Construction on the Brandywine Cal Ripken field at Firemen’s Park continues in preparation for this weekend’s Ohio Valley Regional. Brandywine will play host to 12 teams from six states beginning with opening ceremonies on Thursday. A facelift for the facility began last Wednesday following the completion of the regular season. The trees were removed behind the outfield fence, which was then moved back 45-feet. Additional lighting, a warning track and some bleachers were relplaced in preparation for the tournament. (Daily Star photos/AMELIO RODRIGUEZ)

By AMELIO RODRIGUEZ
Niles Daily Star

The Brandywine Cal Ripken League will host the 11-year-old Ohio Valley Regional Tournament this year with the festivities starting on Thursday and running through Tuesday, July 27.

Hosting the regional has been a plan in the making for quite some time, however getting the field ready for play has been, and still is, a major undertaking.

On Wednesday, the day after the Brandywine Cal Ripken League season ended, work began to get the field ready to host the regional tournament.

This project included removing all the trees that lined the outfield fence, removing the fence and moving it back 45 feet, bringing in new sod for the “new” outfield, adding extra lights, a warning track and rebuilding some of the bleachers.

Kachur Tree Service of Niles and Coastal Landscaping of South Haven have both been major contributors to the facelift the field is getting as well as several volunteers from the league itself.

The regional tournament, which will include 12 teams from six states, will begin Thursday with a dinner at 5:30 p.m. and opening ceremonies scheduled to start immediately after.

The opening ceremonies will include a homerun derby for the kids, former Detroit Tiger Jeff Jackowiak and Niles Township Treasurer Jim Ringler will be the guest speakers and the evening will be capped off with a fireworks display.

The 11-year-olds in the Cal Ripken leagues do not have a World Series, so the regional tournament is as far as they go and is in essence their World Series.

For those who are interested in this tournament, but can’t make it out to the park, the opening ceremonies, all of the Brandywine games and the championship game will all be broadcast on-line by Niles’ own Rob Clingaman at www.swmsports.net.

The league is expecting anywhere from 3,500-4,000 people to visit the park and the community over the course of the tournament, and are encouraging the local businesses to display “welcome” signs if possible.

The league is also still looking for volunteers that can help in a variety of different ways.

Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Marilyn Duval at (574) 850-7175.