ABL adds event

JEREMIAH BARTZ/ Frontiersman sports editor

Representatives from the six teams of the Alaska Baseball League are finalizing plans to add a season-ending tournament to the 2006 schedule.

Pete Christopher, general manager of the Mat-Su Miners, said Wednesday Hermon Brothers Field and Mulchahy Stadium will cooperatively host the event.

The event will include the Mat-Su Miners, Anchorage Bucs, Anchorage Glacier Pilots, AIA Fire, Peninsula Oilers, Alaska Goldpanners and at least two teams from outside of the ABL.

The tournament is tentatively scheduled for the final five days of July and the first day of August. But because of a conflict with the National Baseball Congress World Series schedule, no specific dates have been set.

In past years the top one or two teams in the ABL have traveled to Wichita, Kan., to compete in the heralded tournament. But do to the rising costs of travel, teams in the ABL have leaned toward having a season-ending tourney in the state that all of the teams in the league could participate in.

The league champion of the ABL still will travel to Kansas to compete in the World Series. But rather than that team being solely responsible for the travel costs, the six teams of the ABL will all contribute.

&#8220Each team pitches in $5,000. There's a $30,000 pot, winner takes all,” Christopher said.

The 2006 NBC World Series is slated to start August 2, and officials from the tournament have told representatives from the ABL that the Alaska league champion will play on that day. The ABL's preference is to have the final game of its tournament on August 1, and would like to allow a day of travel for the team traveling to Wichita.

Anchorage Bucs assistant general manager Zac Basch said until the ABL gets a final decision from the NBC, the league will not be able to plan the final details of the tournament.