National K of C teams bring title chase to area

It's been 20 years since the Knight of Columbus National Softball Tournament was played in Cape Girardeau.

It took a little luck for it to happen this year.

The event that begins today and ends Sunday was scheduled for Atlantic City, N.J., which bid on the event two years ago. But when Atlantic City's Knights of Columbus council encountered scheduling problems, Harold Green of Cape Girardeau stepped in.

"We put our name in and said we could do it, so it turned into a spur-of-the-moment decision," said Green, the financial director for Cape Girardeau's St. Vincent Council No. 1111 and a member of the national board of directors.

"We found out in April that we got it, but it's taken us a lot of time and work to get things put together. We've had a lot of help from a lot of people."

The result of that work: Forty-three teams from 14 states will play on seven fields today and Sunday, leading to a championship game in two divisions at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Games begin at 8:30 a.m. today in the open division for ages 18 and up, and games start at 9 a.m. in the masters division for ages 35 and up. Twenty-six open teams and 17 masters teams are entered after each qualified through state tournaments.

Locally, Cape Girardeau will be represented by a team in the open division. Its first game is at 9:45 a.m. today at Shawnee Park Sports Complex. Games will be held there and on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University today, and the schedule will move to Shawnee Park on Sunday.

"They'll play on every field from 9 a.m. to about 6 o'clock" Saturday, Green said.

Cape Girardeau's council hosted the event in 1983 when a council from Cincinnati, Ohio, won both divisions. In last year's event at Pasadena, Texas, New Jersey's Westfield Council No. 1711 and Missouri's St. Charles Council No. 823 won titles.

jhall@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 174