DRAPER — Two rival baseball programs combined to do more than just play a great game on Tuesday afternoon.
Juan Diego and Judge Memorial faced each other in a Swing For Life Pink Awareness Game to raise money for cancer research. Money was raised during the game, which the Soaring Eagle won, 6-3, by selling T-shirts and auctioning off signed gloves and helmets.
Juan Diego sophomore Matt Howa, the nephew of Swing For Life founder Kathy Howa, helped organize the event. He had the duties of getting the idea of a pink baseball game approved by his coach, Troy Davis, finding a willing opponent, and getting both teams jerseys with pink numbers on them for the event.
"I think it turned out good," Matt Howa said. "I think we made a lot of money. I think the shirts and jerseys look cool."
Both teams were proud to be a part of a Swing For Life event. In eight years, Swing For Life has generated a little more than $494,000 for cancer research. Money raised on Tuesday was donated to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
"It was a pretty special day," Davis said. "Matt Howa did a great job organizing everything for the kids. He took the bull by the horns, got all the jerseys set up, all the numbers set up. He was the guy that kind of organized the whole adventure for us. It was pretty neat for a sophomore to take that kind of charge. He's a really good kid."
Once Juan Diego was on board to play in a Pink Awareness game, there was no doubt which team the Soaring Eagle would face. Juan Diego and Judge have played in the last two 3A championship games.
"It was planned that way," Davis said. "We knew Judge would support it as well."
The game itself was much closer than anticipated. The first time the two teams played, back on April 5, Juan Diego won 10-0 in five innings. The Bulldogs appear to be much improved since then, and stayed within a run of the Soaring Eagle for much of the rematch.
The pitching of Luke West and a couple of insurance runs in the seventh proved to be too much for Judge to overcome. West threw a complete game with eight strikeouts and seemed to get stronger as the game went on. He has now defeated Judge the last three times the two teams have played.
West helped himself get going on the mound by blasting a towering solo home run in the second inning.
"It really pumped me up that's for sure," West said. "It was my first one of the season, so I was pretty stoked about that."
The Soaring Eagle gave West some breathing room in the seventh. Juan Diego, which was the designated visiting team on its home field, got an RBI triple from Ajay Pizza In the standings, Juan Diego improved to 4-0 in Region 11 and 10-3 overall, while Judge fell to 2-4 and 5-10. But both teams had reason to be proud after aiding a worthy cause.
"It's a really good cause," West said. "We need to get out there and help those people. It's a big deal."
e-mail: aaragon@desnews.com