Pictured: Players from last summer’s State Tournament, hosted in Carbon County.
During the regularly scheduled Price City Council meeting that took place on Wednesday evening, the council was visited by the commissioner for Babe Ruth and Cal Ripken, Southern State Division, Jill Emerson.
Emerson was visiting the council members in order to inform them that in August she received a phone call from those that run the Babe Ruth league in New Jersey. They were requesting that Emerson host Regionals for two age divisions here in Carbon County.
The teams that would be traveling here for Regionals would be from places such as Hawaii, California, Arizona and more. The age groups that Emerson was requested to host would be eight year olds and 14 year olds. Emerson stated that while the State Tournament was a hefty amount of work, it was a huge success and there was no way it could have been done without the city’s help.
“It was nothing we went looking for, they came to us,” stated Emerson of Regionals.
She then requested that the city donate $3,000 to put toward the tournament. This tournament will be the same time as the International Days celebrations that take place at the end of each summer. Two big tournaments coming in at that time would be an asset toward the community.
A breakdown of the funds was given to the council members. One payment of $1,000 will be due on the day the contract is signed, another $1,000 will be due on July 1 and a final $1,000 due by the beginning of the tournament. Price City was first approached for the funds, the County Commission will also be asked to donate some funds.
Council member Kathy Hanna-Smith proposed that $1,000 could be given now and when the other amounts are needed at the beginning of the next fiscal year, it can be re-approached and donated at that time. It was also stated that, with the International Days celebration taking place at the same time, the city’s staff will be busy with that and volunteers for the tournament will be needed.
The layout for the funds was accepted by the council members.
“You’ve proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can run that tournament very well,” commended Mayor Joe Piccolo.