Novi High Hosts Annual 'Pink' Baseball Games

From NCSD: Baseball has been very, very good to Rick Green. But something was missing for the skipper, who is in his 18th season at Novi.

“I really never did any fundraising before and I thought I’ve got to do something to give back a little bit,” Green said. “I thought ‘I know some of our mothers, who have had breast cancer, some of the mothers of the kids that I’ve coached.’ So I thought this would be a good (fundraiser) to do.”

This Saturday, May 13, the Wildcats will host Grosse Pointe North and Detroit Catholic Central in the sixth annual Novi Wildcats Breast Cancer Awareness Baseball Tournament. Teams will use pink wooden bats and pink ribbon baseballs which will be supplied by the Novi baseball team. In addition, all players and umpires will wear pink wristbands during the three games, and all mothers and grandmothers attending the games will receive a pink flower.

“The pink bats and balls brings some uniqueness to the game,” Green said. “Those bats and those balls generate a lot of runs. They’ve usually been high-scoring games. It’s been a lot of fun and I think the kids love swinging the wood bats.”

It was during a breast cancer tournament that Novi senior Mitch Lys was first called up to varsity. “I like swinging the wood bats every once in a while,” he said. “My first varsity at-bat I hit with a wood bat and I had a pretty good day.”

Novi will kick off the Mother’s Day weekend tradition by playing GP North at 10 a.m. The second game will feature the Norsemen against Detroit Catholic Central at 12:30 p.m. Novi and CC will then square off in the third and final game at 3 p.m.

Admission is $15 with proceeds going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The three teams have all agreed to donate $200 each to the foundation. In five years, Novi baseball has raised nearly $10,000 – about $2,000 each year – for the fight against breast cancer.

Green hopes to raise more money this year.

“We’re trying to beat previous years by bringing in Catholic Central,” Green said. “They’re in the neighborhood and thought they would help bring in more of a crowd. I think that will be a very big game.

“I’ve talked it over with (CC coach) Dan Michaels about really raising the money with the three games. Our goal is to get at least $2,500. I think it could be a big day.”

Novi senior Alec Bageris said it’s always a good day when players can put on a show for their mothers.

“It’s good to have our mothers come out to watch us play the game that we love,” he said. “We’ve been doing it all our lives, so I’m sure they love coming out to watch on Mother’s Day weekend. Hopefully we can get a couple of wins for the moms, too.”

“I’ve talked it over with (CC coach) Dan Michaels about really raising the money with the three
games. Our goal is to get at least $2,500. I think it could be a big day.”
Novi senior Alec Bageris said it’s always a good day when players can put on a show for their
mothers.

“It’s good to have our mothers come out to watch us play the game that we love,” he said. “We’ve
been doing it all our lives, so I’m sure they love coming out to watch on Mother’s Day weekend.
Hopefully we can get a couple of wins for the moms, too.”

WHAT: Novi baseball’s sixth annual Breast Cancer Awareness Tournament.
WHO: Novi, Grosse Pointe North and Detroit Catholic Central varsity baseball teams.
WHEN: Saturday, May 13, 2017 – 10 a.m. Novi vs Grosse Pointe North; 12:30 p.m. Detroit Catholic
Central vs Grosse Pointe North; 3 p.m. Novi vs Detroit Catholic Central.
WHERE: Novi Baseball Stadium, corner of 10 Mile and Taft Roads.

Photo courtesy of NCSD ((From left to right) senior captains Mitch Lys, Alec Bageris, and Nate Lys show off a pink ribbon ball and pink wooden bat that will be used during Saturday’s three baseball games at Novi High School. (Photo by Bill Roose/NCSD))