Community members are being encouraged to participate in a softball and baseball tournament this weekend to help raise money for a local boy who is battling brain cancer.
Lafe Riggs, organizer of the Big Ball Benefit Tournament for Owen Matthews, says the all-day event will begin at 8 AM Saturday at the Lee S. Jones Ballpark in Eddyville.
He adds the slow pitch softball tournament will kick off at 2 PM.
Riggs notes there will also be a cornhole tournament beginning at 5 PM.
Owen, who is a 10-year-old Lyon County native, was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer, Rhabdomyosarcoma, on September 19, 2019. Riggs explains Owen takes treatments weekly, and sometimes daily, at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. At the beginning of January, Owen and his family moved to Cincinnati for 8 weeks to have chemotherapy and also radiation treatment. At Owens last PET scan they were informed that his tumor had become active again and started growing. The shrinkage they were able to get since September is now gone and the tumor is larger than it was originally. They are now in the process of getting another biopsy and bone marrow aspiration to see what and how active it is and determine a better course of treatment.
The entry fee for the tournament Saturday will be $250 for each team and those interested can contact Lafe Riggs at 270-564-5000.
