Let the Countdown Begin!

Watermelon Day is right around the corner. So here at Stanhope State, we are going to do a daily countdown with updates on the Stanhope State All County Tournament presented by Young's Storage Center and other random notes.

First, the tournament is coming along great! We are finallizing the schedule and waiting to hear on a couple more teams. And rivalries are already starting! We can repeort that the Stanhope and Jewell teams are putting together some old school heavy weights to bring the trophy to their city hall. Which brings us to explain the tournament and idea.

At last year's Watermelon Day, Troy Johnson had an idea of bringing a softball tournament. Then we all starting thinking. Since it is the 50th Watermelon Day and it's Hamilton County's 150th birthday, we thought, "Why not an all county tournament?" Way back in the day every town had a baseball team. Take a glimpse at some old copies of the Record News some time. These reports about those those teams read like a 10:00pm Sportcenter.

Off of that idea, we decided to get a team from all parts of the county and compete for a traveling trophy, of which Young's Storage Center agreed to buy the trophy. You win the the tournament, you keep the trophy in your city hall and bring it back next year to defend it.

The entry fee is $50 and every team is guarenteed to play 2 games. We still have a couple slots left, so if you would like to enter in the tournament and defend your town's honor, let us know by calling Troy Johnson at 515-826-3253 or email troyjohn@netins.net.

More details, stories and random stuff are on the way. Stay tuned to the countdown.