Baseball has returned to Modern Woodmen Park. While Opening Day for the River Bandits is still to be determined, the stadium has hosted youth baseball tournaments each of the past three weekends. River Bandits General Manager, Joe Kubly says that they wanted to find a way to give the kids a once in a lifetime opportunity by playing at Modern Woodman Park.
“I wish we were playing baseball today while this was going on, but you know what there’s nothing better than having youth sports at our park and letting the kids be able to use the facility right now.”
The tournaments typically consist of 15 or 17 games which has kept the staff just as busy as they would be if the minor league baseball season was happening.
“We’re doing a partnership with JP Sports who typically uses the TBK Bank Complex up there.” Said Kubly. “So obviously with all the restrictions right now in Illinois they’re a little short on places to play and for us we’re still waiting for our new opening day here so why not partner with them and give them a once in a lifetime experience to play out here at Modern Woodmen Park.”
While the River Bandits are busy hosting the youth tournaments, Kubly says that it’s a weird feeling being in the middle of June and having no baseball games yet.
“This is gonna be my 10th season in sports and I’ve never experienced anything like this, but I’ll tell you what for us we’re actually busier than we typically are.” Kubly said. “You know for us we typically have a home stand that’s anywhere from three to six games and like I said we’re out here knocking out anywhere from 15 to 17 games on a weekend.”
In addition to hosting a youth baseball tournament this weekend, the River Bandits also teamed up with Purina to hand out over 18,000 pounds of dog and cat food. Purina Manager, Casey Hansen says that it’s the kind of effort that takes two organizations to make happen.
“At Purina we believe people and pets are better together and we know there’s a pandemic going on in the community and folks are without jobs.”
Modern Woodmen Park is planning to host another baseball tournament next weekend.
