Moonlight Tournament is back after four-year break

Aug. 4—LA GRANDE — After a four-year hiatus, the La Grande Moonlight Tournament returns.

The tournament, which runs Friday, Aug. 5, to Sunday, Aug. 7, at Pioneer Park, is being hosted by La Grande Parks and Recreation, along with the Pendleton Parks and Recreation and La Grande Optimist Club.

The two departments are splitting the workload — with La Grande handling logistics and registration and Pendleton managing the bracket and running of games, according to Chris Gianandrea, recreation coordinator for the City of La Grande Parks and Recreation department. While no longer the primary organizers, the Optimist Club is still involved in the tournament — running the concession stand and providing prizes.

"For a tournament that hasn't been done in four years, we were guesstimating 16 teams," Gianandrea said.

Fifteen teams have signed up — coming from across Oregon and as far away as Washington and Idaho, said Gianandrea. Northeast Oregon has strong representation at the tournament with teams from La Grande, Cove, Pendleton, Hermiston and Baker City. Oregon's representation continues outside of the northeast, with a team traveling all the way from Hillsboro. Out of state teams include Walla Walla, Washington, Meridian, Idaho, and Boise, Idaho.

Games will be played at Optimist Field, Trice Community Field and Marcum Field at Pioneer Park. What makes the Moonlight Tournament unique is that games are played one right after the other, meaning teams will take the field at all hours of the day and night.

Each team is guaranteed to play four games in the initial bracket, Gianandrea said. The winning teams will advance to the champions bracket while the losing teams enter into the beer league.

After the initial bracket wraps up Aug. 6, there will be the home run derby. Participants in the derby will have a set amount of time to hit as many home runs as possible. Gianandrea said the details of the competition are still being worked out, but the Optimist Club is providing the prize for the derby.

Following the derby, the beer league will kick back off the game play. After those games wrap up, the championship bracket will begin.

For more than 20 years, the La Grande Optimist Club hosted the annual tournament, and at the height of the co-ed tournament's popularity, 40 teams signed up, said Danny Bell, Optimist Club member and former tournament director. Slowly the number of teams started to decrease — a similar trend had been seen years prior with the men's tournament. Bell said he thought this was due to the older generation of softball players getting too old to play and the younger players not signing up.

Throughout the years the club ran the tournament, it paid for all the costs — security, prizes, game officials and food for the concession stand. Money that was earned from the tournament was reinvested into club programs and the local youth. As team enrollment decreased, the Optimist Club decided that it was not worth running the tournament if they would be doing so at a loss. When that happened, the club turned the tournament over to the city of La Grande.

"I think it's an awesome idea to try to pull it back," Bell said. "I 100% wish the city the best."

Under new management from Parks and Rec there will be some changes to the Moonlight Tournament — which the department hopes will be well received.

"We're trying to partner with as many local businesses as possible. We want people to come here and enjoy La Grande," Gianandrea said.

Each team playing in the tournament will get a packet with coupons and discount codes to local businesses in La Grande.

Parks and Rec has also partnered with Northeast Oregon Public Transportation to set up a temporary shuttle stop at Pioneer Park for the duration of the tournament. They will be running service to downtown La Grande and also out to the fairgrounds since the tournament coincides with the Union County Fair.

"We are super excited about it. We want as many local businesses and business owners involved. It benefits the whole community," Gianandrea said.

Isabella Crowley is a reporter for The Observer. Contact her at 541-624-6014 or icrowley@lagrandeobserver.com.