SENATOBIA – The Northwest Mississippi Community College baseball and softball teams held their Fifth Annual Co-ed Fundraiser at Ranger Baseball Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, raising money for the individual programs to help offset miscellaneous in-season costs.

The annual co-ed game closes the fall season for both teams and is a way for the teams to get to know each other. Each player is responsible for finding supporters to sponsor them, sending letters that ask for donations of .50 to $2.00 an inning.

The fundraiser is a 50-inning, marathon format game, broken down into teams made up of both baseball and softball players based on positions and class schedules. The biggest difference with the fundraiser, compared to a normal baseball or softball game, is that each out counts as an inning.

"It went the best it's ever gone this year," ninth-year head softball coach Mike Rowan said. "We had a bunch of competitive games that came down to one or two runs. We started just after 3 and went until 7 p.m."

The money raised goes towards the purchase of team apparel and shoes, with additional money going to help defray additional travel costs, the general day-to-day operation of the programs and field improvements.  

"I got the idea from a coach at McKendree University in Illinois and it's been a good yearly fundraiser for us," seventh-year head baseball coach Mark Carson said. "The baseball team alone, we'll raise somewhere between $2,500-3,000."

Both teams will open spring competition in February. Baseball opens the year on Feb. 15 against Jackson State (Tenn.) in Senatobia, while softball will open up at Southwest Tennessee on Feb. 22.