Alliance Fastpitch championship series coming to Westfield
By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com
Many of the best young softball players in the country will be at Grand Park starting next week for what promises to be one of the highest quality tournaments of the year.
The Alliance Fastpitch will host its Championship Series 16U and 18U event in Indiana, with action beginning on Sunday, July 24 and continuing through the championship games on Sunday, July 31. The majority of the games will take place at Grand Park and at Championship Park in Kokomo, with the championship contests set for Purdue University’s Bittinger Stadium and at Championship Park.
A total of 164 teams across the two age divisions will participate in the Championship Series event. The teams will come from all across the United States, from coast to coast.
“At least 30 states are represented,” said Alliance Fastpitch CEO Jami Lobpries. “We have a very large West Coast presence.” There will also be a large Texas presence, with over 20 teams from that state. And the tournament is actually international, with a team from British Columbia, Canada competing.
The Alliance Fastpitch is a relatively new organization, having started in the Summer of 2020. In fact, this is only the second year of the tournament. The Alliance Fastpitch describes itself on its website as “a national co-opetition of fastpitch teams and stakeholders working together to grow our sport.”
There are eight member leagues across the United States, with all 50 states represented. Indiana is part of the “Heart of America Fastpitch League,” which features 14 states (the most of any league). All 12 Midwestern states are part of the league, along with southern states Oklahoma and Arkansas.
“These are all kids that play competitively year-round,” said Lobpries. “Many of these kids have either already signed or they committed to play in college.” Lobpries herself played college softball at Texas A&M University, helping the Aggies to two appearances in the Women’s College World Series.
The tournament begins with the organization’s All-Star game, which features the top 40 high school senior players in the country, on Sunday. The game will be played at Kokomo Municipal Stadium and will be national televised on ESPNU.
“Last year, we had over 43,000 viewers of that game,” said Lobpries.
Once tournament play begins on Monday, action will shift to Grand Park and Championship Park. Michael Tucker, the vice-president of Bullpen Ventures, which operates the baseball/softball side of the parks, said that teams will be playing on 21 diamonds at Grand Park and eight diamonds of Championship Park. In addition, the Noblesville Field of Dreams at Hazel Dell Elementary School will have three fields in action Wednesday.
“At its peak, it will be 32 diamonds,” said Tucker.
Lobpries said that the facilities are one of the reasons Alliance Fastpitch chose Grand Park as one of its tournament sites. The organization is also hosting concurrent tournaments in Southern California for 14U players, with 10U and 12U teams competing in Oklahoma City. The three sites will rotate different age groups each year.
Because of the size of the tournament, Lobpries said it’s “super important to have that many fields. It’s great to have all those fields in one location for college coaches.”
The Alliance Fastpitch will be coming to Grand Park next week for its Championship Series 16U and 18U tournament. A total of 164 teams from all across the country, including one from British Columbia, Canada, will participate in the tournament. Pictured are last year’s 18U champion, Athletics Mercado (above), and the 16U champion, Warrior Academy (below).
Another reason Alliance Fastpitch chose Grand Park is the people of Hamilton County.
“They’ve been first class,” said Lobpries. “That’s also an important reason why we want to continue to bring back this event every year.”
“We’ve worked very closely with the people at Grand Park,” said Lobpries. “They’ve been fantastic. We’ve worked with Hamilton County Sports Commission and the City of Kokomo. The accessibility is very nice, very convenient. These fields, they’re some of the best in the country. And our California kids are going to get some culture with the agriculture.”
“That’s what we strive for,” said Tucker. “We strive to the Disney World of athletic complexes.”
Tucker said that hearing about people having good experiences at Grand Park goes “a long way.” He also said that making sure the experiences are positive comes down to execution – “we can plan all we want, but if we don’t execute, the planning is wasted,” he said. “We feel like we not only plan, but we execute as well as anyone else in this industry.”
Tucker is also happy to showcase softball. He said Grand Park is mainly a baseball facility in the spring and the summer, so “it’s exciting for us to have some softball be in town. We’ve been meeting with the Alliance twice a month for the last six months planning this event.”
Blake Hibler, the President of Bullpen Tournaments, said that Grand Park has been working on preparing for the tournament for the last nine months.
“We had to buy enough home run fencing to put fences up on every Diamond,” said Hibler. “We’ve had to work with our CVB’s to ensure our fans have a great experience. We’ve also had to assist to get additional facilities to host.”
Hibler also said that the people who are at Grand Park every day get to enjoy it, so it’s “always refreshing to take someone around the park for the first time,” he said. “It reminds you how great of a place Grand Park is. It was built to make memories for our youth.”
Lobpries also wanted fans to know that Alliance Fastpitch has a long-term commitment to Grand Park and Hamilton County. “We want this to be a home for a very long time,” she said.
The public is welcome to attend the tournament, and can purchase a tournament pass for $60; that allows access to all the facilities and all the games played during the entire weekend. The July 31 championship games at Purdue and Kokomo will be free and open to the public.