Local teams hope to strikeout cancer

On Monday, the North Putnam High School baseball team will host South Putnam 4:30 p.m. The two teams will be doing more than just playing each other for bragging rights or conference standings. They will be battling to defeat cancer.

North Putnam's Coach Norm Fish has teamed up with the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association in its "Baseball Strikes Out Kancer" campaign in an effort to raise awareness and money for the fight against cancer.

"The IHSBCA is a great organization and they approached me last year to get on board with this. I didn't get to do it, but I am this year," NPHS Coach Fish said. "My mother died of brain cancer, so this kind of hits home a little bit. Cancer is all over the place and you hear people talking about all the time. It is something that can hit any person at anytime and it's something that everybody needs to be aware of."

To help in the fight against cancer, both schools have agreed to pay an undetermined amount of money every time they strike out.

"It's kind of competitive way to help raise money," Fish said about the agreement.

There are different ways that money can be raised for this occasion too. People can simply donate money the traditional way or they can have some fun by making pledges for certain parts of the game. Examples would be pledge so much for guessing the final score or the amount of hits a team gets or if a player hits a home run. There are numerous ways to help donate to this cause.

"Hopefully some of the money that we raise Monday can help do some research towards a cure for cancer," Fish said.

The showdown between the Cougars and Eagles begins at 4:30 p.m. at North Putnam.