What motivated a Miami sports organization to seek out Southern Indiana for its Midwest Regional Qualifier tournament? It was all based on a simple tweet.
International Slow Pitch Softball’s commissioner, Manuel Ferrero, wanted to locate a tourney in the Midwest. He tweeted the question to his 15,000 Twitter followers. A number of fans suggested the parks in Clarksville, Jeffersonville, and New Albany. Nearly two years later, the tournament is a go.
How did it come together? Ferrero contacted the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention & Tourism Bureau. He visited in May 2015 and signed an agreement to host its Midwest Regional Qualifier tournament. Director of Sales, Kate Kane, showed him the available fields and nearby amenities. Ferrero was impressed with the parks, as well as with Southern Indiana as a whole.
Sponsors include Louisville Slugger Museum, and the Clarksville, Jeffersonville, and New Albany parks departments. Three southern Indiana hotels have signed on as host hotels: Sheraton Louisville Riverside North, Hampton Inn Louisville North, and Clarion Hotel and Conference Center Louisville North.
When: May 12-16
Where: Vissing Park, Jeffersonville; Clarksville Softball Complex, Clarksville; Anderson Park, New Albany
Entry Fees: $250-$350 per team
Signup Info: International Slow Pitch Softball, Miami, Fla.
Its first foray into sports tourism, the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention & Tourism Bureau works with local parks and recreation departments to market the destination as a whole. “Each city has stellar amenities on its own,” said Kate Kane, the Bureau’s director of sales. “If we can market the region as a whole, we think we can bring together great assets that will become a sports destination.”