By Anne Ostrowski, Item Correspondent

Memories of good friends helped fuel the competition in the 11th annual Leesport Memorial Softball Tournament held at the Leesport Playground ballfields this past weekend.  

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 16 teams, with more than 200 people, played to raise money for Bob Korn, a Mohrsville resident and former Schuylkill Valley football coach, who is battling a life-threatening brain tumor.  

Korn and his family are planning a trip to Boston for surgery and the money will be used to defray the expenses of staying there during the procedure.

Carol Weyandt, tournament director since the first series of games held in 1999, said she was very happy with the turnout.  

“We limited the field to 16 teams this year,” Weyandt said.  “But we had enough interest to have 18.  Next year we’ll go back to 18 teams.”   

Thirty-one games were played over three days with the Muhlenberg Blue Team winning the championship, 10-8, on Sunday evening.  

The tournament featured two divisions of eight teams each, with three games guaranteed.  All bats were supplied by the tournament committee and all teams used restricted flight balls.  

Because two Little League fields with permanent shortened fences were used, each team was allowed only one home run per inning.  

The top four teams in each division earned a play-off final round on Sunday.  The tournament also featured a home-run derby.  

The tournament was originally started to help the family of Rachel Trois, a Schuylkill Valley high school student and catcher on the school’s softball team, who died in 1999.  

Over several years, money was given to fund a scholarship and build a playground in Rachel’s memory.  Last year, the Trois family requested that fund raising be redirected to another family or organization in need.  

In 2008, $3,600 from the tournament was given to the Leesport Historical Society.  Weyandt expects to give between $3500 and $4000, the proceeds from entry fees ($150 per team) and the concession stands, minus the cost to pay umpires and purchase equipment, to the Korn family.  

For Weyandt, the tournament has always been personal.  She and her husband know the Trois family and the eldest of their five sons was a friend of Rachel’s.  All of their sons continue to play in the tournament, including Dan Weyandt, 28, of Muhlenberg.  “I’ve been playing with these same guys since the beginning because we knew Rachel,” Dan said.  “There have been about 30 different guys over 11 years.  We may be one and one in the tournament so far, but we keep our eyes on the prize.”   Chris Stamm, Leesport, has also been playing since the first tournament.  “It’s fun, there’s a lot of camaraderie,” Stamm said.  “I see these guys once a year.  We call ourselves the “Schuylkill Valley Living Legends.”  

Carol Weyandt, whose sons played football under coach Bob Korn, the recipient of this year’s fund raising efforts, said it’s important to know where the money is going and in whose memory it is given.  “The tournament gives money in memory of four individuals -- Rachel Trois; Scott Wertz, the Reading police officer killed in action in 2006, who used to bring a team to this tournament every year; Eric Koller, a Mohrsville native who died in a motorcycle accident in 2008; and Daryl Fitterling, whose name was honored on the back of team shirts worn by the Ganley’s team during this tournament,” Weyandt said.  “We keep the money in the community in memory of these people.”

In addition to the tournament, other fund raising efforts for the Korn family have included a quoits tournament, a plant auction and a donation from the Central Berks Lions Club.  Anyone wishing to help the family with a contribution may contact Dan Gordon at 610-926-6306.  His son, Ryan Gordon, who played in this weekend’s tournament, said, “I feel good knowing that my money is going to someone who really needs it.”