Bats will be cracking around the clock at the season ending wrap-up weekend tournament for the Squamish Slo Pitch Association (SSPA) starting Friday (July 16).

The festivities kick off at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night with all-star game between umpires and the league’s best players.

“It turns out to be a lot of fun,” said SSPA president Dave Southam. “We have a big bash down at Hendrickson Park.”

The official wrap up tournament launches on Saturday with games starting at Hendrickson Park fields at 9:30 a.m. and every hour and half after, until 6:30 p.m.
Teams from all three divisions compete over two days to earn points and secure the top spot in the standings.

Sunday slo pitch games start at 9:30 a.m. with the finals wrapping up around 12:30 p.m.

Everyone has a chance to earn bragging rights and have a ton of fun.

“It’s just a social, more than anything. It’s a bit of a celebration for the year. Everyone gets to show off a bit and usually there’s lots of fun antics and good fun between the umps.”

Southam said participants can earn prize packs from Slo Pitch National as well as clothing, hats and free beer tickets for the on site beer garden.

“So with the weather like this, the teams should be happy.”

The beer gardens are scheduled to run on Saturday and Sunday although, Southam said, he’s trying to secure a Friday night beer garden too.

Coast Mountain Catering will be onsite cooking up delicious cuisine, which will be available for purchase.

Southam invited the public to come down to Hendrickson Park field to enjoy a few games and refreshments. The entire executive will also be on hand throughout the tournament to answer questions about the association, forming a team, or about slo pitch in general.

Aside from some unusually chilly weather, Southam said he’s very pleased with how the 2010 season went.

“The weather was just a real challenge this year, up until the last couple of weeks it’s been freezing cold, but overall the season has been good.”

With great turn outs at the April ice breaker tournament and the May long week end tournament, Southam said he’s pleased with the number of teams participating but he’s still like to see even more teams join the ranks in the coming season.

“There’s been lots of jostling inside the division so some pretty good play. But I’d love to see the numbers get back up to 40 teams next year.”

In an effort to increase membership, Southam is considering making a youth division in 2011 for high school aged slo pitch players to hone their skills.

In the mean time, Southam said the association is excited to host Live at Squamish, a two-day music festival over the Labour Day weekend on Hendrickson Fields and possibly a fall tournament sometime in September.

Team standings as well as information on the association and its upcoming tournaments can be found at www.squamish-slopitch.com.