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Photo caption: Phillies Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton provides pitching guidance at a prior Sheftel event.
About 1 million arrests are made in the United States each year for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs…
Justin Sheftel was killed in 2005, shortly after graduating from Parkland High School. He was in Ocean City, MD celebrating senior week when he was struck by a car. It was confirmed the driver was speeding and driving under the influence at the time of the accident.
Justin’s friends knew they had to find a way to memorialize him, and a softball game seemed natural. But what started as a simple game so many years ago has today become a community celebration that has donated over $700,000 to meet the needs of those who call Lehigh Valley home.
This 20th Annual Justin Sheftel Memorial Softball Tournament is scheduled for June 15, 2024, at the Lehigh County Athletic Fields. We are looking forward to enjoying a day outside with family and friends.
Look for activities and games for the kids, spectacular auction items and delicious food from local food truck vendors including Vince’s Cheese Steaks, Fifi’s Ice Cream, Take a Taco, and NV Donuts. Red Robin is returning with their creative and talented Mixologists in a friendly Taste the Mocktails competition. Sixteen teams will be competing and over 700 friends, family and community members will be in attendance.
Mike Raymond from Fox Sports Radio will broadcast live from the tournament while the Iron Pig’s own Ferris and FeFe will be on hand. BikeWorks will have two bikes on hand for a drawing and there will be plenty for the kids to do.
St. Luke’s University Health Network and St. Luke’s Sports Medicine will be returning as our Presenting Sponsor along with Phillies Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton. They will hold the All-Star Baseball Clinic featuring former pro and college athletes. The clinic is free to youth participants involved with non-profit youth, school and/or little league organizations.
This year’s baseball clinic features Blake Barthol, a Coastal Carolina baseball player and a Parkland graduate and the softball clinic features Devyn Demchak, a Northampton graduate and Drexel University softball player. Both Blake and Devyn are St. Luke’s Rising Stars (NIL student/athletes).
Learn more about how to become a sponsor: Justin Sheftel Memorial Sponsorship
About our Memorial Fund
Mission Statement: To celebrate Justin by providing athletic and educational opportunities for underserved youth in the greater Lehigh Valley.
The monies raised at the softball tournament support the Memorial Fund, which has awarded scholarships and monies to charities totaling over $700,000. Since 2006 scholarships have been awarded to Parkland seniors, starting in 2019 scholarships were awarded to seniors at Parkland, and the Allentown School District high schools. The Memorial Fund also supports the Miracle League of the Lehigh Valley, Bike Works, First Tee, and the Allentown School District’s Drive program for middle school baseball players.
For more information about the memorial fund and how to contribute use this link: https://www.lehighvalleyfoundation.org/justin-sheftel-memorial-fund/
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites. With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke’s, a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.
SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. The Network’s flagship University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. In 2021, St. Luke’s was identified as one of the 15 Top Health Systems nationally. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. The Network is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest-cost providers.
Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy
