MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake Youth Baseball Association hosted its second-annual Pete Doumit Memorial Tournament this weekend, hosting youth baseball teams from around the Pacific Northwest.

The tournament hosted 33 teams across fields in its hometown of Moses Lake, and could have hosted more if they had the facilities.

“We got a pretty big turnout,” said MLYBA Vice President and Sponsor Chair AJ Escamilla. “I would say probably one of the better tournaments in the Basin at this time. So, we look forward to next year and having it again.”

Turnout was so big for the MLYBA that they even had to turn away a handful of teams, due to not having enough facility space to host.

“We turned down roughly five [teams],” Escamilla said. “We didn’t have enough facilities in time, there was another softball tournament in town.”

The tournament is dedicated to Pete Doumit, a Columbia Basin native who coached the Big Bend Community College and Moses Lake High School baseball teams. Doumit passed away in 2018. The MLYBA changed the name of its annual tournament to the Pete Doumit Memorial Tournament last year.

“Just a big shout out to the Moses Lake Youth Baseball Association for putting on such a great tournament,” Escamilla said.

The festivities began on Friday evening with a first pitch ceremony, and then the games began. There were different tournaments throughout for 9u, 10u, 11u and 12u teams. In addition, there was a Babe Ruth-style tournament.

Whatcom Prep won the 9u tournament, Idaho Prospect Baseball won the 10u tournament, Wenatchee won the 11u tournament, Eastmont won the 12u tournament and the Moses Lake Thunder won the Babe Ruth tournament.

The Thunder defeated the Pendleton Black Sox 4-1 in the championship game, taking an early lead before the game was called due to weather. Escamilla said that this was the only game that faced consequences due to weather conditions throughout the weekend.

“I think the weather was our biggest enemy this weekend,” Escamilla said. “We started the weekend out to prepare the fields on Friday night, getting them ready to start on time. The Babe Ruth game finished in four because we had to call the game. The weather was too bad, but we got through it. The only hiccup we had was we had one game start 10 minutes late, and the other start 25 minutes late.”

Escamilla credits all of the MLYBA for pulling together to put together the tournament weekend possible, and the area teams for coming out in droves to participate.

“The Moses Lake Youth Baseball Association came together and really did a fantastic job of hosting all these teams.”

Hosting a tournament in Moses Lake is not only a great experience for the kids and their families according to Escamilla, but it also helps boost the local economy.

“For us, just to see the kids out and seeing the camaraderie that’s built, the tears, the joy, it’s just good to have everyone back together,” Escamilla said. “Moses Lake is a huge baseball community, and we want to continue to bring a product that these people can enjoy.

“You know, it’s a big circle. When we bring these people in, they give back to our community. They eat at our restaurants, stay at our hotels - it really helps our community.”

Escamilla said that he and the rest of the MLYBA see this event growing in the future.

“I really foresee this being a lot bigger next year if we can get the facilities ready in time,” Escamilla said.

With as successful of a weekend as it was Escamilla gave his gratitude to all those who attended and made the Pete Doumit Tournament possible. He also called for feedback from attendees of the tournament in hopes of improving it.

“I just want to thank the people that came from out of town for coming out, and feedback is the best way that [we] can do our jobs,” Escamilla said. “So if we don’t get that, then we don’t know if we’re doing a good or bad job.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.