The weather is warm, and getting warmer, and families at a fastpitch softball tournament In Windsor are preparing for the heat.
Knowing they would be in the sun for several days during the five-day tournament, some families got creative to stay cool. Tents, umbrellas and coolers filled with ice are lined up around the softball fields at Windsor’s Fastpitch Nation Park.
Robin Sargent, of Willimantic, said the parents pooled their supplies and came up with a plan for the hot weather.
“We have neck fans, and for the girls we have cooling towels that we keep in ice water so when they’re in the dugouts they put those on to keep them cool. And we have pop-up tents for in between the games to keep the girls shaded,” Sargent said.
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She and her husband, Rob, have been driving their daughter, Genevieve, from Willimantic every day for the games. She’s playing for the Diamonds out of East Hartford.
The Diamonds are playing against the SCC SWAT.
Steve Krech’s daughter, Keaton, is on the team from West Grove, Pennsylvania.
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“The girls have been playing together for a long time so this is their last tournament of the year. So, we're just super excited to get to see how this season's gonna end for them,” Steve Krech, of West Grove, Pennsylvania, said.
He put up a tent to try and keep cool while watching from the sidelines.
The Krech family is one of hundreds of families staying in hotels and exploring Connecticut.
“We try to turn it into a vacation. Once they're done playing for the day, we try to find something else to do,” Krech said.
The Connecticut Convention and Sports Bureau estimates the tournament brings in $96,000 in tax revenue. Around 2,600 hotel rooms are booked nearby.
“Plus, all the restaurants, gas stations, shopping, arcades, bowling alleys, ice cream parlors, you name it. So, everyone benefits from having this many visitors here,” David Rocha, owner and general manager of Fastpitch Nation Park, said.
The owner of Fastpitch Nation said they will have an athletic trainer on-site and if the heat index reaches 105 degrees, they will adjust the schedule of the games.
