Dear Wifflers,

First off, on behalf of the Reds Community Fund and the City of Mason Parks and Recreation Foundation, I can’t thank you enough for your participation in this year’s event. As you may know, this was our largest event yet! We hosted 79 teams from not only around the region, but around the COUNTRY! To those who traveled, we really appreciate your dedication to our event.

I also want to thank our title sponsor, Chipotle! Who doesn’t love their burritos?? We much appreciate their support (Enjoy your two-for-one coupons everyone!) Last, but not least, thank you to our volunteer umpire crew provided by Max McLeary! Once again, they did an excellent jbo and we couldn’t have done it without them

Now for the details you’ve all been patiently waiting for. Our 4th annual Reds Community Fund Summer Wiffle® Classic is…well….not quite in the books yet.

As you know the day started out great. Weather couldn’t have been better… Wiffle’s were Wifflin’…. Bats were swingin’… and then we had our first weather delay in four years. Lightning was in the area and after a small break we were back at ‘em. With the growth of our tournament this year (virtually doubling in size) we had some obvious growing pains, but we plugged through and have learned some valuable lessons for next year.

Keeping an eye on the weather in the area, we were again hit with bad news. A huge storm was headed directly for the Mason Sports Park. With lightning again causing an issue, and the impending storm rolling in, we made the decision to shut down the tournament for the remainder of the day. At that time we had 24 adult and 8 youth teams still playing

On the spot, we decided to invite all of the remaining teams to Redsfest on Friday and Saturday, December 3-4 to finish this year’s tournament. (Previously, only the top four teams were originally going to be invited). We are still trying to determine how to manage this many teams which could include some extended Redsfest hours on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. It may also require some off-site play due to the fact that we’ll have only one indoor field to utilize. We are working on this dilemma and will distribute an updated bracket and schedule as soon as possible.

Below is a list of all the adult and youth teams left (as well as their seed). We will simply pick up where we left off to crown another champion. From everyone involved with the 2010 RCF Summer Wiffle® Classic, we wish you a great rest of the summer and hope to see you at next years event.

Local News footage of the event (links):

WCPO Ch9: http://tinyurl.com/2ev3qfv

Fox19: http://tinyurl.com/26qu7wj

~~Brian Blinn
Tournament Director
Reds Community Fund Summer Wiffle® Classic
wiffleguy09@aol.com
513-675-0902

RESULTS:

HR Derby Champion (adult): Jeff Thomas (Freeballers) = 9

HR Derby Champion (youth): Drew Denoyer (Indian Hill Braves) = 4

Adult Division:

8. Mason Force (2)

The Reds Community Fund Summer WIFFLE Classic

ONE WEEK LEFT TO REGISTER! (deadline Aug. 10^th)

August 14th, 2010 marks the date for the 4th annual Reds Community Fund Summer WIFFLE® Classic.

FOR RULES AND REGISTRATION please go to:
www.reds.com/summerwiffle

Tournament Director, Brian Blinn, approached the Reds several years ago with this idea and through a lot of hard work and dedication to the game of Wiffle, has been able to convince the Reds that this is a fun and unique event worth hosting.

The tournament is set up as a Round Robin in the morning and a single elimination tournament in the afternoon (seeded from the round robin play). 50+ teams play in this annual event and it seems to grow every year. What started out as a “local draw” has turned into a regional and NATIONAL draw now. Teams from as far away as North Carolina and Arizona come to play!

The top 4 teams from the Summer Classic are invited to the indoor tournament at Redsfest in December! Also, the winning team receives trophies and they get to throw out the coveted “first pitch” at a Reds Game the day after the tournament! All teams that enter get a T-shirt and ticket to the Reds game the following day as well (among other freebies).

The event is a fundraiser for the Reds Community Fund (the non-profit arm of the Cincinnati Reds) which has dedicated itself to at-risk youth throughout greater Cincinnati. Whether it’s renovating baseball fields, providing opportunities to kids with disabilities, underwriting expenses for inner-city teams or hosting a “Reds Rookie Success League”, the Reds Community Fund finds a way to connect kids with the game of baseball. More than 30,000 kids will benefit from the Reds Community Fund in 2010.