On April 22, the women’s softball team held their annual Score for the Cure game in a doubleheader against Sweet Briar College.

“It is important for sports team to get involved in causes because it helps spread the word,” said senior infielder Taylor Boyd. “There are many fans and families that come to sporting events and they are able to contribute as well as spread the word on how others can help.”

The game involves collecting money for the American Cancer society, an organization devoted to ending cancer.

“Cancer strikes a lot of people and it’s something that’s a passion of mine, to help in the fight,” said head coach Dennis Shores. “We started this probably eight (or) nine years ago, just to do a community service project. I think our first year, we collected $150, which we thought was great.”

In the weeks leading up to the event, each student was assigned to a department on campus.

“I’m doing career development, so I was responsible for going to their office and asking for donations,” said sophomore outfielder Sabrina Moreno. “It could be as little as a penny or a dollar, but however many runs we score, that’s how much it adds up to.”

Donations could either be flat or a donation per run, which means that the amount pledged gets multiplied by the amount of runs scored.

“The goal is always to get as many donations and runs as possible in order to make a greater impact for Cancer research,” said sophomore infielder Savannah Yale. “I know the team stepped up this year and tried to contact every department on campus as well as reaching out to the community.”

While everyone does the best they can to collect donations, this cause also hits home for some of the team.

“It means a lot to me because my grandmother had breast cancer and skin cancer,” said first-year Natalie Conrad.

Every sports team at Guilford is required to do a service project, according to Shores.

“I believe it is important for sports teams to get involved in causes such as this because it helps to better the community as well as shows that there are more to sports teams than just playing the game,” said junior pitcher Courtney Lackey.

The softball team specifically is excited about using their roles to create a space to talk about cancer.

“We have a large platform on which to showcase our cause and to help raise awareness,” said sophomore infielder Katy Holt. “By hosting games such as Score for the Cure, we’re able to draw attention to a cause and to get others in our community involved in the cause. It’s important for us to take advantage of the opportunities we have to make a difference.”

The Score for the Cure game also fell on senior day this year, a celebration of the seniors on different sports teams.

“(It’s) bittersweet, but always a great time being with them on the field before we head to (Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament),” said sophomore catcher Makayla Crawford.

Returning players, coaches and faculty are already looking to next year.

“We have five seniors leaving and they’re all leaving, so it’s going to be hard to replace them, but we have some really good players coming in,” said assistant coach Anna Mitchell.

Shores and Mitchell have already completed recruitment for the 2017-18 academic year.

“I’m looking forward to meeting new members who join the team,” said Co-Chair of Environmental Studies and Assistant Professor of Geology Holly Peterson, who also serves as the softball team’s faculty athletic mentor.

“It is, of course bittersweet to say goodbye to the seniors as they move onward and upward, although we hope they’ll come back to say hello next year and beyond, but it is also wonderful to watch the underclassmen develop their skills and camaraderie.”

To get involved with next year’s Score for the Cure game, contact Shores at [email protected].