Prescott, already known as the “Softball Capital of Arizona,” just hit another home run to bolster that image.
The city has been selected by the National Softball Association (NSA) as the site for the women’s 2017 Southwest World Series, July 11-16.
It is the first time NSA has designated the community for such a prestigious sanctioned tournament.
City of Prescott Recreation Services Department Director Joe Baynes said the city was honored to work with NSA in offering that level of competition to outstanding female athletes from the Western United States.
Teams are expected from Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington.
“I think it’s a tribute to the city and the greater community that we’ve been picked to work with what has been called ‘the most successful softball association’ in the United States.
What’s really gratifying is the tremendous economic impact such a tournament will have on the community. It will amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Baynes said.
Baynes credits City of Prescott Recreation Supervisor Rick Hormann and his staff with bringing the tournament to Prescott.
Over the years, Hormann and his team have created the reputation of excellence for the quality of softball experiences they provide softball teams, not just from Prescott, but also from the greater Southwest, Baynes said.
Hormann has considerable experience in managing recreational programs. He attended Northern Arizona University on a tennis scholarship and earned a degree in recreation management. He then worked on the West Coast for several years before coming to Prescott.
“We’ve hosted dozens of tournaments over the years, but this one is really ‘big time.’ The weeklong event will use every ballfield – 12 of them – the city has, plus school fields. And if need be, we can work with our neighbors in Prescott Valley and use fields there. We have always worked closely with Brian Witty, PV’s director of parks and recreation,” he said.
Hormann is proud of the condition of the ballfields where teams will compete. “We’ve been told that our fields are the best in Arizona. That’s because of our moderate climate and the staff expertise [that] we have in Prescott’s recreation and parks services.”
Hormann says he has no firm idea yet of the number of teams that will be in the tournament. “I’m anticipating at least 40 to 50 teams – and we could have many more than that. That translates to a lot of people. Each team has 14 girls and two coaches, and we know that many parents and friends will accompany them.”
Because it is a double elimination tournament, games will begin early each morning and be staggered into the early evening hours.
Teams and their fans will be staying in hotels throughout the Quad Cities area, Hormann said. “We think the entire Quad Cities area will benefit economically from having all these visitors here for that extended period of time. Based on past experiences and what we know about spending habits of visiting teams, we figure that if we have just 40 teams, the economic impact could be as much as $600,000 to $700,000,” Hormann said.
The City of Prescott hires umpires and announcers to cover all the ballgames. Their daily expenses and lodging in Prescott and Prescott Valley accommodations are covered through the Recreation Services budget. It will use the $750 per team entry fee to pay such costs.
“The city loses no money in hosting tournaments like this,” Hormann explained. In fact, an empirical analysis of 2016 Recreation Services events estimated that in 2016, out-of-town spending had an estimated $2,162,100 positive direct spending impact on the community.
Hormann emphasized that those estimates were based on the total year’s recreational events. He pointed out that Prescott has more than 140 softball teams and hosts several tournaments every summer. Other recreational programs include youth and adult baseball, volleyball, youth football and soccer. They all bring visitors and money to the area.
“Most people don’t know that Prescott has more softball teams – youth, men’s and women’s –than any other city in Arizona – bigger than Phoenix and Tucson. In fact, on a per capita basis, we’ve been told we have the largest softball program in the country.”
Hormann insists that credit for such successful recreational programs begins with Director Joe Baynes, who gives complete support to the Recreation Services staff.
“I speculate that when NSA sees what we can do with that softball world series this year, it’ll be coming back and asking us to do it again.” QCBN
For more information, visit prescott-azgov/services/parks or call 928-777-1122.
Written by Ray Newton, QCBN
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