Ry-Tof Slo-Pitch Hits another one Outta the Park

Ry-Tof Slo-Pitch Hits another one Outta the Park

Emily Mailhot Reporter – Vegreville News Advertiser

After years of building a reputation for a great tournament, there isn’t much that can keep the Ry-Tof Slopitch players down.

The Ry-Tof Slopitch tournament began in 1995 as a collaboration between the Ryley and Tofield Agricultural societies and has been growing ever since. Shawn York, the tournament organizer with the Ryley Agricultural Society for a large portion of those 23 years, noted that the tournament was good for local businesses, as the high volume of traveling teams also brought visitors to the gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants.

Three years ago, the Ry-Tof slopitch tournament kicked things off again with a marginally smaller 24 teams, but it quickly grew, according to York. “About ten years ago, we upped the number of teams to 64… it wasn’t long after that we had to change it to 80 teams because of the level of interest we had.” The tournament has capped their team numbers at 80 ever since, and welcome many returning teams each year.

This year, the few spots that opened up from a few teams dropping out were filled from the waiting list within a matter of hours, and only a couple of weeks out from the tournament. “We still have a pretty long waiting list,” said York, “And the furthest team this year came from the Calgary area.”

Games were split between Ryley and Tofield, with two round-robin tournaments for 40 teams each played in both locations. At the end of the tournament, finalists came together for play-offs to determine this year’s champions.