After 10 months of anticipation and planning, the 12-and-Under Cal Ripken Midwest Plains Regional Baseball Tournament has come and gone. This was, without a doubt, the most prestigious baseball tournament ever held in Marion. We had the state champions from six states, the second-place team from Missouri, and the finest 11- and 12-year-old baseball players from right here in Marion competing for the chance to go to the Cal Ripken World Series in Maryland later this month.

As tournament organizer, the past few months have been brutal! The list of things to do in order to get ready for a tournament like this is endless. My hope was to delegate responsibilities to others with the dream that somehow this thing would come together and we could host a tournament that Marion would be proud of. What happened was beyond my expectations!

The community support was incredible. I cannot begin to list all the people who contributed to the success of this tournament, and I’m afraid if I did, the paper would not publish this due to its length! Let’s just say that the citizens of Marion rose to the occasion, put their best foot forward, and impressed the heck out of the players, coaches, parents, and fans who came here from Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, and yes – even Kansas!

To all the people who donated their time, money, and talents to make this tournament a success, THANK YOU! To all the people who opened up their homes to 12-year-old boys they had never met before, THANK YOU! I can honestly say that I did not hear one negative thing from the host families, the boys they hosted, or their families!

The economic impact for our little town was significant too. Conservative estimates would put the “shot in the arm” that Marion received from this tournament at somewhere between $20,000 and $25,000, maybe more! However, the overall experience that people had during this tournament cannot be measured with dollars. People loved the small town atmosphere and the friendly people of our community!

And speaking of economic impact, the monetary value of the improvements at our baseball complex alone are estimated somewhere between $50,000 and $70,000 with all of the labor and much of the materials donated! These improvements happened because of this tournament. But… ALL of these improvements will remain at our ball field for decades to come!

Last but not least, how about your host team — the CVL All-Stars! One of the key factors involved when we agreed to take on a tournament of this caliber was the fact that we knew we could field a host team that would be competitive and make Marion proud! Our local boys competed against the state champions from six states and finished with a 2-2 record, placing fourth in the regional tournament!

Only one other CVL team has EVER finished higher in a regional tournament! By the way, our two losses just happened to come at the hands of Minnesota and Colorado, the champion and first runner-up in the tournament!

If you took part in this grand event by volunteering your time, opening up your home to strangers, or just coming out to watch a game, you experienced small town America at its absolute best! This was the REAL Field of Dreams! If you chose not to participate, that is too bad as you missed out on one of the greatest examples of our little town pulling together and putting a really nice feather in our cap!

Alex (Casey) Case,
Tournament organizer