By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
A softball tournament this weekend at St. Joseph's Heritage Park will welcome in several softball teams from around the region.
After holding two new softball tournaments last year, the St. Joseph Sports Commission was looking to expand the format to attract more softball teams to play in the city.
Director Brett Esely says that will happen this weekend as the Sports Commission hosts the Spring Sizzle Youth Softball Tournament
"We hope it's warm, we hope it's dry, we're kind of doing our best rain dance, but we have 25 teams," Esely tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. "This is not a national event, I would call this more of a regional event, 25 teams from the state of Missouri, the state of Kansas, we've got a couple coming down from Nebraska."
Players aged 8 to 14 years old will take over all five fields of Heritage Park near the St. Joseph Frontier Casino on Saturday and Sunday.
Esely says the two-day event should draw in several thousand people to St. Joseph
"I don't think it's a stretch with 25 teams to think on Saturday down at Heritage Park we'll have 1,000 people in and out of there, minus the teams, that's the following that these teams have," Esely explains. "First and foremost, these events get off the ground with the support of our local teams."
Esely says the backbone for events like this is local traveling teams having a desire to bring other teams here
"We've got some local teams that have supported these events and then we've got some other folks from those local teams and just supporters of softball that have said we want to spread the word, we want to get people to come to town," Esely says.
"And new events are hard, they really are, the dates are tough, and you have to find the right mix of teams, then when you get them here you have to show them a good experience."
Esely says the experience is something the commission is constantly working on to put forward the best possible product.
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