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ST. GEORGE -- The largest softball tournament in the nation is going on in Utah.
It's part of the Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George. The games passed a milestone this year -- 10,000 participants from every state in the nation and 63 countries from around the world, including the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan.
Over the next two weeks, 320 teams will go to bat on ball fields throughout St. George. The games have become the largest of their kind in the world. No where can athletes over the age of 50 go up against such high-caliber competition.
But many athletes who return year after year say athletics is only part of the tradition.
"This beautiful weather, the camaraderie with all the teams we associate with," says athlete John Seigla.
Senior sluggers and spikers are not all the games usher into town. The athletes and their families bring more than $10 million to St. George's economy. Those dollars are precious as St. George slowly emerges from a recession that hit that community the hardest.
"Not only do these people come and bring motor homes and stay in hotels and fill restaurants, they come back and make it their home," says Mayor Daniel McArthur.
The ball fields are one example of why residents will bond and approve to build far more recreation facilities than they need for a town this size. The investment pays dividends when groups like the Huntsman Senior Games make St. George their destination.
E-mail:dwimmer@ksl.com
