The good Lord held off the rain yesterday. He gave us a little sprinkle which settled the infield dirt, and we got in all 12 games. Every single time we host this softball tournament, I love to sit back and watch our local community bond and celebrate our first responders and our country together. This weekend our local VFW Post 2655 out of Nevada City brought their color guard out for the flag presentation. The color guard came out between the first two rounds of games so that we could be assured that all of the teams would be present. In this day and age where it seems that there a lot of people that do not respect our flag and frankly do not like all of the USA, it made me smile to see everyone in attendance standing and respecting our flag and our local veterans and our national anthem. At the conclusion of the national anthem was the loudest cheer of the day which also gave me great joy. Thank you to our local VFW and to Jason Tedder for getting this one done. I cannot tell you how many people came up to me in order to tell me that the flag presentation was their favorite part of the day.
The tournament pitted teams from Nevada County Sheriffs, Grass Valley Police Department, Ophir Hill Fire, and Cal Fire versus a couple local teams, namely BSD and Jackson Engineering. Frankly the weather could not have been better - mid-70s with a little breeze. Instead of a big party, this year the tournament was a relaxing day of Sunday softball. NCSO was the winner of the teams of first responders, and BSD (a local co-ed travel team) won again for like the fourth time! We want to thank our local first responders for coming out and bringing some good softball out there. We also want to thank BSD and Jackson Engineering for rounding out the teams and supporting our first responders.
In addition to all of the players who come out every year, there are "regulars" who always help behind the scenes. Thank you to Mike Mallarae for helping me get the fields ready for a tournament. Thank you to Steve Loomis of WNCSSA who donated enough softballs to the tournament that we will not have to buy balls for six or seven years. Thank you to Gateway Park for providing us with a perfect venue for our local community. Thank you to Marty Lombardi (whom my daughters simply adore) and Buckley Armacher for coming out in the morning on behalf of NCLEFC to help us with registrations. Thank you to all of our friends whom we saw yesterday...love you guys. Most importantly, thank you to my daughters, Lilly (and Bryan) and Maggie (and Darian), for working together and keeping something beautiful going for this community and for our local first responders. And thank you to my wife, Audrey, for putting up with our family softball habit! Nevada County?! Yep. You did it again and rocked the house! Thank you.
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