MINNEAPOLIS -- Chiloe Kottke was named the Twins' winner of the 2016 Honorary Bat Girl Contest, which recognizes baseball fans who have been affected by breast cancer and who demonstrate a commitment to supporting the fight against the disease.
Kottke, from Springfield, Minn., was diagnosed with Stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma last May at the age of 40. The cancer affected her lymph nodes, causing her to have a double mastectomy as well as 16 rounds of chemotherapy and 25 rounds of radiation.
Kottke, a nurse and a mother of four, decided to use her fight with breast cancer to help others, and she helped raise $6,000 for the American Cancer Society and spoke at a fundraiser for the New Ulm Medical Center to help raise $79,000 for 3D mammography.
On Mother's Day, Honorary Bat Girl winners will take part in pregame activities, be honored during an on-field ceremony and receive pink MLB merchandise and two tickets to the game. The Twins aren't at home this weekend, so Kottke will be honored later this month at Target Field.
The winners were selected by a panel of judges, including special guest judges, who chose the winning submissions based on the following criteria: originality, quality of writing, demonstration of commitment to breast cancer awareness and public appeal.
Guest judges included such players as Jered Weaver, Zach Duke, Freddie Freeman, Gregor Blanco, Scott Kazmir, Curtis Granderson, Kevin Gausman, Taijuan Walker, Jeremy Jeffress and Robinson Chirinos, as well as health expert Jillian Michaels, MLB Network's Sam Ryan and Chris Rose, and MLB.com's Lindsay Berra and Alyson Footer.
The Honorary Bat Girl program was introduced in 2009 to raise additional awareness and support for the annual "Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer" initiative celebrated on Mother's Day.