If you passed through Brookings last weekend you may have noticed the motels were full, and the restaurants and bars were buzzing as the Brookings-Harbor area hosted some of the best softball teams in southern Oregon gathered for their annual pilgrimage, the annual “Slippery Banana Belt” softball tournament.
The Slippery Banana Belt tournament has long been a local Brookings-Harbor tradition for many years and has become an off-season tradition in the softball world. 43 teams from Medford, Grants Pass, Roseburg, Eureka and a few local teams took to the fields and kept the muddy tradition alive.
For the past few years the weather hasn’t really cooperated with the ‘slippery’ part of the tradition, and this year started off with much of the same.
After a few weeks of beautiful weather, this is how the tournament looked Friday and Saturday, certainly not slippery.
But Mother Nature wasn’t quite done with the weekend as she showed up Sunday. “Saturday was great…but Sunday was nasty. We had every type of weather except thunder and lightning. Just during the Championship game Sunday afternoon, it rained, the wind blew, it hailed, the sun came and it snowed briefly all within about 45 minutes” said event coordinator Kelly Glazebrook.
Over many years the Slippery Banana Belt tournament has become an off-season tradition in the softball world. This year 43 teams from the greater Southern Oregon area and a few local teams took to the fields and kept the muddy tradition alive.
After an epic day of weather and play Sunday, four teams rose to the top of the muddy stew to get their muddy paws on their 1st place reward.
Team ‘Lead Off’ outlasted the rest coming away with First Place honors of the Men’s/Upper division.
The ‘Rebels’ took the Women’s Upper league Championship.
The ‘Silver Bullets’ rose to the top in the Men’s Lower Division.
The Lower Division Women’s Champions were the ‘Silver Bullets’.
Last year the Slippery Banana Belt organizers added a Home-Run Derby to the event which was very popular.
This year’s winners were Bruce Sanford from Medford and Brooke Toy from the Coos Bay/Reedsport area.
All proceeds from this tournament go back into the tournament fund for next years event as well as to the fields. Right now organizers are working with the City of Brookings towards getting the new lights installed at the newly upgraded park facility.
Glazebrook wanted to give special recognition to “the umpires and scorekeepers who get zero breaks & stay out in the crazy weather for 2 days straight!” she said.
Organizers went on to thank Upwaves (Regie & Don), Kyle Garrison/ Express Athletics, In Motion Graphics – for our Prizes as well as Catalyst Seafood & Wild River Pizza for additional sponsoring and helping make this such a popular community event.
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