Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994 TAG: 9404210042
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This weekend, the 14th annual Crawford tournament will bring together 200 teams to play 406 games in seven classes during a period of 54 hours on 21 fields in Salem, primarily at the James Moyer Sports Complex. This year, the two General Electric fields off Virginia 419 will be used for the first time.
With entry fees raised $10 for each class, the event should raise about $14,000 for various causes. The man for whom the tournament was founded, Chance Crawford, received more than $50,000 in trust-fund proceeds during the event's first 10 years.
Crawford, wheelchair-bound since suffering a paralyzing injury in a Salem High School football game in 1980, now is the city's circuit court clerk. This is the fourth year the Crawford tournament receipts will go to other charities, including scholarships.
Charlie Hammersley, Salem's parks and recreation department director, said more than $13,000 was donated last year, in conjunction with the recreation department and the Salem Sports Foundation.
Tournament coordinator Ben Lockhart, the U.S. Slowpitch Softball Association's area director, said virtually all of the tournament expenses are donated or covered by sponsorships. The lone expense is umpiring fees, and even the men and women in blue are charitable.
"They work for $12 instead of $13, which is the regular fee," said Lockhart, who spent most of his hours last weekend wading through entries and bracketing teams. "And where usually they'd work two to a game, they work alone, which makes it tougher on them."
The tournament opens at 6 p.m. Friday and is scheduled to finish Sunday night.
The event is USSSA-sanctioned for a couple of reasons. First, it attracts more teams because Mid-Atlantic divisional and state tournament berths are awarded in each division. Also, a USSSA sanction prevents teams from "loading up" with players from teams in higher classes.
This year's Crawford has attracted teams from six states and the District of Columbia, including 30 teams in two women's classes. Six of the seven classes will play a double-elimination format, with the six men's Class A teams playing a round-robin schedule.
"Besides raising money for very good causes, the economic impact of the tournament has been a plus, too," Hammersley said. "You have people coming in from out of town, and every year the first date our vendors ask about is the Chance Crawford tournament. It's a huge weekend for them."
The Crawford tournament begins another huge summer for the Moyer Sports Complex, which again will be the site of several national tournaments, including the first visit by the six-team NCAA Division III women's championship tournament, May 19-22.
The July schedule includes the USSSA men's and women's National Invitation tournaments and the Commonwealth Games of Virginia, which should expand from last year's 121 teams with the addition of women's and youth fast-pitch classes. August events include the Dixie Debs national tournament, two men's Class D state events and the National Softball Association men's Class C Fastpitch World Series.
On Labor Day weekend, the 16-team USSSA Women's Class A World Series - bringing together the best women's teams in the nation - and the 60-team Women's Class A National tournament will be played in Salem. The city bid $10,000 to lure the women's World Series. The September schedule closes with the NSA men's Class A Slowpitch World Series.
by CNB