Local couple, Becky Vermette and Derek Greening organized the 2014 Princeton Ball Buster Tournament, held this past weekend at the Memorial Park Ball Diamond.
The couple head up the local Slopitch league, which began in May and consists of 12 teams this year.
Sixteen teams—eight local and eight visitng from Penticton, Merritt, Kelowna and Osoyoos participated in the Ball Buster Tournament. The tournament began Friday, July 18 at 6:30 p.m., ran until 9 p.m., and resumed play Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m., straight through till 6:30 in the evening. Eddie Edwards from the Brown Bridge Pub hosted the Saturday Skills Competetion that included a “Home Run Derby,” which was won by suprise participant, Cst. Anthony Pankratz, of the Princeton RCMP. Cst. Pankratz went home with a brand new baseball bat and cash.
Once the skills competition was finished, participants were invited to the Brown Bridge Pub Baseball Bash, with local band Johnny’s Hat providing music for the evening.
Sunday morning came bright and early as games and playoffs began at 8:00 a.m. Although the participants were having a great time, many were showing signs of soreness and fatigue.“Ball Buster is a great name for the event, joked Becky Vermette, “cause you feel like you’ve been busted all weekend long! It’s the best turnout we’ve had in five years—we’re happy and everyone is having a blast,” she added.
The top two teams of the 2014 Princeton Ball Buster are the Kelowna Gremlins and the Penticton VBS Diggers. The VBS Diggers won the tournament around 5 p.m. on Sunday afternoon and were rewarded with $1,000. Second place Gremlins took home a brand new bat and balls valued at $300.
Becky and Derek extend their thanks to the Princeton Posse for hosting the refreshment garden and concession for the tournament, to Eddie Edwards for the skills competition and Saturday evening dance, to all the tournament participants and to the community for the excellent support.