TUPATALK: A look at final Winget tourney field, schedule for this weekend
Time to get revved up for another Glen Winget tourney bursting with promise for an exciting weekend of baseball drama.
Bartlesville Doenges Ford Indians (19-U/college league) manager/John Pannell has set the schedule, which is slated to feature 21 games spread out from Friday through Monday at Bill Doenges Memorial Stadium/Rigdon Field.
For one of the rare times in the tourney’s history, the Bartlesville United Linen Braves (17-and-U) also will participate.
The 10-team field includes:
Oklahoma — Doenges Ford Indians, United Linen Braves, Elk City Mudcats, Three Rivers Bandits and Southern Elevation.
Arkansas — Bryant Black Sox, Fort Smith Sportsman and Mountain Home Lockeroom.
Missouri — Springfield Kickapoo and Springfield Hillcrest Merchants.
The day-by-day slate includes:
Friday
11 a.m.: United Linen vs. Three Rivers
1:15 p.m.: Ft. Smith vs. Bryant
3:30 p.m.: Mountain Home vs. Hillcrest
5:45 p.m.: Elk City vs. Southern Elevation
8 p.m.: Doenges Ford vs. Kickapoo
Saturday
10 a.m.: Hillcrest vs. Southern Elevation
12:30 p.m.: Mountain Home vs. Elk City
3 p.m.: Kickapoo vs. United Linen
5:30 p.m.: Bryant vs. Three Rivers
8 p.m. Doenges Ford vs. Fort Smith (fireworks after the game).
Sunday
10:15 a.m.: Hillcrest vs. Elk City
12:30 p.m.: Southern Elevation vs. Mountain Home
3 p.m.: Fort Smith vs. Kickapoo
5:30 p.m.: United Linen vs. Bryant
8 p.m.: Doenges Ford vs. Three Rivers
Monday
Ninth place: 7 a.m.
Seventh place: 8 a.m.
Fifth place: 11 a.m.
Semifinal: 1 p.m.
Semifinal: 3 p.m.
Championship: 5 p.m.
The admission price for Winget is $7 for adults and $5 for students 13-and-older. Children 12-and-under get in free. Also getting in gratis are current/former military, first responders and teachers, with a badge ID.
This tourney has taken place every year — except for 1963 — since it began in 1959.
Bartlesville and Springfield Hillcrest have participated in every Winget.
Although ostensibly a celebration of baseball — with former Bartlesville Doenges Ford Indians head coach Glen Winget as the presiding presence — I believe the Winget is really a celebration of youth.
It’s hard for me to believe many of the participants in the first Winget tourney (1959) — although it was called the Bartlesville July Fourth Baseball Tournament back then — are now 80 years old.
But, each summer when the event takes place, all the former players are young again in spirit, adorned by floppy hair, floppy smiles and floppy optimism about the lives that stretched ahead of them like a promising journey.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: TUPATALK: A list of teams, schedule for the weekend Winget tourney