Long Beach State softball honors breast cancer survivors

LONG BEACH >> Last Saturday, Long Beach State’s softball team hosted a breast cancer research fundraiser, part of the team and head coach Kim Sowder’s mission to make sure that sports aren’t just benefitting the important cause during national awareness month in October.

“We’re just trying to continue to help raise funds for breast cancer research and we want to do our part to help the community,” said Sowder on Saturday after splitting a doubleheader with UC Riverside.

In addition to donating some of the proceeds from the game and selling pink Long Beach State jerseys, the team also had three breast cancer survivors come out before the first game to join the team’s warmups, and to throw out ceremonial first pitches.

“We have a few parents that are breast cancer survivors as well and it was nice to have them out to honor them,” Sowder said.

The honored parents were Jean Scheele, mother of 49ers junior Mattie Scheele, and Susan Perkins, mother of 49ers senior Alley Perkins.

Walking off the field after the ceremony and before her daughter’s game started, Perkins was emotional.

“This is like coming full circle for me,” she said.

Alley was a senior at Edison High when Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she tued down the scholarship to George Washington University in St. Louis that she’d been offered. Jean balked at the idea, not wanting her daughter to sacrifice the offer she’d worked her whole life for, but Alley persisted, telling her mother she’d flunk out if she tried to travel across the country knowing her mom was sick.

“I’ll work hard and I’ll get another scholarship,” she said.

That’s exactly what Alley did, setting records at Santa Ana College while taking her mom to chemotherapy appointments and leaing to give her the injections she needed to get better. After putting in the time at the junior college level, she played at Teessee for a season before transferring back to Southe Califoia to become a 49er.

Scheele and Perkins weren’t the only mothers honored, as Brandi Brown-Shock was also part of the ceremony, representing the charity Barbells for Boobs.

Brown-Shock is a reminder of how many different ways cancer patients can choose to deal with their diagnosis. Some opt for hashtags and public shows of support, while others play it low-key. Brown-Shock went for the latter approach, although being a Long Beach native who’s the daughter of 6th district councilman Dee Andrews and the wife of Poly athletic director Rob Shock would certainly have brought her plenty of attention.

“I just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it,” she said. “Mostly that was for my daughters, Dylan and Kendall. I lost my mom to cancer and I didn’t want them to be worried about me.”

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Brown-Shock was there representing the charity because she thinks its mission is important and life-saving. Barbells for Boobs puts its emphasis not on raising money for research, but rather on prevention, specifically trying to make sure women under the age of 40 as well as men get mammograms to get checked.

Brown-Shock leaed of the charity because of her friendship with BFB founder/CEO Zioa Hanson (the two attended Poly together).

“It’s just great because that’s the kind of community Long Beach is,” said Brown-Shock. “Everyone knows each other, and there’s so much support.”

For more information on Barbells for Boobs visit their website, http://barbellsforboobs.org.