PRINCETON — The Princeton Rays and the Bluefield Orioles love beating up on each other. They’ve got a new opponent for two nights in July. It’s safe to say it’s one everyone would like to beat.

“We are going, along with our fans and our advertisers ... to put all of our efforts for 2009 into raising both awareness and raising funding in the fight against breast cancer,” said Jim Holland, general manager of the Princeton Rays.

Holland and Bluefield Orioles general manager Mike Showe announced a new venture Wednesday, combining their efforts to create the Mercer County “Nights of Hope” Baseball Series to be held on back-to-back nights in July to help raise awareness and funds for the American Cancer Society.

“This is something that is really close to our hearts,” said Showe during a media gathering Wednesday at Sleep Inn in Princeton. “This is something we really wanted to partner with this year and get involved in.”

No one was as happy to hear about those plans as Sherry Ciccolini, the community manager of the local American Cancer Society, which oversees five West Virginia counties, along with Tazewell in Virginia.

“This is fabulous because we are reaching out into two new groups of communities, the baseball communities of both Bluefield and Princeton,” said Ciccolini, who emphasized the importance of mammograms and early detection for women of all ages. “There’s a whole different community for every sporting event there is.

“We went down to Mitchell Stadium during a high school football game and we did a pink awareness night to bring awareness. Now we’re going to the summer time and baseball. We have a lot of our people who actually go to the ball games, but now they’re going to be there doing awareness at the ball games.”

The “Nights of Hope” Series will feature the Orioles and Rays in games on July 29 at Bluefield’s Bowen Field, and July 30 at Princeton’s Hunnicutt Field. The final score won’t be the most important number on those nights.

“When you play a game, obviously we want to score more runs than Bluefield does,” Holland said. “I want my number to be higher than his, but in this case, there is one number we’re shooting for and that is the number with the dollar sign in front of it. We really want it to be something we can be proud of.”

Each player on both teams will wear pink caps. The bases will also be pink. All will be available to the highest bidder during a silent auction held during the games. The funds go to the American Cancer Society.

“This is the only way a fan can get one of these hats, we will not be selling these hats in the souvenir stores and we will not be giving any hats away,” said Showe, who said both parks would be dressed in pink. “If you want one, you have to come to the ball game and you have to make a bid on it.”

Fans don’t have to wait until baseball season to get involved. From now through April 15, both teams and the American Cancer Society are taking donations, and the contributors name will be listed the club’s programs.

“We feel because this is a five-month project, it’s not just something that is going to start on July 29, it’s starting when we go out the door here.” Holland said. “We’re very hopeful we can raise a lot of money in this fight.”

Three different levels of donations are available, including Pink ($10-$24.99), Silver ($25-$49.99) and Gold ($50-up).

“Each person that donates will be listed in our program under those levels of donations,” Showe said.

Wendy’s has donated $1,000 to the cause and those funds will be used to purchase 500 specially designed “Be Aware” baseball bracelets that will be given to the first 250 women — ages 40 and up — that enter the ball park on each night.

According to the ACS, breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in women, trailing only lung cancer. There are, however, more than 2.5 million survivors in America.

Included among those are Bluefield’s Pat O’Neill, a survivor for 18 years, and Tyann Evans of Princeton, who has beaten the disease for 15 years. Both were at Wednesday’s press conference, and they — along with some of the 300-to-500 local cancer survivors — will be part of the program at the games in late-July.

“I think the title “Nights of Hope” about covers the whole meaning for me,” O’Neal said. “I think it’s fantastic ... bringing Princeton and Bluefield together for one, and to come together for a cause like this and promote something like breast cancer awareness, I think it’s really wonderful.”

Ciccolini added; “Cancer is an ongoing thing. The money made will be used to help continue research and our local service programs.”

For more information about this program, call the P-Rays at 304-487-2000 or the Orioles at 304-326-1326. The local American Cancer Society can be reached at 304-327-8770.

Both Holland and Showe would prefer the tax-deductible donations be sent to the American Cancer Society at 1816 Jefferson Street, Bluefield, W.Va., 24701. Please note the “Nights of Hope” series on the check.

“We think the potential is here right now to really be able to create a healthy check for the American Cancer Society,” Holland said. “That’s the challenge, professional baseball represents the avenue.

“We want people to travel that way through tax-deductible donations that they can send through the American Cancer Society. We’re proud that both ball parks can be use to create a healthy check that can be used in this fight.”

No one knows how important that fight is than a survivor. Evans is one of those.

“We all want to look for the day that we can say the cure is here,” Evans said. “Together when you do these things, that’s what you’re all working toward, we can never lose sight of that.

“We are working toward a cure. We’re blessed to be standing here as survivors, but we want it to come to the day where you don’t even have to go through the process to named a survivor. You survived from the diagnosis.”

— E-mail:

bwoodson@bdtonline.com