WAIMEA — There is no team from Colorado, but Don and Shirley Pettrow could not pass up the opportunity to come to Kaua‘i. The Pettrows handle logowear items at the Kaua‘i Fantasy Softball tournament that opened yesterday at the Waimea
WAIMEA — There is no team from Colorado, but Don and Shirley Pettrow could not pass up the opportunity to come to Kaua‘i.
The Pettrows handle logowear items at the Kaua‘i Fantasy Softball tournament that opened yesterday at the Waimea Canyon Park on two fields.
“It’s bigger than last year,” Shirley said. “We have 12 teams here, and I think there were only 10 teams last year.”
The Pettrows produce shirts, shorts, visors and accessories that bear the Kaua‘i Fantasy theme and are on hand during the day while games are played.
“This is a good way for us to vacation at the same time,” Shirley said. “We might not know the names of all the people, but we recognize their faces from 1999 when we started coming.”
This year, there are seven teams competing in the 18-16 bracket and five teams participating in the 14-12 bracket.
Two of the teams come from Central Florida, although one of the players said they share players to help each team out.
Pat Baniaga, who along with Albert Soto, former coach for Waimea High School, said the tournament format will be pool play through tomorrow afternoon followed by the playoffs for the tournament titles.
The championship game for the 14-12 bracket will start at 3 p.m. with the 18-16 bracket championship game starting at 4:30 p.m.
With games still going on, Kalahalepakewai, comprised of Waimea High School 18 and Under players coached by Teddy Perreira, dropped a 6-5 heartbreaker to Sting 2 before proceeding to play against Kapa‘a, who had earlier in the day dropped a 2-0 match to the Kamikaze.
The Kamikaze are early leaders in the 18-16 bracket with two wins on opening day, its 2-0 edge over Kapa‘a, and a 4-2 win over Sting 1 of Florida.
Kupa‘a, garbed in bright blue, was the early leader in the 14-12 bracket by edging Kapolei, 3-1 before defeating the Kupa‘a 12, 13-0.
Central, coached by Darrell Borrero of Lihu‘e, split its opening day series, dropping a 7-2 match against the Kupa‘a 14 before taking a 7-4 win over Kapolei in the nightcap.
Action continues today starting at 9 a.m. with no admission charged to view the competition.
