Hawks hope tourney is a hit

HOUSTON — The Hawks have brought varsity baseball back to Houston High School. Now they’re hoping to add something to the prep baseball calendar too.

Houston High will host the first Houston Invitational Tournament this weekend.

The 2010 HIT, which starts Thursday at 4 p.m. at Houston High School, features four teams this year — Soldotna, Homer, Monroe Catholic and the host Hawks. But in the future, the Hawks would like this to be an annual season-ending tourney for Alaska’s smaller programs.

“The whole idea is to develop this into a small school state final,” Houston head coach Bill Kramer said.

Houston High School officials have already presented the idea to ASAA, the state’s governing board for athletics and activities. Kramer said the Hawks have also received a great amount of verbal support from coaches from programs stretching from Homer to Fairbanks.

Prep baseball is growing in Alaska, Kramer said. The Hawks are competing in their first year of varsity action since the school was forced to temporarily suspend the program due to lack of interest several years ago. Kramer said new teams are also expected to sprout in Seward and Kenai.

Kramer said he doesn’t want to draw teams that could qualify for the ASAA State Baseball Championships. Houston just wants to give other schools, more specifically the smaller schools, an alternative. Kramer drew a comparison to men’s college basketball. The ASAA state tourney would be like the NCAA Division I Championships, while the Houston tourney would be more like the NIT.

Kramer and the Hawks would also like to build an event that would create quality competition for baseball programs that hail from schools with small enrollments.

“There’s actually about 10 schools that fit that profile, so we’re hoping to get something started,” Kramer said.

The Hawks also have a quality facility at Houston High School.

“The facility’s in great shape,” Kramer said.

Kramer said local businesses such as the Big Lake Lions Club made significant donations to help Houston upgrade its baseball field when the school brought back the program last spring.

The tourney starts Thursday at 4 p.m. when Monroe takes on Soldotna. Houston will host Homer Thursday at 7 p.m.

The round-robin tourney concludes when Soldotna meets Houston at 1 p.m.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.