Baseball tournament raises $8,550 for Special Olympics

The numbers are in and last weekend's first annual 2013 Boys Baseball Winter Indoor Classic raised at least $8,550 for Special Olympics Illinois Area 15.

According to Paul Melzer, District 15 director, who works alongside tournament creator Bill Asbury, there were nine teams competing in the first-ever boys' tournament.

They included:

Ages 10 and Under

Southern Illinois Dirt Dawgs (Joe Emery)

SI Bucs (Nathan Bittle)

Tower Rock Titans (William Nicholson)

Chester 10U (Trevor Kelkhoff)

Southern Illinois Sun Devils (Jeff Mott)

Pinckneyville Midwest (Shane Baker)

Ages 11 and Under

Illinois Inferno (Shawn Nix)

SI Tribe (Jason Bradley)

SI Sun Devils (Dan Blazier)

The Southern Illinois Dirt Dawgs took home the 10U Championship over the SI Bucs in a double elimination style tournament.

The Illinois Inferno won the 11U Division in a round robin style

tournament.

"We had about 120 athletes compete in this year's tournament from nine teams," Melzer said.

Opening ceremonies saw two Special Olympics Illinois Southern Area 15 male softball teams play an exhibition game against each other. The Southern Illinois Lightning Bolts (coached by Joey Lewis and Patrick Brown) played the Choate Panthers (Coached by Paul McIntyre).

"For me that was the highlight of the tournament as all the participating teams and the fans in the stands stayed to watch and cheered our local athletes on as they played their game in front of a packed house, he said.

"The first annual boys baseball Winter Indoor Classic was able to raise

$8,550 for Special Olympics Illinois Southern Area 15 allowing us to continue to provide top notch programs and competitions for the over 900 athletes competing with Special Olympics Illinois Southern Area 15," said Melzer. "The money will also allow us to reach more athletes and provide more opportunities for our athletes to get involved on a year round basis"

"We received a ton of great feedback from the coaches and players and look

forward to hosting this event again next year. Overall, it was a great weekend of baseball and all the coaches, players, and volunteers really enjoyed themselves and more importantly enjoyed the mission: Transforming the lives of children and adults with intellectual disabilities," Melzer said.

Because of his commitment to Special Olympics the Du Quoin Chamber of Commerce last week named Asbury its 2013 Citizen of the Year.