The region’s largest girls’ fastpitch softball tournament is set to tee off next week in Northern Connecticut.
Tuesday through Saturday, the 2022 PlayFPN Summer Nationals for 12UB, 14U, 14UB and 16UB divisions will take place at Fastpitch Nation Park in Windsor.
On Monday, the opening ceremony and a parade of athletes will be held at Quassy Amusement and Waterpark in Middlebury.
More than 1,000 players, comprising 77 teams from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, as well as from across Connecticut, are expected.Â
That’s in addition to 2,000 more family, friends, tournament offices and staff, said Tournament Director and Host David Rocha, owner and general manager of Fastpitch Nation Park in Windsor and owner of the PlayFPN Tournament Network, which manages this tournament.Â
The tournament is projected to generate more than $2.3 million for the local economy.
Rocha built and opened the 11-field Fastpitch Nation Park in 2019 for the growing number of athletes competing in fastpitch softball tournaments.
The Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau, known as CTmeetings, manages the tournament’s hotel reservation process and has booked more than 2,500 overnight rooms at 20 hotels in Avon, Windsor, Hartford, East Hartford, Windsor Locks, Manchester, Newington and Glastonbury.
CTmeetings, the state’s official meetings and sports event sales and marketing organization, is funded by private sector partnership support and through the Department of Economic and Community Development’s Office of Tourism.Â
The Fastpitch Nation Park complex features 11 regulation fully fenced fastpitch fields and a 3,200-square-foot barn-like building with retail, storage and bathrooms. Other amenities include paved parking, LED scoreboards, covered dugouts, more than 2 acres of team warm-up space, an outdoor food court and live internet streaming.
For more information, visit https://playfpn.com.
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