NORTHBORO — Whenever the summer starts to reach its end, you know that you have entered the twilight season for baseball.

Some of the premier sluggers and pitchers from around the Commonwealth had one final competition, the fifth annual “A Shot For Life” Baseball Challenge. This year, over $100,000 was raised for cancer research by the event, a new record for the competition.

“It’s our kind of newest sport that has taken this step,” said A Shot For Life CEO Mike Slonina. “We were a basketball organization for about 13 years. Baseball/softball was our first step into a new world, being a sports-based nonprofit. It launched seven other sports, because this was successful. It’s the first one to get to year five, and it’s now raising six figures, which is really exciting. It means so much for our confidence to build this in different states, to make our soccer program more robust, to make our hockey program more robust. It’s just a really good sign.”

The mark tops last year’s total by nearly $20,000, when the organization raised $85,000. The combined baseball and softball competition was split into two separate days, with the events concluding Sunday evening at the New England Baseball Complex. To begin the afternoon, athletes engaged in the foundation’s third annual “Pitchers’ Challenge,” where they had to clash in a long toss event, a “golf” bout using a cage, and even a bowling tournament. Milton Academy standout and Harvard commit Davis Kahn finished with a cumulative score of eight overall, winning the title.

Later, the Home Run Derby kicked off, with David Flynn of Worcester Academy crushing 44 total to win. In the latter two rounds, when the field was extended to full length, the standout had 20 homers clear the fence, leaving nothing in doubt.

Flynn’s performance topped runner-up Aiden Barclay of Deerfield Academy, who launched eight home runs in the final, and 36 overall.

“It feels good knowing that you’re doing it for something,” said Flynn. “If it’s a baseball game, you’re doing it for yourself. Play to the best of your ability so you can go somewhere, but today? It was about other people. It wasn’t about yourself. You don’t put yourself forward, but you put other people forward. Just knowing it was for a good cause was motivating, and it just drove me a little bit more.”

During the challenge, players were ushered into a nearby clubhouse, where officials from the Boston Red Sox displayed the 2004 World Series Trophy.

“There’s a particular venue that I’m really interested in that I’m going to ask about again in November,” chuckled Slonina. “I’m looking forward to it continuing to grow in Massachusetts, but we’re also about to implement this in Connecticut as well. That is an exciting thing, that we are growing regional. Our plan is to be a national organization, and we’re not shy about that. That’s the goal.”