For the first time in many years, a group of volunteers hosted a slo-pitch tournament in St. Paul this past weekend, with 24 local teams taking over diamonds across town.
The weather throughout the weekend was favorable for the tournament, as scattered cloud cover kept the temperature comfortable and the rain stayed away.
Organizer/volunteer Danny Gadowski says that the group putting on the event hopes to continue the tournament and make it an annual event.
“We got a lot of compliments and people thanking us for putting one on, there hasn’t been a tournament for many years and we finally just decided to get together and host one. It went very smoothly, and we were happy to have 24 teams show up,” said Gadowski. Teams included people from the local area as well as further afield, including Edmonton.
The town of St. Paul is unique compared to other neighboring towns, having several ball diamonds including those at the Regional High School, totaling eight diamonds altogether, which makes the town uniquely able to host a large ball tournament.
Gadowski said that organizers hope the out of town teams that came will put in a good word to other teams “and we can end up hosting a 32 team tournament next year. With the facilities we have here, it would make sense to host a bigger tournament.”
The results from the weekend of play are as follows:
A Division:
1st- BSNS
2nd- Freshly Squeezed Lemons
B Division:
1st- Bombsquad
2nd- Ball Busters
C Division:
1st- Hurtin Albertans
2nd- Young Guns
Gadowski extended thanks to all of the volunteers who helped out throughout the weekend and made the tournament a success.
“Our volunteers were great. We didn’t have a specific group helping out it was just a lot of individuals who dedicated their time for the tournament and that was nice to see. Tournaments like this aren’t just good for the players and the teams, they’re good for the town so we hope to keep this going.”
Local teams will look to participate at tournaments in Ashmont and Stoney Lake, and enjoy the sport of slo-pitch as the summer of 2016 rolls on.
