Can a young person’s athletic ability help save a life? It can when that ability belongs to a person whose character and commitment are combined with love for others who are disadvantaged and often in life-threatening medical situations.
And because of a wonderful idea by Quitman High School student/athlete Maggie Guyotte for a senior class project, you can also take part through donating to the “Homeruns for Hope” fundraiser, where all money raised goes to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
Beginning this Thursday with the Quitman Invitational Softball Tournament, you are asked to donate an amount of money of your choice for every home run hit. It can be for a homerun by any player, or home runs hit by a team(s) during the tournament, or for the rest of the year by a player or any team, anywhere. Your donation isn’t restricted to just softball teams in the state but baseball teams can get involved as well.
The fundraising idea has quickly become popular in the sports community and has even caught the eye of the producers of 446 Sports, who not only did a feature interview with Guyotte but also will be streaming the tournament games on their website and have pledged $10.00 for every home run hit during the tournament to the project.
“I’ve always wanted to do something for St. Jude’s,” said Guyotte on how her fundraising idea came to fruition during her 446 Sports interview. “It is heartbreaking to see young people go through such tragedy, and we have had a family member suffer from childhood cancer, so we know what it feels like to see them deal with things like this.”
To donate money to the Homeruns For Hope Fundraiser, click on the QR code shown below and follow the instructions on the link.
Quitman Invitational to feature top softball teams across the state
Other than the annual state tournament, it is not often that fans of high school softball can watch the top teams from across the state in one place. That is the case this Thursday and Friday, March 27-28, when 24 of the top teams in the state from all classifications, including Quitman and Weston High Schools from Jackson Parish, descend on the Jackson Parish Recreation Department Sports Complex for the 7th annual Quitman Invitational. The game schedule is shown below.
Schedule of Games for Jackson Parish Schools
The Quitman Invitational isn’t the only softball and baseball games scheduled for Jackson Parish schools. For a complete schedule of games this Wednesday – Saturday see below.
Wednesday, March 25th
JHHS vs Cedar Creek (Baseball) 5:00 pm
Thursday, March 26th
JHHS vs Union (Softball) 5:30 pm
Quitman at Airline (Baseball) 4:30 pm
Weston at Union Parish (Baseball) 5:30 pm
Friday, March 27th
JHHS vs Simsboro (Softball) 5:00 pm
JHHS vs Lincoln Prep (Baseball) 5:00 pm
Quitman at Red River (Baseball) 5:30 pm
Weston vs St. Frederick (Baseball) 6:00 pm