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Most of us are patiently waiting for turkey and dressing to hit our plates in a few days, but that doesn’t mean that big news isn’t coming out regarding top club events for next year (2023).
A new, high-quality travel ball event to watch for next summer will be Patriot Games Powered by Prospect Wire, a three-day tournament to be held June 22-24, 2023, in Windsor, Colorado at the New Future Legends Ballpark.
Ten (10) elite programs from across the nation will be bringing their top 18U, 16U and 14U teams to battle with a five-game guarantee.
The organizations committed to participate for this first year include (in alphabetical order):
- Aces Fastpitch
- Athletics Mercado
- Corona Angels Tyson
- Firecrackers Brashear
- Firecrackers Rico
- Hotshots Fastpitch
- Impact Gold
- Iowa Premier
- Texas Bombers Gold
- Texas Glory
The 10-team fields for each age division will be broken up into two pools of five with each team playing the others in its own pool once with two games each of the first two days (Thursday & Friday, June 22 & 23).
On the final day (Saturday, June 24), there will be a championship game of the winners of Pool A and Pool B along with match-up games of the teams that placed 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively, providing 15 more highly competitive games to finish out the event.
Also, each morning of the first two days, the 10 programs will run a three-hour organizational workout for college coaches to evaluate players. Equipment will be set up on all fields to capture data and will be provided to college coaches after each workout utilizing SoftballCloud’s Analyzer Report as well as in-game data capture for each live game.
Additionally, the night of Thursday, June 22, 2023, there will be held “Uncommitted” College Coach Games in the new Future Legends Dome featuring elite non-committed players.
And, speaking of college coaches, you can bet that there will be a high number of them in attendance to watch the 30 teams compete and benefit from everything being on-site or right next to it. College coaches, whether in person or not, will also receive reports including data captured during the games and workouts.
For Year 1, six of the 10 currently available softball fields at the venue are guaranteed to be used for the Patriot Games event including the two inside the all-weather dome.
Future Legends Sports Complex, located in Windsor, Colorado, is a new premier destination for sporting events that opened just this year and features a 118-acre sports complex designed to host guests for major sports tournaments, events, leagues, and more.
An hour north of Denver, the Future Legends venue hosts softball and baseball events for all ages and skill levels, and includes a professional stadium, multiple baseball diamonds, multi-purpose fields, the indoor bubble sports arena, hotel lodging and even retail shops all within walking distance.
David McCorkle will serve as the Event Director for Patriot Games Powered by Prospect Wire and says the genesis of the tourney idea came in response to the question of how organizations could better use their time, finances and resources in and around the big events in Colorado that take place the week after.
“The idea of Patriot Games started,” recalls McCorkle, “when a group of club programs that wanted to work together looked for ways to reduce some of the travel issues and make it more efficient by taking some of the nights and legs out of their June trips.”
“Patriot Games allows these teams to get to Colorado a little earlier so they’re not conflicting or on top of them,” the coach continues. “The event will end Saturday and then gives people a chance to be with their families or whatever they choose to do on Sunday before the Colorado event activities start on Monday.”
With the Future Legends Sports Complex being just newly launched in 2022 and some fields still under construction, it makes sense that the field is limited this year.
But will that change in 2024 and beyond?
“In the future,” McCorkle believes, “as more fields become available, we look to increase the number of programs that will be invited. There are a lot of organizations that are excited to get the training and top competition in all at the same time.”
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball