Erie Softball’s Tournament of Champions will be hosting a multitude of teams this weekend for one of the biggest high school tournaments in the country. It’s the only tournament of its kind, and it will be the 17th year of the tournament, started in 2001 by Bob Bledsoe. The tournament will host many local teams as well as 5A and 6A teams from Oklahoma. The games will be played at Erie High School and the Ballpark at Erie, starting Thursday, August 30 through Saturday, September 1st.

38 total games will be played in the three day frenzy. The tournament is run by players and families themselves, of course with help from the community to keep the tournament running smoothly.

Erie softball is coming off two huge wins at Metro State going into the tournament. The Tigers defeated defending 5A state champion Legend as well as defeating Valor Christian, who the Tigers have lost to many times before. Starting pitcher Madie Leach believes this will help prepare the team for good competition this weekend. “The teams that we played at Metro were some of the best competition in the state, so seeing those teams last weekend will really help us going into the tournament.”

The tournament brings a new intensity to the schedule for the team. Oklahoma teams challenge the Tigers, which is welcome considering the competition for the weekend is something they don’t usually see in regular league play. The Tigers welcome the challenge since it helps them explore some of their weaker qualities. Teagan Brand hopes to see the team play together and explore strategies needed to compete. She says, “This tournament will probably be one of the most challenging tournaments we face as a team. I know in years past it has made us use different elements of our team we hadn’t thought of using before.”

With this being one of the most challenging weekends of play for the team, the focus is on playing together to overcome challenges they may see. The Tigers have already come out strong starting the season and they hope to use that momentum throughout the weekend. Junior Kat Sackett, who was only one of two sophomores on the 2017 All Region first team, says, “I think we just have to play together and play how we know how to.”

The Tigers will kick off the tournament with a double header Thursday against Mustang High School from Oklahoma, the defending 6A state champions. They play at 4 pm at Erie High School and 8 pm at the Ballpark at Erie. The Tigers will play again at 2 pm Friday against Sequoyah High School from Tahlequah, Oklahoma and then finish off the tournament on Saturday at 9 am against Mullen High School from Denver, Colorado.

Here’s the full schedule for the weekend: