Kingston Strong: Stars honor their friend with victory during annual fundraiser game to fight cancer
Monday, April 28, 2025
By Justin Sokeland -WBIW.com
https://www.wbiw.com/2025/04/28/kingston-strong-stars-honor-their-friend-with-victory-during-annual-fundraiser-game-to-fight-cancer/
BEDFORD – Cancer does not discriminate. As suggested by the roll call of honorees, the family members and friends who were selected by Bedford North Lawrence players and coaches for special mention during the annual Stars vs. Cancer fundraiser game to battle the dreaded disease, there’s no immunity to its emotional toll and impact.
But this year’s ceremony hit harder, close to home, a direct strike to the heart. BNL honored a classmate who recently lost his battle with Ewing sarcoma, a pediatric cancer that forms in bone or soft tissue. Kingston Lanham was only 15 years old, a two-sport athlete with his entire life ahead. There are no words for that pain.
With his memory, and that family’s devastating loss, still fresh, the Stars did their best to respect their friend. They raised money, over $7,100 for the deserving Lawrence County Cancer Patient Services. And they won a game, which might seem like a small gesture in the grand scheme and the constant battle against the vicious, unfair disease. But it certainly lifted heavy hearts.
BNL smacked Shakamak 15-2 in five innings on Monday afternoon. After the pregame celebration, which included a balloon release, the ceremonial first pitch by Kingston’s brother Brayden, and the reading of the honorees who have fought – or are still fighting – against cancer in its many forms, the Stars continued their recent surge with their sixth win in the last seven outings.
There’s no playbook for handling those shattering emotions. The Stars could have been wrecked by the heaviness. Instead, they chose to rise above, like the yellow balloons that took off from the mound and drifted slowly into the heavens on a perfect spring afternoon.
“We tried to come out with a lot of joy,” BNL sophomore Jaden Gilbert, one who lost a close friend, said. “It’s been a rough couple of weeks, losing a buddy like that, someone close to you, especially at our age. It felt good to get the win for him.
“He was like a brother to us. It definitely hit different.”
Every year, this game brings out the best in the community support for a worthy cause.
“It affects everyone,” BNL coach Steven McNabb said. “Not many people like to talk about it, but everyone has been affected by it.
“We talked about playing for a bigger cause, it was bigger than the game. With the ceremony, his family, the first pitch – it’s a lot. Any time you have to go through something like that, as a community and a school, as a 15-year old kid that lost a friend, it’s so unnatural. You don’t know how to handle it, you’ve never been through things like that. To come out and play for him, and for those that were here tonight, is a really cool testament to our kids. I couldn’t be prouder.“
The game, seemingly secondary in importance, demanded its own attention. BNL took advantage of shaky Shakamak defense for a 3-0 lead, but the Lakers (4-4) battled back with two runs in the top of the third, and came within inches of pulling even. But a great relay throw to the plate by Cam Gates, with catcher Tate Tanksley applying the tag on Linden Jenkins, preserved the advantage. And that was a spark BNL needed.
From that turning point, the Stars exploded, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the third and five more in the fourth to trigger the mercy rule.
“That was a big play,” McNabb said. “That’s a game of inches.”
The seven-run eruption started with Gilbert’s RBI double, followed by Grayson Gillespie’s run-scoring single. With two outs, Jackson Jones cracked a sharp single to left to continue the assault, and Tanksley hammered a RBI single to cap the scoring.
In the fourth, Cutler Chastain singled in a run, Cal Gates lofted a sacrifice fly, Cam Gates ripped a RBI single, and Tanksley blasted a hit to left to chase home the final run. Gilbert went 3 for 3, Tanksley had two hits and drove in two runs, and Cal Gates added two RBIs.
Chastain was the beneficiary of all that offense, as he pitched five solid innings and struck out 8, scattering five hits. He was more worried about remembering his friend.
“It means everything,” he said. “He was a great person, and it’s awesome to come out here and honor him.”
“As soon as I think we’re going through a valley, these guys just continue to show me they have the grit,” McNabb said. “This team has togetherness.”
BNL (7-3) will host Columbus East on Tuesday.
|
|