The annual Guns & Hoses “Summer Slugfest” ventured outside its usual Orange County venues and traveled into Long Beach for the month of June. The timing of this particular tournament initially posed some concern regarding attendance with the Western States Police & Fire Olympics starting the very next day in Santa Clarita, but this was the least of the issues experienced by the G&H team. This tournament had all the promise to be another fun filled event just like any typical Guns & Hoses tournament, until the city of Long Beach threw us a curve ball in the bottom of the ninth.

After 4 months of logistical planning and marketing promotions, G&H received word that “someone” within the city of Long Beach decided to modify the original agreement and make Blair Stadium available for only 2 games. We were told they were “concerned the softball guys would tear up the field”. This news came with only 48 hours until game time and all schedules were already e-mailed out to the participating teams. As was expected, all players were eager and excited for the promised opportunity to play ball on a professional level ballpark. The issue appeared to be resolved after going to the top of the city management chain (the head guy in charge of all events within the city of Long Beach) but apparently the memo from upstairs was not received, or possibly ignored due to a “bruised ego”. We assured the powers that be, that we don’t allow metal cleats and that in fact the trend in softball is that everyone is wearing “turf shoes”. Also we reminded them the “dirt infield” could be raked over to any specs they wanted prior to the pro game later in the evening. We were honestly up until past mid-night the night before the tournament, making phone calls and sending emails to everyone that we felt could possibly help. Once upper management learned that the field was being utilized for public safety softball and not a “rugby tournament”, “carnival” or “drifting” competition, rumor had it that the tourney was “once again” approved for the entire day.

Unfortunately with such limited time to react, the slow moving bureaucratic processes of government (someone again dropped the ball and didn’t type up the correct permit) prevented the gates of Blair field from opening at 7:00 am as originally promised. After 5 seasons of hosting and promoting public safety softball tournaments, this debacle was without a doubt the most embarrassing and indeed the most stressful Guns & Hoses tournament to date. Guns & Hoses has extended a sincere apology to each of the attending teams for all the confusion and disappointment associated with this debacle. We have also offered all participating teams a significantly discounted price for the next G&H tournament. Again, we at G&H sincerely apologize for the disappointing issues at our June “Summer Slugfest” Tournament.