CCAC Hosting Premier Tourney
WARSAW – The CCAC has earned a well-known reputation as a great host for premier softball events.
The facility has a chance to hit a grand slam this coming weekend as it plays host to the NSA Super World Series.
The tournament for the Silver Division will attract 53 teams to the complex. Play is set to begin Friday evening and run through the championship game on Sunday afternoon. Tickets for the tourney can be purchased at the CCAC.
Games will also be played Friday night and on Saturday morning at the athletic complex in Nappanee.
Karl Swihart, the Exectitive Director of the CCAC, says it’s a big deal to serve as host for this tourney.
“To be given the opportunity to host this event is a big notch in our belt and for the community here that supports us,” said Swihart. “It’s a big deal. This is the furthest north that the tourney has been played. It’s a big thank you from the NSA.
“It gives the CCAC notoriety and helps to put both the CCAC and Warsaw on the map. It’s also a great thing for the local hotels and restaurants to bring in 53 teams to our area, each having 15 players. That’s a great thing for our local economy.”
The tourney will include 18 teams from Indiana, including ones from Goshen, Kokomo, New Haven and Fort Wayne. There will be eight teams from Illinois and seven each from Michigan and Ohio. Teams from Massachusetts, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Virginia and Maryland will also be in the tournament field.
“These are the top teams in the nation and the level of play will be very high,” Swihart said. “The community will be able to come out and see some great softball.”
Swihart attended the NSA Super World Series last year in Owensboro, Kentucky.
“Normally, this tourney is held in bigger cities,” explained Swihart. “I thought it would be good for the NSA to take this to a smaller city like Warsaw and make it a bigger deal for the entire community.”
Swihart noted that seven local restaurants will each be involved in a prize drawing for an Easton bat. Each location will have a bat and players in the tournament can register to win the bat when dining there. The restaurants involved in the drawing are Buffalo Wild Wings, Wings, Etc., Hacienda, Spike’s Beach Grill, Pizza King, Mad Anthony’s and Bennigan’s. Swihart also added that major sponsors include Pepsi, Wildman Corportation and Wyndham Gardens, which is the host hotel for the tournament.
The CCAC has been preparing for the tourney since finding out it would host back in January. A committee of Swihart, Jim Kimmel (the Indiana State Director for the NSA), Mary Kitchell (Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors Bureau), Mark Dobson (Chamber of Commerce) and Mike Stetzel (of Wyndham Gardens) has been in charge of overseeing preparations for the big event.
“I think we are ready for it,” said Swihart Monday afternoon. “The committee has done a super job.”