State Softball Tournament Returns to Bowling Green

The State Softball Tournament — which spent a year in Louisville as the State Softball Invitational a year ago — will return to Bowling Green in 2022. Teams will hit the fields at Michael O. Buchanon Park to compete in the State Tournament and Team Skills Competition Sept. 9-10.

Teams qualified to compete in the bracketed State Tournament via Regional Tournaments in Paducah (Aug. 6), Georgetown (Aug. 12-13) and Louisville (Aug. 19-20). More than 30 of the 55 teams competing this season will advance to the State Tournament. Teams that do not qualify for the State Tournament have the option of competing in the Team Skills Competition, where each athlete is scored for the completion of skills including hitting, baserunning and throwing and catching.

Games will get underway on four fields at 6:30 pm (CT) on Friday night, with eight total games being played on the opening evening. Games continue starting at 9 am on Saturday with the Tournament concluding by 4:30 pm. The Team Skills Competition will take place on Friday night starting at 6:30 pm.

This year, State Softball weekend will be about more than bats, balls and gloves. On Saturday the event will also feature a Young Athletes Festival from 9 am to noon for children 2 to 7-years-old who aren’t yet eligible to compete in our traditional sports program. The Festival will include games, activities, giveaways and resource tables.

Both days of the Tournament will feature the first live activity by our newly graduated Health Messengers. Messengers Jennifer Hamilton and Katie Williams will set up a station offering information about healthy diets and lifestyle changes to help improve athlete health.

Softball is the second most popular team sport in the Special Olympics Kentucky program with more than 850 athletes competing on 55 teams this year.

The State Softball Tournament and Team Skills Competition is sponsored by Special Olympics Kentucky Year-Round Partners Texas Roadhouse and Toyota Motor Corporation, Program Partner Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives and UPS.

For information about the State Softball Tournament or the Special Olympics Kentucky softball program, or to find out how you can get involved, contact Holly Vincent at 502-695-8222 or hvincent@soky.org.