LASKER – The inaugural Sgt. Will McLawhorn Scholarship Baseball Tournament will be held April 10-11 at Northeast Academy.

The event has been in the works for almost a year and will honor Sgt. McLawhorn, who was killed in Afghanistan while serving in the United States Army on Dec. 12, 2010.

“It has been hectic,” admitted Will’s father, the Rev. Willie McLawhorn. “We have been working with a couple of sponsors and trying to get things set up. Hopefully, next year someone else will take the lead and Diane (Will’s mother) and I will be able to sit back and enjoy the games.”

This year, the Opening Ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10. The first pitch will be thrown out by Dustin Parlier, who was one of Sgt. McLawhorn’s combat friends. An Honor Guard will present the colors.

The inaugural event will welcome four local teams – Northeast Academy, Ridgecroft School, Northampton County High School – East and Bethel Christian Academy.

“We’re very pleased with the teams that are coming,” Rev. McLawhorn said. “We wanted to keep it as local as possible because we want the scholarships to help local students. We also wanted to get teams we feel like will be fairly competitive with each other.”

The tournament will give out four scholarships – one to a player on each of the four teams that participate. Those scholarships are being sponsored by the McLawhorn Family, Northampton County Farm Bureau, Severn Peanut Company, Watson Builders and Dr. Thomas Vinson.

Anyone wishing to make a contribution to the scholarship fund can do so by sending a check to the Sgt. Will McLawhorn Scholarship Fund, c/o Northeast Academy, 210 Church Street, Lasker, NC 27845.

The tournament will begin immediately following the opening ceremony. The first game will feature Northampton-East against the host Eagles of Northeast Academy.

The second game will see Ridgecroft School meet Bethel Christian Academy.

The Consolation Game will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday and the Championship Game will follow.

“We plan to make this an annual event,” McLawhorn said.

Admission is $5 per person and $4 for students.