The Chapel Hill High School baseball team beat rivals East Chapel Hill High School May 3 in a game that marked both a conference championship for the Tigers and a fundraiser for cancer research.
The final score was 3-2, with the game going into extra innings and Chapel Hill seeing runs from senior Drew Govert, junior Colin Liebe and junior Tyler Tachman.
After a first pitch thrown by University of North Carolina basketball player Luke Maye, East Chapel Hill High School scored a run in the very first inning.
However, neither team would score again until the fifth inning, when teams exchanged runs to bring the game to a score of 1-2. Chapel Hill High School brought the game to a tie in the sixth inning, with a hit by senior Ryan Lonegan.
A hit by senior Anthony Castellano allowed junior Tyler Tachman to get the game-winning run in the tenth inning.
“It felt amazing. There was so much riding on that game from beating our rival to winning conference and the crowd was the biggest I had seen at any high school game for any sport,” Castellano said. “[But] what I enjoyed a lot more was celebrating with the team. We had worked extremely hard all year to accomplish that goal, and, when we finally did, everyone was very happy. We got to dogpile and celebrate the win as a team. The game really was a team effort.”
Together the teams raised over $25,000 for cancer research, with Chapel Hill High School bringing in about $20,000 of those funds.
The team fundraised by using social media and networking with parents, family, friends and students, and promoting the event on WCHL 97.9 sports.
Half of the funds went to local pediatric cancer organizations. The other half went to The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides educational information about pediatric brain tumors and college scholarships for families of the newly diagnosed.
Seniors Jeffrey Case, Castellano, junior Tachman, and coaches Lee Land and Logan Howard all shaved their heads in support in the event.
“I decided to shave my head this year and last year because it means very much to me. I know many people who have been affected, and this is my way to show support towards them and to the thousands of other people,” Case said.
The season marked Lee Land’s fifth as the head coach of Chapel Hill High School’s baseball team.
“Being a part of the Vs. Cancer games with our team is something that really stands out. In four years, we have raised just short of $60,000 for the Vs. Cancer Foundation,” he said. “[That is] the most in the country and something that this program and I will always be proud of.”
