An early season rainout of Washington’s baseball game with Riverside led to the blossoming of today’s Relay for Life Play for a Cure contest in which all the proceeds from the gate and concession stands will go towards fighting cancer. The game is slated to begin at 6 p.m. inside Skewarkee Park.
The two teams were scheduled to play their non-conference matchup in the beginning of the season but inclement weather forced it to be scratched. When talk arose about when to replay the contest, both coaches agreed that doing today as part of Riverside’s Cancer Awareness Week was the right call.
Washington’s first-year coach Ryan Whitney praised Riverside manager Hank Tice for putting the idea in motion.
“The credit has to go to Hank Tice. He and I had originally scheduled this game earlier in the season and when we talked about a makeup game last week he happened to mention that they were planning to do this and I told him based on some things that I have gone through this past year that we would certainly love to do whatever we can to be involved and play a part in it,” Whitney said.
In recent years both schools have seen star athletes affected by the illness as former Pam Pack volleyball player Haley Hiatt and former Williamston/Riverside ace Matthew Perry each were diagnosed with Hodgkin’s’ disease.
“Cancer has affected a lot of lives in Eastern North Carolina and it’s affected my family,” Tice said. “I just think it’s our job as educators and coaches to try to find some way to give back to our community and it’s a great way to do it. I’m excited and hope a lot of people come out and support it and maybe we can turn some money over to cancer research.”