting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and she chose the organization because more than 90 percent of the funds donated go directly to research.
While the event is deeply personal for Stec, he said he knows he is not the only member of his team who has been or will be touched by cancer and tragedy. He said has had players lose a parent or siblings to cancer, and so when his team came to him, it put things in perspective.
“They always have a smile on their faces, and to hear they were willing to try to do something, it was really cool,” Stec said.
Both Stec and Evans said they are optimistic the Strike Out Cancer tournament will become an annual event not just for Burlington Township but the surrounding areas. Stec said he has already proposed the Burlington County Scholastic league designate at least one game a season as as the “Strike Out Cancer Classic.”
“I just wanted to make my coach happy,” Evans said. “Hopefully, we can do this for years to come.”
