Lions Park hosts Latino State Championship this weekend

OTHELLO — Over 40 men’s, women’s and coed softball teams will take the field at Lions Park in Othello this weekend for the Latino State Championship.

The tournament had previously been held in Sunnyside, Granger, Mabton and Yakima before Tournament Organizer Charles Garcia took the helm and moved it to Othello.

“I told some of the guys I’m gonna take this and I’m going to move it to Othello,” Garcia said. “I have this vision that I think I can grow it into. Just born and raised in Othello, I love Othello, I think our best asset in Othello is our city park, and everybody should get to enjoy it.”

The Latino State Championship brings together people not only for softball games but for a weekend of entertainment as well.

“With that, I brought it to Othello and slowly started to rebuild it and after a few years it started to grow, and I started to add more,” Garcia said. “More entertainment, music in the park and a live band and mariachis on Sunday. Just to go along with the food vendors. So it’s not just a softball tournament, it’s an event – I like to refer to it as an event.”

The move to Othello was inspired by a number of teams in previous years being from the Basin, according to Garcia.

“I started to look at all the teams that used to play in it, and a large majority of them were from Quincy, Moses Lake, Othello and Tri-Cities,” he said. “So, I thought to myself, ‘Gosh, why shouldn’t it be in Othello?’”

The tournament features four subdivisions — coed, women’s, men’s lower and men’s upper. Between the four subdivisions, there are 41 teams playing at Lions Park this weekend, all vying to take home a championship.

“At the end of the day, come Sunday, no jokes aside – everybody’s playing for that title,” Garcia said. “Business on Sunday, Saturday we enjoy the day. It’s camaraderie, it’s seeing old friends, family members, people that have contributed along the way throughout the years to the actual tournament.”

Along with annual bragging rights, the winning teams also receive prizes like embroidered pullovers and hoodies and different awards for awards like MVP and more.

“MVPs usually walk away with brand new bats, you know, $300 or $400 bats,” Garcia said. “Defensive MVPs walk away with custom-made gloves, infielding gloves. All-stars usually walk away with shirts and batting gloves. You don’t just show up and win a T-shirt.”

Garcia said that the women’s and coed subdivisions were added last year to improve the bidding chances on hosting a World Championship in 2023.

“It’s currently held in El Paso, Texas — but, for two years now, consecutively, our state tournament that we host is bigger than the world tournament,” Garcia said.

The tournament begins at Lions Park on Friday evening and carries on through Sunday.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.