The diamonds at A.D. Penner Park will be put to good use as the Steinbach Storm Classic is taking place this weekend.

President of Steinbach Softball Paul Turenne says they are hosting 31 teams from all over southeastern Manitoba. 

“Including some Winnipeg teams, we have five U11 teams, ten U13 teams, ten U15 teams, and six U17 teams, all stemming from Winkler, McDonald, Seine River, Landmark, and a host of other teams.” 

It’s a pretty big tournament as they are expecting around 400 athletes and coaches. 

Turenne says organizing a tournament of this size takes a lot of work. 

“Having to plan food for that amount of people is also a tall task, but we have the right parent volunteers in place and I think it's going to be a great event.” 

The Steinbach Storm Classic has been running for 13 years now, and Turenne says the fact that the same teams keep coming back to play is a good sign they are doing a good job hosting. 

“I believe that the people who ran it prior to this year did a great job, and we're hoping to do the same.” 

Each team coming is guaranteed to play three games, and each winner, runner-up, and 3rd place team will receive a medal. 

The tournament will be at A.D. Penner Park and the first game is tonight at 5:30pm.

Then on both Saturday and Sunday, games will run from 8:00am until 5:00pm.

“We got some full days ahead of us, but we're looking forward to it.” 

They are hoping to see a lot of people come out to cheer on the teams.

There will not be admission, and they will have a canteen available.

Turenne notes they don’t have a detailed schedule. 

“Simply because after their first game they don't actually know when they're playing next because of the brackets. It's a 10 team, three-game guarantee, so it's kind of a modified double knockout.” 

 

With files from Carly Koop