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A total of 26 teams converged on the city of Luverne for the softball association’s first-ever “Bash-A-Rama” fastpitch softball tournament.
The two-day event started Saturday, July 17, with pool play and ended with tournament play on Sunday, July 18.
“We just wanted to promote the sport of softball,” tournament director Darin Kindt said about the fundraiser.
“It was to help promote the sport, to get more of our girls locally involved in softball.”
After the two-day event under perfect summer conditions, Kindt said the Luverne Softball Association considered the weekend a success.
“Everything was fantastic,” Kindt said.
“It was as good as we could’ve expected. It was a fun weekend. A lot of good softball was played.”
Blaze 10U takes first
The 10U division had five teams competing, with the Luverne Blaze going 4-0-1 and taking home first place.
The four other teams that competed against the Blaze were from Brookings, Brandon, Pipestone and Sioux Falls.
The 10U Blaze opened pool play with a 7-7 tie against the Brandon Valley Venom.
The Blaze then defeated Brookings 11-4. In their third game of pool play, the Blaze defeated the Sioux Falls Panthers 8-2.
To wrap up pool play, the Blaze defeated Pipestone 7-5.
In the tournament, the Blaze defeated Pipestone 8-5 to reach the championship game against the Sioux Falls Panthers. Luverne defeated the Panthers 10-0 to take home first place.
Blaze 12U takes first
In the 12U division, the Luverne Blaze took home first place by defeating the Sioux Falls Illusion 9-5 in the title game.
The Blaze reached the championship game by defeating West Lyon 8-6 in the first round of tournament play.
To open pool play, the 12U Blaze fell to West Lyon 8-1. Luverne then dropped game two of pool play to Edgerton 8-6.
The Blaze then wrapped up pool play with a 11-3 victory over Edgerton.
Blaze 14U is third
In the 14U division it was Pipestone edging Edgerton 7-6 in the championship game.
Luverne had two teams that competed in the 14U division. The Luverne Blaze 7 went 2-3, while the Luverne Blaze 8 went 3-2 and finished in third place.
Blaze 16U is third
The Luverne Blaze 16U team went 3-2 overall.
The Blaze opened up pool play with a 5-3 loss to the Wisconsin Sandpipers.
In the second game of pool play, the Blaze defeated Pierre 3-1. To wrap up pool play, the Blaze blanked Brookings 15-0.
To open up tournament play, the Blaze defeated Brookings 10-2. In the semifinals of tournament play the Blaze lost to Pierre 6-3.
Community support
Kindt said that this tournament would not have been made possible if it weren’t for all the help from the Luverne community.
“The feedback we received from other coaches and parents was fantastic,” Kindt said.
“The facilities were great. We had around 60 volunteers and we want to thank all of them and the Luverne Baseball Association. It was just a great weekend. You need a lot of people that are willing to help out to pull off events like this.”
Ultimately, he said, tournaments like the one last weekend are good for the community and for the young players.
“We just want to keep providing activities for the girls in the community,” he said.
“Hopefully we can grow it a bit more for next year.”