Thousands Coming to Cold Spring, Watkins for State Amateur Baseball Tournaments

COLD SPRING - Cold Spring and Watkins are getting ready to host the Class C and Class B Amateur Baseball Tournaments. A total of 64 teams from across the state will play in the tournaments over the next three weekends.

In preparation for the event, Cold Spring has spent thousands of dollars renovating the field, including: building a new concession stand, building a party deck above the dugout, and putting new bleachers in the grandstand.

Spokesman Dave Hinkemeyer says they wanted to make sure the field looked it's best for the state tournaments.

It's kind of a pride thing. Because, there's going to be a lot of people visiting our ballpark with the fans and the teams coming to play. So, when they come to play here, we want it to be something that they're going to remember.

Donations from businesses, and Eric Decker, and volunteer hours from individuals helped to add several new features to the ballpark.

Hinkemeyer says, with 64 teams bringing several thousand fans into the community, it's all worth it.

That's one of the things that we pitch to the local businesses when we inquire about donations, we'll tell them that thousands of people are going to be here for three weekends. So, the local gas stations, the restaurants, the hotel, the bakery, etc., it's going to benefit them as well.

The Cold Spring Baseball Park is hosting its first state tournament since 2002.

The Class C State Tournament starts this Friday with once game each in Cold Spring and Watkins. The Class B State Tournament starts next Thursday, August 27th. The championship games in both tournaments will be played on Labor Day Monday.

Coming-up tomorrow (Wednesday) on WJON news, we'll tell you about the changes made to the Watkins baseball field in preparation for the tournaments.