They wore wacky costumes, laughed a lot and played slo-pitch for a fallen friend.
The third annual Doug Massie Co-Ed 2-Pitch Tournament drew nine teams to the DND diamonds last weekend and was an overwhelming success.
Teams welcomed the hot sunny weather as they donned this year’s theme, ‘Surf’s Up Beach Wear.’
Doug Massie was a highly popular slo-pitch and soccer player who died of a brain aneurism in August, 2010.
“The Massie family had a team, including Doug’s mom and brother playing in it for the first time,” said tourney director Heather Savitsky. “We raised $3,000 for the Doug Massie Bursary fund. KidSport in Vernon will be a recipient of $1,000 from the bursary.”
Teams played a two-game round robin to seed them into either the A or B side modified double-knockout playoff format. Finishing first overall in the round-robin were the Honey Badgers.
Rounding out the A side was New and Used in second, coached by Savitsky and Kelly Jenner. The Renegades (Justin Bednarz) were third, the Beach Boys & Girls (Akbal Mund) fourth and Beeracuda (Cam McIntyre of Kelowna) fifth.
In the B side were the following teams: Here for the Beer (Tanis Wiebe) Beer Nutz (Melissa Gauthier), Sandy Balls (Logan Massie) and Pop Tarts (Brad Campbell, Kelowna).
A side playoffs saw New and Used fall to the Honey Badgers in the semifinal, and the Renegades, who were undefeated going into the final, lost 17-15 to the Honey Badgers.
In the B side semi, Here for the Beer and the Pop Tarts battled it out in the single knockout with the Pop Tarts winning before grounding the undefeated Beer Nutz 18-6 in the final. The Beer Nutz are Doug and Deb Massie’s old team.
Savitsky thanked the teams, umpires, sponsors, beer garden workers Jason and Jenn Devries (third straight year) and the Massie family.
