Maize and blue. Green and white.

Those colors that have defined the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry since the Spartans adopted their current colors in 1903.

But a fifth color entered the mix in this weekend's home-and-home intra-state softball series.

Both the Spartans and Wolverines wore pink jerseys in the first annual Strike Out Breast Cancer weekend.

Michigan coach Carol Hutchins was watching the Oklahoma-Texas women's basketball game on ESPN2 almost three months ago. That's when the Oklahoma athletic department organized "pack the place pink" night. The fans were all given pink t-shirts, the coaches wore pink and the players had pink shoelaces. Hutchins said she was inspired by the event, designed to raise breast cancer awareness, but didn't make any concrete plans to do something similar with the Wolverines.

That is until Michigan State coach Jacquie Joseph gave Hutchins a call soon after. In January, Joseph had worked with the Spartan women's gymnastics team in organizing its third annual "Breast Cancer Awareness Meet," when the Michigan State's tumblers donned pink leotards. She wanted to do something similar with softball, and thought the Michigan series would be a great time to do it because it's the largest draw for both teams.

So the two coaches talked a couple of times per week for the last month to organize the weekend.

"I think more of us should be doing things like this so we won't be so self-consumed with our own wins and losses," Hutchins said. "It's about something bigger than us."

Both teams wore pink jerseys with their official colors on the trim. They were provided by Speedline Athletic Wear.

Along with the pink jerseys, the players wore pink socks and hair accessories. The face guards on the batting helmets were also pink. The home team wore its white pants and Michigan and Michigan State wore blue and green pants, respectively, on the road.

The coaches and support staff wore light pink jerseys with either "Michigan Softball" or "Michigan State Softball" scrawled across the front in a darker pink.

The umpires wore pink wristbands and belts.
The outfield fences at Michigan State's Old College Field were adorned with four large pink ribbon emblems. In Ann Arbor, the bases, press box and wooden panels of the dugouts were all pink yesterday.

And the enthusiasm for the event carried over to the players.

Senior leftfielder Rebekah Milian created a Facebook.com group called "Michigan Softball Pink Out." A few of the players had officer titles. For example, senior pitcher Lorilyn Wilson is the "Pink Lover/ Cancer Hater."

But as excited as the players were about the use of pink, they understood the importance of what the color represented.

"We play because we love the game. But, today, we knew we were playing for something bigger than that," sophomore shortstop Teddi Ewing said through the athletic department. "It was awesome to see that the effort everyone put into it paid off. Everyone supported it, and it was great to see how fired up they were."

Both teams auctioned off their jerseys after their home games.

Wilson called through the fence to her mother in the stands after the game yesterday, urging her to bid higher on her jersey.

"If someone else gets this jersey, I'll never forgive you," Wilson said with a smile.

The nearly $15,000 Michigan raised yesterday will go to Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, a nationwide event organized by the American Cancer Society. The money raised Saturday will go to the Sparrow Health Systems Regional Cancer Center.

Lupe Izzo, wife of Michigan State men's basketball coach Tom Izzo, threw out the first pitch in East Lansing Saturday. The Izzos have been involed in Coaches vs. Cancer and the Sparrow Foundation. Former Michigan assistant to the athletic director Sandi Burdi, a breast cancer survivor, had the same honor yesterday.

Joseph said she wasn't sure if this would become an annual event, but Hutchins seemed excited about continuing it.

"I think the cause is fabulous," Hutchins said. "I'm so excited that we got involved and I'm certain we'll stay involved."