The Annual Shriners ASA Charity Ladies Fast Pitch Softball Tournament was started in 2005. I have been a fast pitch softball umpire for 61 years and when I retired from umpiring and as a way to give back to the Softball world and also help the children of the Shriners Hospitals.   I am now devoting a lot of my time to this softball tournament. So with my wife’s help we have designed this tournament so that the girls can have fun. Since that time the tournament has grown into one of the most prestigious softball tournament in the area.

In 2005 the tournament had 39 teams from Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Nebraska. In 2006 we had 47 team participating from all over the Midwest. In the tournament in 2007 we had 67 teams from Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. In 2008 we had 62 teams that participated. In 2009 we had 62 teams and cut the registration off at 62 and in 2010 we had 60 teams and in 2011 we had 55 teams.  So if you are planning on participating in 2012  please get your application in early as we will cut off at 55 teams.
 

If you and your team have never played in this tournament, shame on you and for you teams that have joined us in the past years this will be old stuff for you so please bear with me. I will list just a few things we do to make this the prestigious event it is. The first thing you will receive is a packet from me, these packets will be mailed the first week in July.  This packet  will have all your passes, a map of the park, the tournament rules.  Upon arriving at the ball park we are asking that the coaches and players wear their wrist bands.When registering with the UIC,S you will be given a packet with the MVP Metals, Vote Sheets and other infromation and  the championshp play schedule. Approximately 2 weeks before the tournament you will receive the pool play schedule. Pool play will begin at 11:00AM on Friday.   As pool play begins we will be passing out free bubble gum to the girls (with the coach’s permission). At the end of each pool play game we ask the coach and his team to pick a player from the other team and then present her with an MVP metal that is provided by the tournament director and as you are doing that the other teams is present one to one of your players. We will also ask the coach to vote on one girl from the other team who played with enthusiasm and show good sportsmanship and was just an all around good sport. On Saturday night these are tallied up and a $100.00 Scholarship Check is presented to one girl in each age group. Coaches while you are coaching your team to victory remember that at the end of the game the umpires are going to be rating you from 1 to 5 and one coach in each age group with the lowest number will receive and outstanding coach award.