22nd Wiffle Ball tournament in Cape to benefit St. Jude

From childhood games to playing for a cause, the 22nd annual Wiffle Ball World Series on Saturday at Sherwood Yards in Cape Girardeau will benefit St. Jude Children�s Research Hospital � and takes place in Cape Girardeau native Jeff Augustine parents� backyard.

The ballpark � Sherwood Yards � holds some nostalgia for Augustine. He said it�s the same one constructed around 1994 during his high school years. Augustine said it served as the main hangout spot for he and his friends every Sunday afternoon and kept them out of trouble.

It�s at 2130 Sherwood Drive in Cape Girardeau.

The one-day tournament kicks off 9 a.m. Saturday, he said, complete with an opening ceremony, followed by back-to-back Wiffle Ball games after that, up until the championship.

A preview show will take place Friday at Sherwood Yards, he said, which has �grown in popularity like you wouldn�t believe.�

The preview is �somewhat serious, somewhat comic relief, and somewhat parody,� Augustine said.

�Last year was the first year we did it live, from my parents� porch, which is actually the press box,� he said. �We try to make the event really legit.�

Augustine said his parents� backyard was �always set up for it.�

�Friends in high school would come over, and we put home plate where it is today,� he said. �Not much has changed in 10 to 15 years.�

He said ballpark additions were part of �a natural progression� from the 1990s to now, adding to it year after year.

The idea for hosting the tournaments began over a game of Pinochle with Augustine and a friend, he said. At the time, Augustine was enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University and he and his friends still played a lot of Wiffle Ball, he said.

�It always was a cash prize, whoever the winning team was, and maybe that was because we were all broke and thought we could win the tournament and score some cash,� he said.

As he grew older, Augustine said he began to look for ways to give back to an organization or the community. That�s when Wiffle Ball turned into more of a charitable event for Augustine and his friends.

�And that�s the way it�s been for the last 10 to 12 years,� he said.

Tournament funds have been donated to Operation Troop Support and the Humane Society, he said. But for the last seven to eight years, funds have been exclusively donated to St. Jude Children�s Research Hospital, Augustine said.

The event raised $1,700 last year, Augustine said, and this year�s goal is $2,000.

Nine teams are competing this weekend, he said, which is down from the 12 or more from previous years.

Some teams have been from out of state in the past. But for the last few years, the tournament has featured only local competitors.

�It�s still a very competitive tournament,� he said. �It�s just easier to run, with people that you know.�

Augustine said the newest addition within the past three or four years is a second field, made possible by a fellow tournament player who owns the nearby field � Dux Field � across the creek from Sherwood Yards.

�People just come and go between the two,� he said. �It�s almost become a Wiffle Ball complex.�

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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