The annual First Responders Cup softball tournament, played in South Arlington, has been canceled this year due to rain.
Tournament coordinator George Barusso wrote on the tournament’s web site that organizers are “very disappointed to pull the plug on this tournament but we don’t feel that we have a choice.” The girls fast pitch tournament, which was created after 9/11 to benefit local disaster relief and military charities, was to get underway today.
Coaches, Players and Fans,
For the first time in our ten year history, we’re cancelling the entire First Responders Cup event. As hard as we’ve tried to make this work in some form or fashion, Mother Nature continues to work against us. After consulting with Arlington County and umpire officials, always with an eye to the safety of the players, we believe that cancelling now is the right decision. We’d held out hope all along that we could resuscitate the fields for a scaled down tournament on Sunday. But the professionals who work fields everyday say that maybe we have a 30% chance for Sunday and that’s simply not enough to keep from inconveniencing everyone if we have to cancel later. So we’re very disappointed that we will not have any teams engraved on the First Responders Cup for 2011 but we know in the end that it’s the right decision.
Once again we are very disappointed to pull the plug on this tournament but we don’t feel that we have a choice. Nevertheless, we are already looking forward to seeing all of you in September 2012, when I’m confident that the sun will shine down on the 11th Annual, First Responders Cup.
Best to you all…thank you for your patience.
George Barusso
10th Annual, First Responders Cup
www.firstresponderscup.org