UPDATE: Sequim, PA softball brings back ‘Pink Up’ event on April 29

Published 1:12 pm Wednesday, April 15, 2015

For another special afternoon at Sequim High School’s softball diamond, the game becomes quite serious.

On Wednesday, April 29, Community members are organizing the second “Pink Up” day in as many years, as members of the Sequim and Port Angeles High School fastpitch teams joined community members to help promote cancer awareness.

Donning special pink jerseys, the teams honor cancer survivors and collected donations for Operation Uplift before playing varsity and junior varsity games.

Ribbons that players select representing people they know or have known affected by cancer are tied to the chain link backstop at the Sequim High field.

This year’s guest speaker is Magan Waldron, Mrs. Olympic Peninsula, who will detail Operation Uplift. And, as with last year’s event, two cancer survivors are throwing out the first pitch.

Port Angeles youth Anne Edwards throws out the first pitch for the junior varsity game while Sequim resident Pam Vass throws out the first pitch for the varsity game.

“It’s nice to be able to honor a couple of survivors,” said Deon Kapetan, one of the event’s organizers.

The event starts at 3:45 p.m. with ceremonial pitches and the guest speaker, followed by the two games. Following the games, players and community members are invited onto the field to form a ribbon and pose for a group photo.

Vass found out she had leukemia in 1982 and developed two more kinds of cancer over the next six years. She has been cancer free since 1988, crediting  her husband and God for her recovery.

Edwards is a Port Angeles athlete that was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2013. She spent a year at Seattle Children’s Hospital fighting and beating cancer and was declared cancer free in 2014.

Immediately after beating cancer, Edwards returned to her sports and continues to compete as a gymnast and a softball player.

For more information, call 461-6511.