Rain, which had already pushed back the Shawano Youth League annual awards night from June 29 to July 2, threatened to postpone it once again Tuesday.
The 429 players, their parents and family were in luck, though, as the clouds broke, a rainbow appeared and the ceremony went off without a hitch.
“We hold this event to recognize all the time and effort all the kids put in from mid-April to the end of June,” said John Reinders, president of the Shawano Youth League.
Dustin Beyer, coach of the first-place Owlz boys 8U team, said it’s lots of fun having the awards night and celebrating as a team.
“It’s a fun night recognizing these young players,” Beyer said. “They had a great summer playing ball. … These kids put in a lot of time and improved all summer. That’s what it’s all about. I’m just really proud of these kids.”
The SYL had a lot to celebrate this season, according to Reinders.
“The biggest thing is that we had a record number of players and teams this year, which is fantastic,” Reinders said.
The league consisted of 38 teams and 10 travel teams.
With the league season wrapping up, the players are turning their attention to the tournament season, including three weekends of tournaments in Shawano, beginning with the coach-pitch baseball tournament and the 10U and 12U girls softball tournaments July 11-13.
The 11U and 12U boys baseball tournaments will be held July 18-20. The 9U and 10U tournaments will be held July 25-27.
The tourneys will be played at Memorial Park and bring teams from all over Wisconsin to Shawano.
“We’d like to encourage the community to come out in July for our tournaments,” Reinders said. “Come out, see good baseball. We have, I believe, 77 teams coming in across three weekends, from quite a ways away in some cases, and people will be staying at hotels and campgrounds and eating at restaurants.”
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