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Eckville slo pitch tourney raises money for local playground

A ball tournament brought over 80 people in Eckville and the surrounding area together, to raise funds for a local playground.
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Ryan Hanson with “Ball Badness” scores a run

Residents of the Town of Eckville once again showed their dedication to a cause, this past weekend - and while doing it, managed to fit in a good old game of ball. More than 80 people from community, and surrounding areas gathered to hold a slo pitch tournament to raise funds for the new playground for Eckville Elementary School.

“I had eight teams, and the minimum was ten on a team. We were each guaranteed about five games, so we were pretty crippled on Monday,” said Tamarra Lawrence, an organizer of the tournament. “It was awesome. It turned out really well, and the weather was nice to us.”

She noted that there were some worries among ballplayers that the clouds gathering around the Town that weekend would bring a disruption to the fundraising fun, with rain. However, after a brief sprinkling on Saturday afternoon, the sky cleared back up again. The game took place under an a felicitous blue patch of sky among the clouds which was specifically open above the Eckville area.

The tournament ran from April 28-30, and featured the athletic talent of local ballplayers aged from 25-50. The entirety of the money raised through tournament participation and a barbecue that took place alongside it were donated to the effort of funding the new playground.

“It was actually right where I wanted,” said Lawrence, describing the participation levels. “It was eight teams, so it was perfect. We had a bit of variety, as far as skill levels were concerned. Some people that played in the tournament were teams that play slo pitch all the time, so they were quite good. Some people threw together teams that hadn’t played ball in 25 years - it really was a variety.”

Although the amount of money raised at the tournament was not available before this week’s press deadline for the Eckville Echo, check out next week’s issue for the full amount raised.

Samuel.macdonald@sylvanlakenews.com