Hotels In Prescott Az

Big time tournament in Rim Country

ASA softball, once a huge part of the summer recreation scene in Payson, is returning with a bang.

It arrives in the form of the ASA Junior Olympic Girls Fast Pitch “B” State Championship tournament that is expected to bring 2,000 to 3,000 players, their parents, fans and game officials to Payson packing restaurants, stores, shops and hotels.

The state tournament will be played July 8, 9 and 10 on five Rumsey Park fields and the Lady Longhorn diamond on the Payson High campus.

Also returning with the ASA tournament is former Town of Payson recreation coordinator Don Fishel, who in the 1980s unofficially took over the reins of the town softball program from founder Ted Pettet and nurtured it several years before leaving Payson for Winslow, then Yuma and finally Prescott.

Fishel is a Payson native and says his goal is to someday return to live in the town.

He is currently a recreation director in the Mile High City and the ASA state commissioner.

Fishel and JO Tournament Director Rick Hormann will be in Payson all three days of the tournament helping town officials host what will be the largest tournament held locally since the demise of Rim Country softball in the 1990s.

While hosting the tournament is a huge economic boon for Payson, it has created some headaches for Parks, Recreation and Tourism Director Cameron Davis.

“We are sold out of hotel rooms from Strawberry to Tonto Basin and we are now looking for places to rent where players and their families can stay,” he said. “We also need volunteers to help out because this is going to be huge.”

It’s a given there are some challenges in hosting such a large tournament, but Davis is obviously as tickled as a tick on a hound that he and former recreation coordinator Trevor LaHaye were able to sell Payson as a playing site.

“It is going to showcase our community and we know from responses that a large percentage of those coming have never been to Payson,” Davis said. “This is the culmination of about eight months of hard work to bring softball back to Payson.

“We are excited to have ASA in our community and to bring in an event such as a state tournament.”

Fishel says he has little doubt that Payson can in the future return to the lofty status the town once held in state softball circles.

“Payson is located in the middle of the state — a good location and the town has sufficient playing fields for this number (about 50) of teams,” he said. “Under Ted Pettet Sr., Payson had it going (as a tournament site) — that could happen again.

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