Wacky Blog

Tournament Results and Reflection

This was the best tournament to date!!  First of all, congratulations to:

10u –  1st Place – Utah Thunder (Cancer Cutie – Angel Tyler Smith)

10u – 2nd Place – Zombie Hunters ’03 (Cancer Cutie – Presley Claverie)

12u – 1st Place – Diamond Heels (Cancer Cutie – Brinley Torres)

12u – 2nd Place – DC Demise (Cancer Cutie – Ryan Thomas)

14u – 1st Place – Elite (Cancer Cutie – Rebekah Magill)

14u – 2nd Place – Inferno (Cancer Cutie – Andy Stanley)

We kicked it all of on Thursday night with a quick welcome to hand out Cancer Cutie posters and tickets to participate in the skills contest.  We also welcomed our special guest, Reagan Everett.  She is a 17-year old softball player currently fighting cancer as a result of Li-Fraumeni Syndrome.  Wacky Warriors will be donating a percentage of our net proceeds to her foundation, www.titantough21.org. We then broke out for the clinic hosted by the Salt Lake Community College softball team.  While the clinic was underway, we selected teams to participate in the skills contest.  All things considered, it went relatively smooth.  I didn’t cry once! About 22 teams attended of the 44 teams registered to play, but it was perfect!

Opening Ceremonies



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Clinic about to begin!



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10u Thunder representing their cutie, angel Tyler Smith, by winning Around the Horn in their age bracket!



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On Friday, pool games began at 2:30 at three different softball parks.  I was with the 14u teams at Valley; Lee headed up several 12’s and 10’s at Vista; while Kelsey (Nick’s sister) and her former Bukoos teammate, Maddy, flexed their softball muscles at Redwood with the remaining 12’s.  Again, things flowed fairly well… except the scoreboard lights didn’t work, though they worked perfectly the day before when I checked.  It was a glitch I could live with.

Hot Shotz played for angel “Mr. C”. His favorite character was Peter Pan so they designed their uniforms appropriately. The girls are getting their “C”s out!  Coaches tees said “Captain Hook” and “Mr. Smee” – perfect!



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Saturday morning started a bit sketchy with a rainstorm that passed through, stopping at 8:45 a.m. (at least on my four fields); we were at it again at 9:00!  Teams began to be eliminated at 12:00 noon and that is when we began handing out tee shirts for every player.  This year was kind of cool in that we had some newbies saying goodbye to the teams while giving out the tees: Reagan was with me, Andrew and Ty (Nick’s friends), Jonathan (Nick’s cousin) and Kelsey, Maddy & Aerin.  They went out of their comfort zone to represent Nick and Wacky Warriors.

We had, of course, the usual bumps in the road with umpires (a few short), coaches (a few forgot their manners) and a half an hour lightning delay.  But all in all, we think it went very, very well, all in thanks to our volunteers, the field crew, the Cancer Cuties, the parents, the players and Lee, my partner in crime.  Here are a couple of my favorite moments:

When working the concession stand, a little boy about 4 years old come up and asks for a coke.  I gave it to him and he gave me a dollar.  I asked if he had fifty cents more.  He said, “I gave you a DOLLAR.”  He stared me down and I gave him a coke for a dollar.  Well played, young man.

Although my voice cracked several times revealing my underlying emotion, I only actually shed tears when the 14u team, Pegasus, surrounded me on Saturday in between games.  Each girl had dollar bills of varying amounts in their hands and circled around me to give me their donation.  Classy girls, classy team.

I am encouraging our volunteers to post their favorite moments, too.  Until then, here are some insights from others that express it better than I ever could:

“Ryan with his Wacky Warrior softball team…. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! We had a blast, girls…. Thanks for honoring him!” Ryan, cutie for DC Demise



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“Mom and I spent all day at he hospital, but the scans came back clear! No evidence of disease!!  We celebrated by watching BOTH of my teams play at the Wacky Warriors Softball Tournament. I will be there again today trying to cheer the both on, at the same time!! : )”  Hunter, cutie for Evolution ’02 & Venom

“We spent the afternoon at the ballpark. Wacky Warriors holds an annual charity softball tournament that benefits CureSearch. They have each team represent a cancer warrior and JP got to participate in the coin toss, team cheers and team photos. We had a blast! Thanks Wacky Warriors!!”  JP, cutie for Desert Falls Heat & Utah Ice

“Played my favorite tournament of the year! Wacky Warriors Cancer Tournament! We played for Alex again this year. It was extra special because we were able to meet his family! We are really honored as a team to to play for him! We love you Alex!”  Angel Alex, cutie for G-Force



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“Had a great time this weekend at the Wacky Warriors Softball Tournament. Hats off to these peaches for the best uniforms (my opinion). Nicholas Raitt is still the most inspiring person I’ve had the privilege to know.  I love and miss you, cousin.” by Jonathan Hughes, volunteer and cousin to Nick

“WACKY Softball Tournament is here again! Best tourney of the year! Thanks for allowing me to help 2nite —” by Jen Stahle, softball mom and volunteer

Izzy, cutie for Revolution


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“To a mom of a cancer fighting hero, seeing him (Korbyn) meet his teams and hang out with them tonight, seeing him be just be a kid tonight was so very awesome. It meant more than words can say. Zombie Hunters and Carbon Crush, you got this girls, you made this little boys night, and that made this mama so happy. They were so awesome to him, and he told more than once “his girls” were gonna be his friends forever. I love that they are playing this tournament to bring awareness to childhood cancer, and fundraising for research. And I actually recognized a few coaches and parents of the Orange shirt team. The coach said it motivated the girls to play harder knowing Korbyn was cheering them on. I think it helped him and me, just as much to watch them play. Wacky warriors. So so awesome.”  Korbyn, cutie for Carbon Crush & Zombie Hunters ’02.

“Here’s Carter’s amazing softball team. A very dedicated and sweet group of girls, I’m so grateful we got to spend the weekend cheering them on at the tournament – we hope to see these girls play again.”  Carter, cutie for Bad to the Bone and Blue Devils



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And here is a snippet put together by volunteer and friend, Ron: click here to watch the video.

Lee and I are very grateful to all the participants in making this tournament a huge success.  Although I’m still working on the numbers, we will be able to make a contribution to CureSearch for childhood cancer research, a contribution to First Descents (enough to send at least two young adult cancer survivors to an outdoor adventure camp next year) and another donation to Reagan Everett’s foundation, TitanTough21.  The whole overall feeling this year was amazing; the softball and childhood cancer communities coming together to play more than just a game; they played to save lives.  

To everyone involved, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  It really is true: together we’re better.

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