Just when it seems like so much is bleak and dismal in the world comes a story like the recent fundraiser organized by Georgia Heathcock and her brother Ben.
A 2022 grad at Little Elm (Texas) High who is a catcher and infielder in the Texas Glory organization, she is described perfectly by one of her coaches, Ed Naudin, who says:
“Georgia has the high academics plus the softball tools, with the aspirations to become a difference maker in the world.”
A week ago Sunday (Jan. 31, 2021), the UC San Diego commit organized a home run derby under the name Striking Out Leukemia for top softball players around North Texas.
Today is World Cancer Day and I am excited to be fundraising on behalf of LLS as a candidate for the SOY campaign.
Today, my goal is to raise as much money as possible to support LLS in their efforts to find a cure for blood cancers. Here is my link: https://t.co/IHOy5L0NXp pic.twitter.com/PptIGkAXGG
— Georgia Heathcock (@georgia_heath2) February 4, 2021
Originally scheduled for Jan. 25 but delayed because of bad weather, the Striking Out Leukemia fundraiser had 25 athletes—including the event director herself—participate and raise what is thought to be in the low five figures for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Here, in her own words are the details from this impressive event to raise money for a great cause:
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The Home Run Derby (officially, the “NTX High School Kickoff HR Derby – Benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society“) came about because my brother Ben and I are participating in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Students of the Year program.
The Students of the Year campaign is a seven-week initiative in which nominated high school students (individually or in a group) participate in a fundraising competition to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) North Texas Chapter, raising funds to support patients battling blood cancers.
Here is an information sheet on the program:
As we were brainstorming ideas for fundraiser events a few things were happening:
One, we were trying to find something that we could pull off outdoors so that we could social-distance and maintain safety protocols. Also, we were looking for something that could involve softball or baseball (Ben is a freshman in the baseball program at our high school).
We thought, “We have so many great softball players in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, why not pull them together for a hit-a-thon or home run derby?”
Since everyone loves to hit home runs, we went that route. Plus, with a home run derby, we could fundraise and then compete!
We set up the fundraiser just like a hit-a-thon or a walk-a-thon—basically any fundraiser where participants collect pledges… in this case per home run or flat donations. Each of the got 20 pitches in our Fundraising Round to hit as many bombs as possible.
After the fundraiser, then we competed.
Our first round of competition each participant swung until they reached 10 outs (non-HR swings).
The Top 8 from that round advanced. Dee McClarity, a 2022 Texas Tech commit from Sachse, Texas, hit 28 in that round!
From Round 1, here are the Top 8 with their home runs (Italicized numbers mean round was cut short due to player hitting enough to advance).
| Participant | Competition |
| Dee McClarity (Sachse HS 2022, Texas Tech) | 28 |
| Elizabeth Moffitt (Prosper HS 2022, Fresno St) | 17 |
| Sydney Lewis (Prosper HS 2022, Maryland) | 12 |
| Savannah Williams (Frisco Independence 2021, North Dakota State) | 11 |
| Emma Robertson (Fort Worth Boswell 2021, Houston) | 10 |
| Macy Graf (Aledo HS 2022, Mississippi State) | 10 |
| Micaela Wark (Frisco Reedy HS 2021, Kansas) | 10 |
| Tatum Wright (Frisco Centennial, Uncommitted) | 10 |
We worked our way through to the finals, where Dee beat out Emma Robertson, 15-10.
During the event, the Dallas Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Student of the Year Honored Hero, seven-year-old Max Hinojosa and his family came by to say a few words to the girls about the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the importance of the work they are doing.
At just one month old, Max was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of Leukemia called Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML). After weeks of treatments, surgeries, and procedures, Max’s medical team decided to try a drug that had been funded by LLS.
He underwent treatment for almost a year before his body became stable, free from any medical intervention. Max’s father Cristian is a Captain in the Dallas Fire Department and spoke to the girls about Max’s story and expressed his gratitude for the fundraiser.
Here are the total round-by-round results of each player who competed:
| Participant Name | Fundraising | Competition | Quarter | Semis | Finals |
| Dee McClarity | 6 | 28 | 4 | 3 | 15 |
| Emma Robertson | 14 | 10 | 3 | 12 | 10 |
| Macy Graf | 11 | 10 | 3 | 2 | – |
| Elizabeth Moffitt | 11 | 17 | 4 | 2 | – |
| Micaela Wark | 13 | 10 | 4 | – | – |
| Sydney Lewis | 10 | 12 | 2 | – | – |
| Savannah Williams | 7 | 11 | 1 | – | – |
| Tatum Wright | 11 | 10 | 2 | – | – |
| Kaylee Grealy | 6 | 9 | – | – | – |
| Karmyn Bass | 5 | 8 | – | – | – |
| Emmy Hornick | 6 | 8 | – | – | – |
| Kaitlyn Sailor | 8 | 8 | – | – | – |
| Jadyn Dawson | 7 | 6 | – | – | – |
| Mattie Beakley | 5 | 5 | – | – | – |
| Maya Mongelli | 6 | 5 | – | – | – |
| Ayden Allen | 7 | 5 | – | – | – |
| Rose Gonzalez | 11 | 5 | – | – | – |
| Malia Jones | 3 | 4 | – | – | – |
| Kayleigh Smith | 4 | 4 | – | – | – |
| Maddie Treutlein | 3 | 3 | – | – | – |
| Georgia Heathcock | 5 | 3 | – | – | – |
| Sydney Young | 8 | 3 | – | – | – |
| Aubrey Hutzler | 6 | 1 | – | – | – |
| Kat Moreno | – | – | – | – | – |
| Jenna Milan | 7 | – | – | – | – |
We went into the event with modest fundraising expectations, thinking if we raised $1,000 it would be time well spent. As interest ramped up, we raised the expectations and, in the end, we had several participants who raised at least $1,000 by themselves!
I can’t disclose how much total money we raised at this point due to the SOY contest guidelines. However, it blew away our expectations. We plan on doing the same thing again next year, and I want to pass the torch on to the next class so the event can keep going and become an annual tradition.
I am so grateful for the participants this year, the Glory organization for providing support, and all of the volunteers who pitched, shagged, and everything else to make this event memorable!
— Georgia Heathcock, Class of 2022
Little Elm High School / Texas Glory
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Those interested in contributing can still make donations to the fundraiser by clicking HERE. Adds Georgia: “It would be awesome if they put that they saw the article on Extra Inning Softball in the memo!”
We need more @georgia_heath2 in the world. The Little Elm softball star created a softball home run derby Sunday afternoon in Melissa with money going toward the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! Great job Georgia! @LLSusa @lelobosoftball pic.twitter.com/lsCzPVOXJn
— Brian Gosset (@Gosset41) February 1, 2021
