What to know ahead of 50th annual Fair Softball Tournament

MONROE – Bedford started last summer’s Monroe County Fair Softball Tournament with just seven players.

Officially, that’s not enough to play.

Bedford should have forfeited the game, but Ida coach Travis Lusky didn’t want to win that way.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the kids,” Lusky said. “They wanted to play.”

As luck would have it, the draw has Bedford playing Ida again to open the 50th annual Fair Softball Tournament at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Both teams should be at full strength this time.

There was some doubt about Ida having enough girls because the team is playing in another 12-under tournament.

“We’re not sure yet, but we should be fine,” Lusky said.

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Ida will need a full roster.

It got by the short-handed Bedford squad 6-1 last year before Bedford fought back to reach the championship game, falling 12-6 to South Rockwood.

“This is not the squad we had last year,” Bedford coach Brian Benore said. “We’ve only got two girls returning from last year. We are very raw. It will be interesting.”

And Benore expects Ida to have one of the best teams this year.

“Travis Lusky is a great friend of mine, a great coach and a great guy,” Benore said. “He is very well respected. … We will know right off the bat what kind of team we have.”

Ida also will have a lot of unproven players in the lineup.

“We’ll be good, but we’re young,” Lusky said. “We have six girls who are going into the sixth grade. We have quite a few girls playing in the Fair Tournament for the first time. We only have four girls back from last year. But we’ll be scrappy.”

Whoever wins the Ida-Bedford contest won’t have much time to celebrate. The winner takes on three-time defending champion South Rockwood at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Coach Steve Drummond said to expect a different South Rockwood team this summer.

“We are looking forward to the tournament,” he said. “We have a lot of new girls and good depth this year. Instead of relying on pitching, we have more hitting and defense this year. We are excited for our first game Sunday.”

Other games Sunday feature Monroe vs. Mason at 11:45 a.m. and Dundee vs. Frenchtown at 3:15 p.m.

Mason didn’t play in the tournament last year.

“We have young team, but they are excited to come and compete,” said coach Angie Gerber. “They are working hard.”

Frenchtown has a new coach in Skylar Mason.

“We’re all excited about it,” he said. “This is my first-time coaching. I’ve never had any part of it. The girls were bugging and bugging me to do it, so I thought, ‘Why not?’”

Most of his players are new to the tournament as well.

“We’re a little young,” Mason said. “We only have a couple of players who ever played Fair tournament. This will be a first for a lot of our team.”

The tournament will conclude Thursday or Friday. The 64th annual Monroe County Fair Baseball Tournament begins Saturday.

All games will be played on the Fair Diamond, located behind the Monroe County Drain Commission offices off S. Raisinville Rd.