Vernal Express

FIVE STATES TO CHALLENGE FOR REGION TITLE

The 2017 13-year-old Babe Ruth Pacific Southwest Tournament is making its way to Vernal on July 23-29 at the Ashley Valley Baseball Park Fields.

The events start at 5 p.m. Sunday, July 23, with the regional dinner and pin trading. The opening ceremony follows on the Babe Ruth League field.

“We got the phone call in January,” tournament director Kenten Pope said. “Out of the regionals with my brothers that I have gone there hasn't been any regions that compares to Vernal. Our facility is the state of the art. We have on-site concessions. The fields are just great.”

Pope said the theme for the tournament is National Park and National Forest Service.

“We are hoping the players see that go into our mountains and see some of the tourism attractions,” Pope said.

Vernal has been stacked into the double-elimination tournament with eight different teams from the states of Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah and Hawaii.

The winner of the tournament qualifies for the World Series in Homestead, Arkansas.

“We host an event so the families are not here just to watch baseball, but have a good time in Vernal,” Pope said. “It's just not a baseball game, it's a whole event. It's almost like the World Series.”

Vernal opens the double-elimination tournament at 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 24, with Nevada. Vernal is coming off winning the state title.

Fireworks are slated for after the Vernal game on the first day of the tournament.

“We usually have one night dedicated to Vernal,” Pope said. “Since it's a bracket, the only guarantee night that Vernal will play is the first night on July 24.”

Vernal is one of three Utah teams scheduled to be in the tournament. The tournament opener is at 2 p.m. Monday, July 24, between Southern Utah and Central California. At 5 p.m. Monday, Arizona battles with Hawaii.

The winner of Nevada-Vernal plays at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 25, vs. Southern California. The loser of Nevada-Vernal has a date with the loser of Southern Utah-Central California at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 25.

“We have state champions coming from five different states,” Pope said. “It just varies between states in how long they have been done with the state tournament. Hawaii has been done for three weeks. Vernal just won their tournament. The Northern Utah and a couple of California teams are just finishing (July 14-15).”

Pope said Vernal team members are Aidan Baltrum, Konnor Gilroy, Easton Hacking, Taydn Holmes, Coy Jackson, Gage Murray, Karson Murray, Carston Olsen, William Price, Haiden Reary and Trevan Spiers and Jace Watkins.

Bart Murray is the manager. Karter Pope and Dave Olsen are the two coaches.

“I think Vernal has a great team this year,” Kenten Pope said. “They are going to hold their own and do pretty well this tournament. These are all great teams coming with great players.”

All the teams will play under the same pitching rules for the U13 division.

“This year the Babe Ruth League has put into play new pitching rules,” Pope said. “You can only pitch 90 pitches within two days. We have new scoreboards that keep track of the pitch count. No one is going into it blind.”

Ticket prices for the tournament are $5 for a day pass or $20 for a week pass. Children 5U are free. The title game is slated for 9 a.m. on Saturday, July 29.