Liberty Firefighters Blazing Bats Girls Eastern National Qualifier - Standings - Facility & Tourname

TheSoftballZone

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Standings - Facility & Tournament Reviews by members

Liberty Firefighters Blazing Bats Girls Eastern National Qualifier Girls Softball Tournament, standings can be posted by Tournament Director
or Members of TheSoftballZone. Tournament Facility & Reviews by members of TheSoftballZone for Liberty Firefighters Blazing Bats Girls Eastern National Qualifier Girls Fastpitch Tournament.

07.17.2015
07.19.2015
18u 16u 14u 12u 11u 10u Liberty Firefighters Blazing Bats Girls Eastern National Qualifier4Youngstown (Liberty Twp),OHASA$425 Dawn Olson 330.506.4436
 

Softballfarm

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Hi Everyone...

I thought this was a nicely run tournament. My team was late to enter due to multiple rain outs this summer. This was 12u thru 18u at Liberty Park on Youngstown's North side. It was sponsored by the Liberty TWP Firefighters as a fundraiser for their cause.

--The TD, Dawn, was accessible and easy to deal with. She answered my questions and accommodated my team and organization for a multiple team discount.

--The schedule was sent via email in a timely manner. We were not affected by weather this weekend so there were no changes to communicate. I knew my bracket time when I left the park Saturday evening.

--Liberty Park is an excellent park. It has a ton of shade and ample warm up areas. There are playgrounds for the kids and a centrally located concession stand. The park has both modern restrooms and porta johns throughout the park. The restrooms were kept clean and the waste baskets were emptied throughout the weekend.

--The fields were groomed between each game and new chalk was put down. All our games were on field 3 which is an excellent field for softball. There is a slight mound but it does not affect the 12u 40' distance. Our field had a safety base and each game began with a new ball.

--The umpires were very good. They were polite, not arrogant, and preformed in the proper spirit of the game. They were very knowledgeable on the rules for courtesy runners and were patient to explain to others with questions. I did not see one single incident all weekend long with the 12u umpires. Very good job overall.

--What I was a little disappointed in was a quite pricey charge to enter the park. Adults were $5 and children $3. On Sunday they reduced the charge to $3 and $2. While I understand this is for a good cause, my families really griped about the costs for their families to watch softball...also given that all teams were scheduled to play one game on Friday. One family on my team spent $39 on entry fees for the 3 day weekend! I am not one to tell you where to draw the line on fees but in my opinion, that is too much. I thought the fire fighters working the gates were very friendly and thankful for the patrons...and that was a nice touch. They were very nice to the players and encouraged them. That was nice. I'm just saying the fees were too much. While coaches got in for free, I still had to pay $11 a day for my wife and two other DD's to get in.

--The concession stand was well equipped and had all the good stuff you would expect. I have been at other tournaments at this park and have always found the organization that runs it...the Liberty TWP Rec league, I think, does a good job. Honestly, I didn't spend a dime there because of how much money we had to pay at the gate.

--The concession stand did NOT have chili dogs. Just plain hot dogs. Major thumbs down!!

--I didn't see the scores posted anywhere in the park. Nor did I see the brackets posted. I would have liked to see them as it lets me know what the other teams are doing.

--Team trophies were handed out for the finalists and medals were passed out to the players. As I get more and more into travel ball, I think I am becoming a fan of T shirts for the finalists but this is not a complaint. The TD presented the trophies to the teams and congratulated the girls for their effort. It was a nice time.

Again, this was a nice, well run tournament. It drew a larger group of teams in the older divisions, 12u was small...10u was dropped but for a mid July tournament it was a good time. I would consider returning next season but the gate fees may play a factor in my decision making.

Joe Nay
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TheSoftballZone

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Softballfarm; I really have to hand to you. All your reviews have been very nicely done, Ive even look at your other review and I'm now following your reviews based on the fact that you write really nice reviews. Keep up the good Job! I hope we can give you a chance to review a tournament for me some time down the road.
 

Softballfarm

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Thanks Rickey...

I want to be as honest as I can for my reviews but I don't want to lose track that most of the TD's are volunteers and do not directly benefit from the event. While I am not a TD myself I do serve as a site director at my organization's two tournaments in Youngstown so I am very sensitive to criticism from others...even if it is deserved. My internal response is "hey, I took the day off work to be here, Ok?" but I know that people expect something for their money. I usually follow the rule that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all...but I will offer suggestions for improvement. For instance the Sandusky Roller Coaster Classic, I feel, could be a DYNAMITE tournament if a few things could be added.

Being a head coach, I like to have communication from the TD...I like to find her if I need her etc... I know weather is an uncontrollable but timely updates are certainly expected. I guess my big thing this year was I was absolutely disappointed at an early May tournament and I wrote up a scathing review, but, after invoking the 24 hour rule, I deleted it. While I felt very passionately about how poor my team, and me personally, was treated that weekend I decided to say nothing on OFC knowing that the TD's were good people and were volunteering their time for the kids...just like me. It's just the way I am.

I try to avoid judging the umpires on their "good" calls but rather focus on if they are polite, good with the girls and coaches, and preform their task not only by the letter of the rules but also the spirit.

My big thing, which may sound petty, is the chili dog's at the concession stand. I will always patronize a concession stand to buy their chili dog. To me the chili dog is the signature item of sand lot sports and I love seeing different organizations ideas of what a chili dog is supposed to be. I get ticked off when the only offering is a plain hot dog. Lazy... Maybe I will post my 2015 Chili Dog of the Year Award. I already know who I would give it to. I feel i'm qualified!

Joe Nay
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TheSoftballZone

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Very Funny, Chile Dog report maybe you can come on the show when we do that last Tuesday night show of the Year and pick a winner...
 
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1st, a question. Do we post standings here in this thread? or is there a forum that deals with standings?
2nd, thank you 'softballfarm' for an honest review of our tournament. As this is only our second year doing a tourney and with the way this one 'blew up' in the last 2 weeks (from around 20 teams to 32), I spoke with some current TB parents and asked what gate fees were these days, and we set the fees to their recommendations. I can honestly say that gate fees will be reviewed before next year (i'm not sure if i spoke with you or another coach on ideas for gate fees in the future). We will pass on the reviews of the park and concession stand(yes, the chili dog will be requested..lol). And i will pass on your comments of how Dawn handled the TD position to her (she is on a much needed vacation right now).
As for scores, we tried to make as many people aware that scores for friday and saturday games were being updated on our website, plus they were being recorded at the registration area with the TD. Brackets on sunday were placed on large posterboard and hung from the sides of the gazebo for everyone to follow the action, with a quick picture being taken at the end and posted to our website also.
We are glad to hear your experience was positive and will be past on to the Firefighters as well.
Next year we hope to be as big as this year and as i said review gate fees, have both online and in park scores and brackets, we will have a t-shirt vendor on site, and we will see about those chili dogs!
thanks again for the review!
 
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