Lower Merion softball team Aces Alex’s Lemonade Stand Fundraiser

Ardmore – The Lower Merion softball team replaced their traditional maroon and white jersey to don a special yellow jersey as part of fundraiser to support Alex’s Lemonade Stand when they took the field against neighborhood rival Harriton April 28.

With the community unifying for a special cause, the Aces and Rams gave the crowd all they could ask for, with both teams giving their fans a reason to cheer.

With Harriton taking a 15-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth and Lower Merion down to their last out due to the PIAA rules of leading by certain amount of runs after a certain number of innings played, the Aces never gave up, but came up short falling 15-8.

“We are a very young varsity team,” said Lower Merion head coach Jim LaPera. “We only have one senior and one junior. To watch them rally and fight back all with two outs was impressive. They have been playing hard all year and even though the outcomes have not been in our favor, we see improvement every game and are proud of their grit, determination and heart.”

Lower Merion senior Jessie Epstein echoed her coach’s sentiments: “Having the right mentality is very important, especially with Lower Merion softball. The game is more than the score and we’ve all learned not to give up. We continue to improve and our progress can be shown.”

LaPera came up with the idea of playing for a good cause after their game last season against Upper Darby in a contest that supported breast cancer.

Trying to figure out a cause to support, LaPera looked no further than Alex’s Lemonade Stand named in honor of Alex Scott, who passed away from childhood cancer.

“Since Alex would have been an LM student, we felt that an Alex’s Lemonade Stand would be the perfect event,” LaPera said. “We figured the yellow shirts would be appropriate and asked the other school in the district to part of the event.”

Sporting “Aces for Alex” yellow shirts the players eagerly jumped in to support a great cause including JV players Amber Connor, Briannaand& Jasmine Wilkins and Elijah Alvarez, who manned the donation table.

Although the score did not end in their favor, the Aces learned a valuable life lesson they were able to take to the field.

“Alex (Scott) never gave up during her fight so maybe we got some of her strength,” Epstein said. “It’s a cool parallel.”