The friendly battle between the Grand Ole Opry and the After Midnite with Blair Garner teams continued tonight at Greer Stadium in Nashville.  Known as the “unofficial kickoff” to CMA Fest, the City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge is always a crowd pleaser.  With big names like Carrie Underwood, Chuck Wicks, Craig Morgan, David Nail, Jason Aldean, Joe Nichols, Josh Thompson, Luke Bryan, Mallary Hope, Melissa Peterman, The Band Perry, Whitney Duncan, and many others fans know they are in for a treat.

For the last 21 years the Softball Challenge has helped raise funds and awareness for City of Hope’s lifesaving mission (http://www.cityofhope.org).

For the first 4 innings of the game you would have thought it was going to be a total shut-out with the Grand Ole Opry team not holding back and leading 10 -4.  But the trash talk and friendly bantering must have given the After Midnite team just the motivation they needed.  With a huge comeback in the 6th inning the After Midnite team tied up the game and came back to win in an extra inning!

The final score:
After Midnite with Blair Garner Team – 15
Grand Ole Opry Team – 10

A big surprise for fans tonight was seeing Carrie Underwood’s fiance, Mike Fisher, added to the Grand Ole Opry lineup.   To help celebrate their recent engagement, Blair Garner and her team members treated Carrie and Mike to a surprise bridal shower on the field.   With gifts like towels, bowls and hand clean up items thrown at the couple they almost forgot there was a ball game being played.

The evening was full of great surprises and fun had by all for a great cause.  For more information about City of Hope please visit their website at: http://www.cityofhope.org.

You can view all of our pictures from the softball game on our Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/countrymusictattletale/sets/72157624228338828/

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