Playing for fun

There are plenty of folks around who remember, in the early 1950s, when wiffleball sets showed up in stores. As the sport's official website says, the game could be played with fewer participants in confined spaces without having to worry about breaking any windows.

Recently, the 13th annual wiffleball tournament for a dozen teams from five states was held in a Cape Girardeau backyard in the Sherwood subdivision. The parents of Jeff Augustine, a Cape Girardean who helped start the tournament and now resides in Columbia, Mo., are happy to share their yard for the event, which this year was won by a team from Parsons, Kan.

Serious players know a lot of special pitching techniques that make the game interesting. But mostly the game is for players who want to have fun. That was evident at the recent tournament. Some of the teams play a grueling schedule. For other players, the tournament was their first opportunity to play this year.

Events like family-oriented wiffleball tournaments draw positive attention to Cape Girardeau. Hats off to the organizers and the tournament's hosts for a fun event.