Letters to the editor

Volunteers made tourney work

Editor:
On July 1-8, Hartselle hosted the Alabama Dixie Boys and Dixie Junior Boys Baseball District One Tournaments. Both tournaments were won by the Hartselle teams. There were 10 teams in these two tournaments 10 representatives from Brooks, Central (Florence), Colbert Heights, Muscle Shoals, Lawrence County, Underwood, Haleyville (2 teams), and Hartselle (2 teams). The tournaments were well supported by the Hartselle community.
For the tournaments, Hartselle Dixie Baseball provided a hospitality room to support the Dixie officials, tournament volunteers, umpires, scorekeepers, and tournament coaches. Pepsi of Decatur, Dominos Pizza, Papa John’s, Little Caesars, Subway, Dari Delite, Southern Hickory Barbeque, Wal-Mart, Publix, Hartselle Sporting Goods, and Cook’s Trucking Company donated food, drinks, money and other supplies for the hospitality room. In addition to this support, many volunteers provided meals, desserts and setup support. The hospitality room was very much appreciated by all of the tournament participants. I want to thank each of the businesses for your donation and each of the volunteers who worked so hard to support this tournament.
Hartselle Parks and Recreation readied and maintained the fields throughout the tournament. Our park is a showcase for Hartselle and everyone was complimentary of the facilities. The P&R employees go out of their way to ensure that this excellence is maintained for each game during the regular season and tournaments. I want to thank each of them for their support and hard work.
The District I Tournaments were a big success in large part because of the many volunteers who gave their time to work the gates, coordinate the concession stand, man the hospitality room, serve on protest committees, pick up trash, announce the games, and direct the tournament. I especially want to thank Elaine Green, Denny and Melissa Pershin, Jeff Howard, Ashley and Amy Balch, Danny Yocom, Jeremy Livingston, Johnny Hall, Jay Stewart, Stan Fields, Suzanne Anders, Rhonda Miller, Angel Rollins, Robin Starr, Wayne Brown, Mickey Wallace, Wade Oakes, Jeff Hillman and Chuck Keenum. Each of these people spent multiple days helping to make the tournaments a success. In addition, all of the parents from both Hartselle teams gave their time during the week to work some aspect of the tournament. Many more offered to help. This support is a testament to the cohesiveness of the community. The desire to support our youth is definitely strong in Hartselle. I thank each of you for your generosity and hard work.

Scott Shelton
League Commissioner for the 13&14 League
Hartselle Dixie Baseball