J.D. Potié MANSFIELD ET PONTEFRACT Sept. 20, 2019
Over 100 ballplayers from the region and beyond gathered at Parc Amyotte in Mansfield et Pontefract to . . .
participate in the fifth annual Bouffe Pontiac slow-pitch tournament.
According to the event’s organizer Elise Jolin, the tournament served as a fundraiser for the regional food bank and an event that she’s held dearly to her heart ever since first putting it together.
“It’s to help people in the Pontiac,” she said.
Jolin noted that the event has become quite popular in the last few years and draws people from outside the region as well from it, which always helps local businesses.
“It rents motel rooms, it fills restaurants, it helps everywhere,” she said.
At the park, loud music blared on speakers as the players hit the diamond with hopes of winning it all. Volunteers doled out food and drinks from the canteen on site to keep the players from going hungry or thirsty.
Taking place over the course of the weekend, the tournament featured 16 teams, divided into men’s and mixed divisions. Ten teams were in the men’s division and the tournament consisted of a knockout stage with three games guaranteed.
For the mixed division, it consisted of a round robin, followed up with a knockout stage that wrapped up on Sunday.
The idea of putting together the event came after Jolin realized just how impactful donations of non-perishable foods have been for Bouffe Pontiac over the years.
Maintaining her contributions to the organization, the tournament has taken her contributions to the next level, Jolin said.
In the last four years, the tournament has raised as much as $20,000 for Bouffe Pontiac, Jolin said.
