Northeast Lauderdale softball player Carrie Grace Baty remembers when she first heard about her teammate Alixus “Lex” Hearn.

A car wreck on Oct. 2 has left Hearn hospitalized in Jackson, and she’s scheduled to be moved to Methodist Rehabilitation Center. No one is commenting publicly on Hearn’s condition, but Thursday evening, several Lauderdale County schools decided to host a hit-a-thon and home run derby at Northeast Park to help raise money for Hearn’s medical expenses.

It was a good sight to see for Baty, especially compared to when she found out Hearn had been in an accident.

“At first I wasn’t able to know how she was,” Baty said. “The thought of her not being there with us scared us really badly.”

The hit-a-thon and home run derby is something Hearn would have enjoyed had she been able to attend, and Baty said they all would have enjoyed having her around.

“She’s always fun to be around,” Baty said. “She’s never really in a bad mood, and she’s a lot of fun.”

Northeast Lauderdale slow-pitch softball coach Tyler Vick said he received phone calls from West Lauderdale softball coach Jessie Kennedy and Clarkdale softball coach Emily Howard soon after Hearn was hospitalized, and both stated their desires to do something to help Hearn and her family.

“They wanted to put something together for Lex, and I was all for it,” Vick said. “They’ve put everything together and done a great job. It’s great to see the community come together in a time of need. I know we’d be doing the same for them. It’s comforting.”

Kennedy said while the Lauderdale County schools might consider one another rivals, events like Thursday’s hit-a-thon and home run derby show there are more important things than on-field rivalries.

“Today comes to show (our) unity in softball,” Kennedy said. “We all play for different teams, but we play for the same God. We try to incorporate that into it. Today, it’s not about a team, it’s about the entire Lauderdale County district coming together for the purpose of helping out one of our softball sisters.”

That means a lot to Northeast Lauderdale eighth-grader Kayde Lee, who is a teammate of Hearn’s and was at Thursday’s event.

“She was so close to us, and it’s good when other people from different schools come out here to support her, even if they weren’t close to us,” Lee said.

Vick agreed, commending his fellow coaches for taking the time to organize and put on an event aimed at helping Hearn recover.

“When tragedy strikes, that’s when everyone can come together and set everything else aside,” Vick said. “It’s bigger than softball. It’s just really great to see.”

As long as Hearn remains hospitalized, Lee said she and her teammates will continue pulling for her. They already started hashtag “#13Strong” during the slow-pitch season and often used, “Do it for Lex,” as a rallying cry.

“It helped us when we were in a game and down,” Lee said. “We wanted to play for Lex.”

Though the home-run derby and hit-a-thon are over, donations are still being accepted for Hearn at Northeast Lauderdale.