The Barrie area will play host to hundreds of softball players next weekend after being selected as the host city for the Ontario Region for the 2024 Slo-Pitch National Championships.
The four-day event, scheduled to take place Aug. 2 to 5 at the Barrie Community Sports Complex in Midhurst, will include teams in the Women’s B, Men’s E, Men's 35, Men’s 50 and co-ed competitive C, D and E divisions.
Slo-Pitch National (SPN) president Trish Harrow told BarrieToday the tournament will include 58 teams, 1,044 athletes, 152 coaches and 36 umpires, and is hosted every August long weekend at various locations across Canada.
In addition to Barrie, the tournament — which has 27 various levels of calibres and categories to accommodate teams of varying skill levels — will be hosted in St. John’s, NL, Saskatoon, Sask. and Kelowna, B.C.
“The event will offer experience and enhanced skills to local umpires/officials, in addition to highlighting the wonderful facilities of the Barrie sports complex,” she said. “We have worked in conjunction with the city recreation office and Barrie Tourism to promote the local events and businesses.”
The event also works with local groups who are affiliated members of the association.
“Barrie was selected to host mainly due to the wonderful facilities available at the Barrie sports complex. After several meetings with the city recreation office, the event was awarded to Barrie,” Harrow noted.
Next month will mark the 35th anniversary of the National Slo-Pitch Championships, which until this year had yet to be hosted in Barrie, she added.
“The event moves around to different communities which enables Slo-Pitch National to welcome local teams and offers these participants an opportunity to compete against teams from other regions of Canada," she said. "It also provides engagement with local communities and forges relationships that may lead to hosting possibilities for other major events in the years to come.
"While this is a national championship competition, it offers the ability to showcase fantastic slo-pitch communities across the country," Harrow added.
Bonnie Branch, the Barrie tournament co-ordinator for Slo-Pitch National and president of the Barrie Sunday Night Coed Slo-Pitch League, and who led the charge in putting together the local group to bid for the championships, told BarrieToday her Sunday Night Coed Slo-Pitch League has chosen to be affiliated with NSA Canada this year moving forward. It is an organization that is affiliated with almost 90 per cent of the slo-pitch leagues in the region as well as being the largest slo-pitch organization in Canada.
Tourism Barrie executive director Kathleen Trainor says she's excited to welcome the national-level slo-pitch teams, as well as their families and coaches, to the city. She anticipates the event will have a significant impact on the local economy.
“The SPN championships will have a $2.1-million economic impact on Barrie’s visitor economy," Trainor said. "With both SPN and Kempenfest happening, it is a sold-out long weekend."
Having this large of a sporting event in the area will be an “honour,” Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall noted in a news release on the tournament’s website.
"Having the opportunity to open up our beautiful city and bring additional tourism to our area following the pandemic, will have such a positive effect on our local economy and the small businesses here," he said. "We know what Barrie has to offer and we look forward to sharing that with others."
For more information on the upcoming tournament, click here.
