The annual “Six Pack Sam” softball tournament happened over the weekend of August 2nd.
“This is called the six pack Sam coed tournament. This has been going on ever since I’ve been associated with softball here for like, 25 years.” says Haines Packing Co. player Brian Elliot who also says about 6 teams come from around the region each year. “We usually have anywhere from six to we had nine teams, but it’s usually in that comfort zone. They come from Whitehorse, Haines Junction, Juneau, Skagway and here. And this year we had six teams.”
Having teams in town is great for local businesses, says tourism director Rebacca Hylton. “It’s really nice to have the softball teams come in. They spend money in our stores and shop at our shops and take things like salmon home. I know that’s a big thing for ‘Skagwegians’, is to take some smoked salmon home. So it’s just great to have these other residents, local residents visiting our area, and hopefully we’ll see more of that as these events start to rebound and come back.”
What made the weekend, was the victory of the Haines Packing Co. team, Elliot claims. “Well, Haines Packing won, and we came in with a pretty strong team, but we have not won the last few years, so we’re happy to get away with the championship. And it was, it was hard fought for sure.”
James Hart, the shortstop for Haines Packing, reflects on having to come out of the losers bracket to win in the championship. “Yeah, it was kind of, it was nice that we lost a game, because it kind of put a little more pressure on us to play a little bit harder and the earlier morning game, it was a little bit easier for us to get a win out of it and kind of get our gears going. So by the time the championship game came, we were all pretty much ready to go and ready to roll.”
Hart also admires everyone who put together the event and his fellow teammates and says, “I think everybody who ran the tournament did a really good job, and everything moved pretty smoothly. And I was happy with just how the tournament went, as far as you know, the smoothness and then also us winning was pretty nice too.”
However there are still a few games in the near future. Elliot states, “There are tournaments all throughout the region, Haines junction, white horse, there is a big tournament still on the calendar, and that’s over Labor Day weekend in Sitka. It’s called mud ball. And so I know some folks from Haines and Skagway will be going to that one for sure.” With a few more tournaments happening, there might be some victories to be had.
