Up to 1500 slo-pitch players will hit the ball fields in Moncton.
They’ll battle it out in the 8th annual East Coast Classic being played at Hal Betts Fields from July 12 to 14.
The tournament started in Nova Scotia, but it was relocated to New Brunswick around five years ago.
Co-Organizer Bill Deluney says 100 teams, of men and women are registered.
“We have two teams coming from Quebec, a women’s team coming from Ontario, four or five teams come from Newfoundland. We’ve had teams reach out as far as the Netherlands, but they couldn’t get it together for this year, but they’re going to really try to come next year.”
Other teams are from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI.
Players have ranged between 16 and 80 years old at both the recreational and competitive levels and will be taking the field for close to $16,000 in cash and prizes.
“I’ve been playing for almost 30 years, and they used to call it a Beer League. But now, we actually have teams and players sponsored by sporting companies, and they’ve played in the United States. We also had two teams over the winter that travelled to Germany for a ball tournament. Slo-Pitch has changed a lot. It has changed if you want to be competitive, but it’s still recreational. If you really just want to go with your buddies on a Tuesday night and play ball.”
Games will begin at 9 am Friday and continue until Sunday night. There will be fireworks on Friday night at the ball fields as well.
“We have partnered with PAWS, so they’ll be doing 50/50 draws all weekend to help raise money to help the animals. We also give all of our empties to minor league baseball. It’s just a really fun weekend,” Deluney says.
