ASFL Pitching Challenge: Athletes get a shot to fight cancer

NORTHBOROUGH – Winning isn’t everything to Brigid Gaffny and the North Andover senior proved it on the field.

Competing in the fourth annual A Shot For Life Pitchers Challenge, Gaffny placed first in two of the three games to determine the winner and set the pace early on.

Gaffney was first in the nine-hole challenge and her first-place finish in the final bowling pin accuracy challenge earned her the top score of four points to easily take home the bronze glove trophy for 2023.

Scoring for the Pitching Challenge is like golf with the lowest score from each game combined for the winning score, as Liana Danubio (Norton) placed second with 10 points and Jaleila Aupont (Bishop Fenwick) rounded out the top three slots (13).

Sharlotte Stazinski (Walpole), last year’s Pitchers Challenge winner, was amazing again in fourth place with 17 points while Sara Shaff (Nobles & Greenough) and Sarah Brody (Newton Country Day) tied for fifth with 18 apiece.

“I came in with the mindset that it’s not about winning but it’s just about the morals of the foundation and really just coming here and having fun,” said Gaffny, a three-time Merrimack Valley Conference first team All-Star. “It’s just about raising money for cancer so I’m very grateful I got to be a part of this amazing foundation. Winning is just a bonus.”

The big news before the event for A Shot For Life was announcing the partnership with the Boston Red Sox Foundation as the Red Sox organization sponsored the uniforms worn all weekend for the high school stars.

This past weekend’s events included a baseball pitching challenge along with home run derbies in both baseball and softball and is just another facet of Mike Slonina’s and the ASFL charity’s efforts to raise money for the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.

“Baseball and softball are zero sum games – either the pitcher is going to be happy or the hitters are going to be happy. They, both can’t leave happy,” said Slonina. “These players fundraise for months leading up to this, so that’s why we created the pitchers challenge as a way to compete, it’s safe on their arms, and if they don’t have a great day – it’s not a bad experience. Everyone can have personal highlights throughout the day.”

Overall, with the baseball events included, A Shot For Life tallied just under $90,000 in donations for cancer research.

All of it hits home for the Gaffny family as Brigid’s grandmother is a breast cancer survivor and recently, they lost a family member to ovarian cancer.

“It really means everything to me, everyone has a smile on their face supporting each other, and all of the organizers really do genuinely care about us and the cause,” said Gaffny. “So, it’s really nice to be a part of something that is so amazing. It really does mean a lot to me and my family to be able to be a part of this.