Imperial planning for youth wood bat tourney June 5-7

One of the extra sporting events planned in Imperial this summer June 5-7 is a youth wood bat tournament for players age 10-15.

As of Tuesday this week, two couples organizing and planning the tournament said they are hopeful it still can be held.

Much of life and activity has been put on hold as Nebraska and the U.S. deal with the growing COVID-19 outbreak.

However, coordinators Dave and Trish Oxford and Eric and Marilyn McDaniel are still hopeful the tournament will go on as planned, after meeting with the park board about it on March 9.

All three fields at Schroeder Park are reserved that weekend, said Trish Oxford.

In deciding to organize the tournament, she said they wanted to give local youths an opportunity for more summer baseball games.

She said Sidney hosts a wood bat tournament for older players. Imperial’s is targeted to those a little younger.

“It’s another tournament opportunity and more playing time” for youths here, she said.

They plan to limit the number of teams, and will issue invites to those teams in the Tri-County League in which Imperial takes part. At least eight teams will play.

She said they want to limit the number to guarantee all teams have the same number of games.

Funds raised from the tourney will be used to go toward purchase of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), which is a portable, life-saving device designed to treat people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating suddenly and unexpectedly.

To read more, go to: https://etypeservices.com/Imperial%20RepublicanID359/