Planning starts for softball fest

The same size softball tournament
is expected in 2008.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — In a transition year, in which a new nonprofit group took over running the area’s PONY National softball tournaments, it became obvious that hosting 260 teams from across the country was too much work for the current volunteers.

That need helped fuel the start of a new group organized by the Mahoning County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau called the Valley Volunteer Corps.

Phil Moore, director of the CVB, said the organizers of the tournament, including Boardman Community Baseball and Thunder Elite Fastpitch Inc. of Vienna, discovered that it takes a lot of people to sell and collect tickets, run concession stands and maintain the baseball fields for such a tournament.

When discussions turned to scaling back the three-year-old tournament, Moore said he changed the conversation to “How can we help?”

The answer was to recruit volunteers.

Moore realized the softball organizers were not the only groups in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties needing such assistance, however. So when Moore begins to invite the public to start-up meetings for the volunteer corps next month, it will be for more than just softball tournaments.

It also will be an invitation to those who can help with the Summer Festival of the Arts, held at Youngstown State University in early July, or to those who might be willing to serve as a tour guide for tour buses that Moore hopes to attract in increasing numbers.

He says there are many other organizations that would also welcome volunteers.

Tim Kaple, president of Boardman Community Baseball, said the PONY organization began to advertise on its Web site two weeks ago that national championship tournaments for four age groups would be held in the Mahoning Valley on July 19-31.

A contract has not been signed yet, but everything looks secure to bring about the same number of games and participants to the area that played here last year, Kaple said.

Many specifics of the tournament have not been finalized, Kaple said, such as the locations where all of the games will be played.

In late July and early August this year, games were played at baseball fields in Boardman, Canfield, Warren, Liberty and Lordstown. Tournaments were played in divisions representing girls under 10, under 12, under 16 and under 18.

Kaple said his organization is hoping that an additional 20 to 25 volunteers will be secured through the CVB to ensure that enough people will be available for ticket handling, cleaning, planning and supervising of new events being planned for the softball players and their families.

Moore said the positive word of mouth that has been circulating about the quality of the tournament last summer and in previous years appears to be attracting interest from other baseball and softball organizations.

To volunteer, call (330) 740-2130.

Meanwhile the CVB is trying to bring the CVB’s membership groups — hotels, restaurants and attractions — closer together by organizing three advisory councils whose job will be to find out ways each group can use bureau support to promote their industry.

The CVB, which receives its funding by getting 1 percent of the county’s 3 percent hotel-motel tax money, will help pool the advertising money of each group so that they can promote their businesses together, he said.

In many other areas, such as Cleveland, hotels and motels, restaurants and attractions participate in local chapters of national trade associations. The chapters often help such businesses work together. But almost none of the local hotels, restaurants or attractions in the Mahoning Valley participate in such groups, Moore noted.

Start-up of the attractions advisory council has begun, and ones for restaurants and hotels will begin in January, he added.

runyan@vindy.com