Debra McMaster Memorial Tourney Draws 40 Teams to Hope

The Debra McMaster Memorial Softball Tournament gets underway this afternoon and several local teams are competing in the 40-team tournament.

The Debra McMaster Memorial Tournament was started in memory of Debra McMaster who was math teacher at Spring Hill Schools, a wife, a mother of two daughters and much more. Debra and 19 others were killed when a storm caused a massive flash flood on the Little Missouri River that overwhelmed the campground at Albert Pike during the early morning hours of June 11, 2010. Debra was 43 at the time and both daughters were still in school.

The tournament was started along with a scholarship in Debra’s name that was initially awarded to one of the girls from one of the competing teams. The tournament has grown immensely over the years and will have 40 teams participating this year. One girl from each team now receives the scholarship.

According to Tournament Director Jeff Baker, the double-elimination tournament has five classification brackets and the first games get underway Thursday at 4:30 p.m. on Lady Cat Field and Millennium Field. Games are scheduled to start every 1 ½ hours. Six games will be played Thursday. Friday and Saturday games will expand to include Kelley Fields 1, 2 and 3. Friday games will start at 4 p.m. Saturday games will begin at 8 a.m. There will be a break in the games for the scholarship presentations, which are scheduled from 2-3 p.m., then games will resume. The five Championship games will be played Saturday evening.

Everyone is encouraged to get out and show support for the girls competing this weekend. Money raised from the tournament goes to provide scholarships.

We will post updated brackets throughout the tournament.

The Schedule for the opening games is as follows:

Thursday:

Lady Cat Field

4:30 – Bismark vs Fouke

6:00 – Prescott vs Fordyce

7:30 – Dierks vs Avery, TX

Millennium Field

4:30 – Murfreesboro vs Malvern

6:00 – Arkadelphia vs Ouachita

7:30 – Bauxite vs Genoa Central

Friday:

Lady Cat Field

4:00 – Quitman vs TBA

5:30 – Hope vs Greenland

7:00 – Poyen vs Taylor

Millennium Field

4:00 – Gurdon vs Emerson

5:30 – Woodlawn vs Bloomburg, TX

7:00 – Nashville vs Bald Knob

Kelly Field 1

4:00 – Bradley vs Acorn

5:30 – Nevada vs Guy Perkins

7:00 – SS Bee Branch vs Prairiland, TX

Kelly Field 2

5:30 – Foreman vs Dover

7:00 – Paris vs Hermitage

Kelly Field 3

4:00 – Batesville vs Magnet Cove

5:30 – Spring Hill vs Concord

7:00 – Little Rock Central vs Junction City