Los Alamos, Española Valley softball teams unite for Play for the Cure event

White Rock’s Hope Field became more than a ballpark when 13 Española Valley High School players and 12 Los Alamos High School players took part in Play for the Cure, a softball event designed to honor people affected by cancer and build a tradition with meaning beyond the scoreboard.

The inaugural game was held April 11 and 12 at Overlook Park, with opening ceremonies set for 9:45 a.m. and first pitch at 10 a.m. Players from both schools helped prepare the field and decorated it for the event, reinforcing the idea that the day was a shared effort, not just a matchup between rival programs. Athletes also read about the people they were playing for, tying the game directly to local families and survivors.

LAHS coach Cameron Dreher said the idea grew from a desire to create something lasting and values-driven for the softball program. Her inspiration came from her own high school coach, Ann-Marie Houle, in Stonington, Connecticut. Dreher said Houle’s Play for the Cure game is entering its 16th season, giving Los Alamos and Española Valley a model for how a local tradition can grow into a long-running community fixture.

The setting carried its own weight. Los Alamos County renamed Minors A Field at Overlook Park to Hope Field in 2020 in honor of Hope Jaramillo, a softball coach and volunteer who died of cancer. County officials said more than 100 public comments supported the renaming and none opposed it. That history gave the weekend event a deeper connection to White Rock and to the county’s own cancer-related losses and remembrances.

Overlook Park spans 21 acres and includes league fields for baseball, softball and soccer, along with a playground, dog park, picnic areas, a pavilion, public art and restrooms. County facility information lists softball permits there as available from April 1 through Oct. 31, placing the Play for the Cure game squarely in the county’s busiest field season.

The April event also fit into an emerging local pattern. In 2022, Los Alamos High School softball hosted a Colon Cancer Awareness Day at Hope Field to honor Neil DeHerrera and raise funds for the American Cancer Society’s Hope At Bat program. With that earlier effort and the 2026 Play for the Cure game, softball at Hope Field has increasingly become a way to connect competition with remembrance, awareness and support for local families.