Crosstown Classic in Solon wins the day for The Fight With Flash Foundation

SOLON — Moist, chilly and windy weather was not going to stop the Crosstown Classic from happening.

It won the day.

“We feel very proud to host,” said Solon baseball coach Keith McSweeney, after his team lost to Iowa City High, 3-0, Saturday afternoon in the first game of this special event. “We’ve done all the post-COVID seasons: 2021, ‘22, ‘23, ‘24, and it’s been awesome. We keep dodging rain drops. Every year there’s been a chance of rain, except last year.

“I woke up and went to Lowe’s about 6 this morning to get some stuff, and it was just pouring down there (in Iowa City). But I got here and the field was dry. Just a couple of sprinkles.“

Clear Creek Amana played Iowa City Liberty, and Iowa City Regina took on Iowa City West as the other part of this prep baseball tripleheader televised by Mediacom. There were simultaneous youth baseball and softball games on adjacent diamonds at the Solon Recreation and Nature Area.

But it wasn’t about the games. This was a day to remember and honor the memory of Austin “Flash” Schroeder, a young man from Iowa City who died in 2015 at the age of 15 of lymphoma.

Austin’s favorite sport was baseball, which is how the Crosstown Classic came about. It’s a fundraiser for The Fight With Flash Foundation created by Craig and Stacy Schroeder, Austin’s parents.

T-shirts and other merchandise with “Fight With Flash” and “Win The Day” were sold, and there was a silent auction for items donated by businesses in and around the Iowa City community and autographed merchandise from New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who overcame childhood cancer.

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A tent for the Big O Foundation also was erected. That foundation supports mental health awareness, in honor of former Liberty student-athlete Owen Skelley, who took his own life in 2022.

“Just standing here and taking it all in and thinking ‘Oh, my gosh, all these people are here,’” said Stacy Schroeder. “It’s all a part of Austin and what he’s doing in bringing the community together. It is just so amazing. Our hearts are melting all the time because we are just so supported, just so blessed to have such an awesome community ... We love it.”

“Win The Day” was a motto Craig Schroeder preached as a youth coach and one Austin Schroeder adopted as he went through his illness. The Fight With Flash Foundation’s stated goals are to honor Austin by continuing to tell his story, raise awareness of the need for continued research in the prevention and treatment of cancer in children, raise funds for that prevention and treatment, and help those who have been affected by a cancer diagnosis of a loved one.

The foundation, created in 2015, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars and cash and gift cards to University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital families.

“We just talked to the youth kids about how today is a lot bigger than baseball,” Craig Schroeder said. “This was Flash’s favorite sport. He’s unfortunately not here, doesn’t get to play anymore. But there are kids in the hospital right now who aren’t getting to play because they are unfortunately being treated for something.

“It’s not fair, they didn’t ask for it, but they’ve got to deal with it. All of us here today are supporting them.”

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