Photo by Mike Lamb Marshall Area Youth Baseball Association player Jaxon Buysse takes a giant swing with a sledgehammer to the pink truck parked outside the baseball diamond at Independence Park Tuesday. Players and adults took three swings for $5. Prairie Home Hospice used the event to raise funds for care bags of cancer patients.

MARSHALL — Marshall Area Youth Baseball Association player Graham Bly was the first to take a swing.

His brother, Aiden followed. Jaxon Buysse grabbed the sledgehammer, clenched his teeth, raised the sledgehammer and took a swing with all his might at the pink truck parked outside the baseball diamond at Independence Park.

The three boys put on hard hats and safety glasses to take three swings at the truck Tuesday evening. Prairie Home Hospice held its Strike Out Against Cancer event in the picnic area by the baseball diamond.The side event to the baseball games was held to raise funds to provide care bags for cancer patients. Volunteers also sold pork chops on a stick and “Get Tough Wearing Pink” T-shirts to help raise funds.

And the three swings at a beat-up pink truck cost $5.

‘This is a new event,” said Tara Plante, marketing and development director for Prairie Home Hospice. “We haven’t done anything with baseball. We have a guarantee audience of 200 people every Tuesday, Thursday night during the summer and they always eat a lot.”

“This is more of an awareness campaign,” Plante said. “All of us know one of every four are affected by cancer. It’s hard to find anyone who isn’t affected these days.”