Courtesy photo The Alpena Wildcats varsity baseball team huddled up during last year’s Strikes Out Cancer Tournament. This year’s tournament features four teams, and the action begins Friday at 5 p.m. and concludes on Saturday.

ALPENA – Local baseball fans and community members are invited to the Alpena High School this weekend for the annual Friends Together Strikes Out Cancer baseball tournament.

The fundraising event helps support cancer patients and families across Northeast Michigan.

The Alpena Wildcat baseball program hosts the tournament beginning on Friday and it continues on Saturday at the high school ballfields. For Alpena Head Coach Eric MacKenzie this annual tournament holds special meaning.

“This tournament used to be known as the Wildcat Invitational back when I played high school baseball, and it was just a yearly tournament,” MacKenzie said. “My father was the coach, and he retired the same year my mother passed away from cancer, after that the new varsity coach Phil Shultz renamed the tournament the MacKenzie Invitational after my mother who passed away from colon cancer.”

“It has been the MacKenzie Invitational since then, up until last year, when we decided to team up with Friends Together and change the name,” MacKenzie added.

Friends Together is a nonprofit organization that provides support to cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, and loved ones throughout Northern Michigan. The funds raised throughout the tournament will go directly to the organization.

“All the proceeds that we raise goes back to Friends Together, I believe last year we raised over $1500 that we donated,” MacKenzie said. “There are raffle items provided by Friends Together and each team brings a basket that represents their town, and we raffle it off and those proceeds also go to Friends Together.”

The tournament holds a special place in the hearts of many residents who know all too well what it’s like to deal with the hardships and uncertainty that cancer brings.

“It’s a way for us to give back to the community and to help a program that means a lot to me and many people in the community,” MacKenzie said. “Over the years we have had several former and current players with family members that are battling cancer, and we want them to know they are not alone.”

With prom also scheduled this weekend the number of teams has changed from six to four this year. MacKenzie discussed the format of the tournament and how a winner will be crowned.

“This year we have four teams, it will be a round robin format with each team playing each other, we play Negaunee on Friday and then we will play Sault Ste Marie Saturday morning and then Freeland Saturday afternoon,” MacKenzie explained. “Whoever has the best record will win the tournament.”

“If there are teams with the same record, it then goes off of runs allowed and the team who allowed the least runs will win the tournament,” MacKenzie added.

The tournament will honor the memory of Friend’s Together founder, Judy Burns, who passed away prior to last year’s tournament after her own battle with cancer.

“A couple days before last year’s tournament Judy passed away, who started Friends Together, so we did a tribute to her and this year we have a moment of silence scheduled prior to the first pitch.

Program Director for Friends Together, Malinda Amlotte, spoke about the presence the organization will have at the tournament, assisting with various raffles and fundraising efforts.

“We will have some of our staff and volunteers present selling raffle tickets for the basket raffles that will be taking place,” Amlotte said. “Funds donated through third party fundraisers like this one go a long way towards our general fund and being able to help as much as possible.”

“Our most in demand service is help with transportation for patients who might have to travel several days a week for either local appointments, or appointments down state, this goes a long way in helping us provide gas cards and transportation, especially with the current gas prices” Amlotte added.

“This is Friends Togethers 36th year and we continue to serve Northeast Michigan cancer patients and their families in a six-county area. We could not do this without the support of our community and people willing to go to bat for the cause.”

The tournament officially kicks off on Friday, however, there will be a ceremonial first pitch prior to the first game on Saturday morning. There will be a special national anthem performed by former Alpena High students as well as basket raffles, and locations to make donations.

“It’s a great event and we are hoping to get a lot of people there to support the tournament and raise as much money as we possibly can for Friends Together,” Mackenzie said.

Schedule of Games:

Friday

Alpena vs Negaunee – 5 p.m.

Sault Area vs Freeland – 5 p.m.

Saturday

Alpena vs Sault Area – 10 a.m.

Freeland vs Negaunee – 10 a.m.

Sault Area vs Negaunee – 12pm

Alpena vs Freeland – 12:30pm