Crowd Goes Wild For A Cause

NORMAN, Okla. - The third annual ALS Awareness Halloween Game was a huge success as the Oklahoma baseball and softball teams teamed up Thursday night. In front of a crowd of more than 800 at Marita Hynes Field the two teams played a mixed-squad, slow-pitch scrimmage in an effort to raise money and awareness for ALS.

The Sooner baseball team started the tradition in 2013 when head coach Pete Hughes arrived in Norman and the game has taken off as one of the highlights of the fall season. With the field at L. Dale Mitchell Park under construction, Hughes turned to OU softball head coach Patty Gasso for an assist to keep the event going.

Halloween Game

Baseball and softball players took the field, clad as a mariachi band, Mario & Luigi, Dora the Explorer and many other familiar characters to the delight of the fans.

“Anytime we can be affiliated with Coach Gasso's program and raise awareness for a disease that's close to my heart is a special night,” claimed Hughes. “We're very grateful for coach Gasso and her team; very grateful that they want to team up and be a part of it.”

Sooner softball great Lauren Chamberlain made her return to Marita Hynes as the celebrity umpire behind the plate.

The Sooners play in honor of Pete Frates, a former standout for Hughes at Boston College who was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 27. Since then, Frates has been on the frontlines pushing for a cure for ALS and was a driving force that helped start the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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