#Artists beat Writers in fundraising showdown

The East Hampton Artists & Writers Charity Softball Game was canceled back in July, but a fundraising battle that was held in its place to help fund hard-pressed East End charities saw the Artists narrowly edge the Writers.

The final score was Artists $8,775 vs. Writers $8,345

Those tallies reflect the amount each team raised in an online GoFundMe fundraising “challenge” that involved players from both sides and included fans of the game.

That challenge had a noon cut-off on Saturday, which would have been the date the game was played if not for health and safety concerns surrounding COVID-19. The game’s beneficiaries include East End Hospice, the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, Phoenix House Academy and the Retreat –– even in the absence of an actual softball game.

The winner of the battle gets to be the home team in next year’s showdown –– which is considered huge since the Artists came back to win in the last inning when the game was held at historic Herrick Park in Southampton back in August 2019.