Summer tourneys get good early reviews
Jul. 14—A national/regional-level NSA softball tournament starts Wednesday at Jack C. Fisher Park, a week after a big youth baseball tournament took over ball fields all weekend and had a big presence along the Ohio River last Friday.
Combine the estimated economic impact of the two events within 10 days of each other and it falls at around $1.6 million. That's a lot of hotels, restaurants and stores getting a benefit, along with a lot of people visiting town.
Sure looks like OBKY has jumped back into the summer youth sporting events season pretty strong.
The USSSA Baseball World Series 9U-13U A Class 7-8 Open happened last weekend at Kentucky Legends Fields at Fisher Park and at Panther Creek Park.
By most accounts, it was a jam-packed few days of baseball, families and fun. That all started on Friday with a player parade at the RiverPark Center and going down Veterans Boulevard at the start of Friday After 5.
That parade of athletes ended at the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, where there were presentations made on the Michael Horn Stage.
There were regional celebrities like Ron Rhodes, the Eyewitness News meteorologist who was hosting the parade/opening ceremonies, and Chad Benefield from WBKR-FM radio also emceed the start of the parade. Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson was on the Horn Stage.
If you looked at the photo in Saturday's Messenger-Inquirer, it was hard to imagine more folks packing Veterans Boulevard on a Friday After 5 night.
John Grass, the tournament host for USSSA, told city and tourism officials that it was fantastic how the community came together for the event.
There were 53 teams in town with players, coaches, families. Numbers of folks with those teams were estimated at 1,800 before the event.
"When we looked at the numbers a little closer, it was close to 2,700 in town for the weekend, with fans, players, officials," said Chris Gendek, destination services director for Visit Owensboro. "Overall, it was a huge success. That event is looking to come back next year. We're in talks with them again."
Now, Owensboro-Daviess County gets to do it again with softball this weekend. The NSA Girls Fast Pitch Central World Series will be at Fisher Park and Panther Creek.
A skill competition will be at 3 p.m. Wednesday and there will be another player parade and pin ceremony after that at Fisher Park.
Teams will start playing Thursday at 8 a.m. and the tournament will go on through Sunday.
There will be 33 teams at this event and 27 squads are travel teams from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio. The other five teams are regional from Newburgh and Evansville, Indiana. Another team is from the Bowling Green area.
The economic impact of this event could be around $800,000.
Don't be surprised if the response from how this softball tournament goes is upbeat and similar to the reactions from the baseball tournament.
The NSA softball World Series is already coming back for two more years after this weekend.
