CROWN POINT | For a second time in three years, Northwest Indiana will host a National Softball Association World Series, a tournament expected to bring about $2 million in economic impact to the Region.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Speros Batistatos announced that Northwest Indiana will host the 2009 National Softball Association Girls Fast Pitch "B" North World Series from July 19-24. The event will occur on 27 fields in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.
Batistatos said the economy has been sluggish in 2008 and is expected to continue in a similar fashion in 2009, but parents tend to prioritize travel for their children's athletics teams.
"We'll reap the benefits of that prioritization," Batistatos said. "(Youth sports) are somewhat recession-proof and will go on regardless."
When the event was held in Northwest Indiana in July 2007, about 10,000 athletes descended on the Region and rented more than 5,000 hotel rooms.
"We would go out to dinner to meet up with other teams," said Vince Rock, a Crown Point U14 girls softball team coach and the girls softball representative for the city's Youth Sports Commission. "The kids would want to drive around and look at all the decorated cars."
