The Park and Rec departments of both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are excited about an upcoming event, and rightfully so.

In back-to-back weeks, the USSSA World Series will call the Gulf Coast home.

Over 200 youth baseball teams, with players ages 9 -14 will face off in a tournament to be held at the sports complexes in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

The teams that will travel to paradise to play will represent approximately 15 states, and 95 percent of the teams participating are out-of-state teams.

This event is the result of a year of hard work and planning, and will fill up condo’s and motel rooms all over South Baldwin County. 

How great is that?

What does this mean?  What does it say about what our area has to offer?

Nothing but good can come from this, and to all who are responsible, I tip my golf cap.

Literally thousands of players, fan, coaches, brothers, sisters and grandmothers will travel to the beautiful beaches of Alabama.  Sure, it is mostly about baseball, in a tournament where the winners move on to Orlando for the finals, but while they are here, these folks will eat our food, play golf on our courses, ride our water slides, drive our go-carts, sleep in our condos, visit our Zoos, shop in our stores, and will have a huge economic impact during a time when our economy is in a slump.

Can it get any better than this?

You better believe it can. 

This is all about a baseball tournament, but if we do things right, when these people go back home, they will tell other about those beautiful Alabama beaches, and next year, baseball tournament or not, many will return…and bring friends.

Opening ceremonies will be July 8 for the first session at the Orange Beach Sports Complex. Session 2 will kick off on July 15 at the SportsPlex in Gulf Shores.

USSSA actually had to turn away teams.  There are really more teams playing than they expected to have.

Organizers are looking forward to what is going to happen, and city leaders are wringing their hands together when they consider the dollars that will be spent here over the next two weeks.

Baseball is America’s game, there is no doubt, and as I wrote in my article a couple of weeks back, we have some of the finest facilities in the country.

Now, we have a big time tournament to boot, and only good can come from this.

What kind of numbers am I talking about?

Just for the opening ceremonies, officials are estimating having to park cars at The Warf and running buses to and from the Sports Complex.  There will be approximately 100 teams, 1,200 players, plus another 2,500 parents, coaches and fans – we are looking at 4,000 to 5,000 people just for the opening ceremonies on July 8th.  It starts all over again on July 15.

Awesome.

Let me encourage you to go out and see how great this event will be.  Welcome folks to the area.  Buy somebody a hot dog.  Let’s make sure that these people will want to come back year after year after year.

There truly is nothing like sports in paradise.

-Hit ‘em straight.

Dale Jones is a staff writer for The Islander. Reach him by e-mail at djones@gulfcoastnewspapers.com.