2008 Dustball Slo-pitch Tournament to begin on Thursday

Softball fans in Whitehorse will have no shortage of games to take in this weekend as the 26th annual Dustball Slo-pitch Tournament is scheduled to begin Thursday.

Softball fans in Whitehorse will have no shortage of games to take in this weekend as the 26th annual Dustball Slo-pitch Tournament is scheduled to begin Thursday.
Dustball is the largest softball tournament hosted in the Yukon and this year’s competition will feature 68 teams, which has been the average for the past few years.
“The players love it,“ said Softball Yukon’s executive director George Arcand. “I am not sure exactly what the magic is about it, but everybody keeps coming back and they look forward to that weekend for sure. We have been getting consistent registration, so I don’t know exactly what it is; it’s just a good time.“
The Dustball competition has come a long way since its humble beginnings when the event was limited to just the men’s division and had only six teams in the inaugural tournament. Since then the event has grown to include four separate categories of competition, including men’s A, men’s, co-ed and women’s.
The majority of the 68 teams in this year’s tournament are in the co-ed division, which has been a popular choice for softball players for the past decade. The co-ed division will be made up of 34 teams this year.
Not far behind the co-ed division is the men’s, with 20 teams. Men’s A will include four teams, while the women’s category will feature10 teams.
The majority of the teams will be from the Yukon, which will include the communities of Beaver Creek, Carmacks, Mayo, Pelly Crossing and Whitehorse.

The remaining teams are from Alaska.
Despite the large number of teams set to compete on the weekend, this is not the largest participation level for the softball tournament. Around five years ago the tournament attracted 73 teams, which was just a one or two teams off from the maximum number that the city’s park space could handle.
With the exception of the men’s A division, teams will play two games to seed themselves. Seeding for the men’s category will include a B, C and D division, while co-ed and the women’s category will feature A, B, C division. The seeding process will be determined by wins and losses.
There is no qualification for men’s A, which is a standing division. Teams will play a couple of games, but it won’t be to determine whether they will go to another division.
Finals will be played on Sunday starting at 8 a.m. at the Pepsi Softball Centre’s diamonds one and two.
The finals will wrap up with the men’s A division and are expected to finish by around 3 p.m.