Event News: Premier Midwest Club Event, the DeMarini Invitational, Renamed Easton Rawlings Invitational

After 11 years of being known as the DeMarini Invitational—a small and intimate Summer club recruiting showcase that has historically included some of the top players and teams across the nation—the event scheduled for July 6-10, 2022, has been renamed as the Easton Rawlings Invitational.

The name change, according to Event Director Bill Conroy, goes deeper than just changing corporate sponsors. In fact, he says, it’s about giving those involved the freedom to choose their own bats, gloves or uniforms for the event as opposed to being tied in to just one provider.

“The Bandit organization was sponsored by Wilson and DeMarini for the past 16 years,” explains Conroy, “and I decided to take a break from being committed to any organization. Now, not being under contract to any one company, I felt that forcing players and teams to use one sponsors’ bats or uniforms for this or any other event wasn’t the best solution.”

The longtime head of the Bandits organization, who also coaches the 16U team, says that he and Wilson-DeMarini “left on good terms.”

“I still consider them quality products and many of our players will continue to use them while being able to choose Gluv, Easton Rawlings or any of the multiple vendors out there. In fact, more than half in our Bandits organization—eight of the 15 teams—are still wearing DeMarini.”

Easton Rawlings, he adds, gets its name attached to the event because “they are providing the balls and we wanted to give them the branding rights because of this and also because we’re already dealing with them for the PGF All-American Game.”

Conroy works hand-in-hand with Gerry Quinn of the Illinois Chill, another respected Midwest travel ball program, to organize the event which over the years has seen top programs from across the nation compete including the Georgia Impact, Birmingham Thunderbolts, Texas Glory, Tampa Mustangs, So Cal Athletics, Explosion, OC Batbusters, Jersey Intensity, Nebraska Gold—which won PGF 18U Nationals this past summer—and many more.

Quinn, himself a coach in the Chill organization, runs the administration of the Invitational including the online updates, such as team participation and game scores, while Conroy’s roles include working with sponsors and lining up hotels.

The two club coaches work together in team selections which is limited to 40 teams across the 14U, 16U and 18U age divisions, making the Easton Rawlings Invitational showcase an exclusive one that coaches love to attend as tracking the players and teams—who play at least seven games—is much easier because of the location where it’s played.

That ties in to a second significant change for next summer’s July event: the Ackerman Park facility in Glen Allen, Illinois, that hosts the tournament has made impressive renovations to the tune of $4.2 million.

“It’s a great venue,” says Conroy,” and college coaches love it because they can see all the games on the six fields from one vantage point.

Clint Babicz, who works with the Glen Ellyn Park District, believes visitors attending the Invitational next summer will be impressed with what they see and experience.

“About $2 million went towards renovation of the Softball Hub and included new backstops, fencing, dugouts and bleachers with shade structures” he explains. “The common areas were re-graded to eliminate low spots and pavers/concrete walkways were installed.”

“The softball field drainage was improved and a new irrigation system for the entire park was added,” Babicz continues. “Additionally, the infields were re-graded and the infield mix was replaced and upgraded. Accessible paths and landscape improvements, along with restroom improvements were also included.”

Conroy adds that many trees were removed and replaced with shading that will not only cut down on the sun, but also reduce the presence of mosquitos which had sometimes been a problem at night.

Click on the video link below to see the complex as it looks now:

Another big plus for those athletes playing in the showcase will be the use of the TagUp technology, which offers for free a product where games are videotaped and each player’s highlights are individually “tagged,” allowing college coaches to watch player highlights without having to sort through the game footage.

“Last year was our first year doing it,” Conroy says, “and it was a huge success. Now, it’s something we use for all our events.”

The Easton Rawlings Invitational kicks off on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, with an OnDeck Camp and then start limited games that evening (two game time slots), before continuing through the week in a single elimination championship format.

This past weekend, registration opened for the event that’s seven months away and nine teams registered immediately. Add to that the 11 Bandits and Chill teams and half the spots are filled already.

All told, there will be 279 games, including the three championships, that will be of great interest to top college recruiters who can see dozens of future DI signees all in one complex.

“Just exactly how hard is it to put on an event of this caliber?” we asked Coach Conroy.

“It’s not rocket science,” he laughed, “but I will contact my son, Trey—who’s an aerospace engineer—to help us out!

For more on next Summer’s event, Click HERE or go directly to the website EastonRawlingsInvitational.com.