Girls baseball championship contest set for Rockford in 2017

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) - Hundreds of young baseball players and their families are expected to participate in a national championship tournament sponsored by Baseball for All next summer in Rockford.

The girls' tournament is planned for July 27 through Aug. 1. Baseball for All is a nonprofit organization that works to expand opportunities for girls to play baseball.

Its founder, Justine Siegal, tells the Rockford Register Star (http://bit.ly/2evH1y4 ) the organization chose Rockford because of the city's support for the future International Women's Baseball Center, a museum dedicated to the history of women's baseball.

The Baseball for All tournament plans to hold its opening and closing ceremonies at Beyer Stadium. The stadium was the home of the Rockford Peaches, the women's baseball team immortalized in the 1992 movie "A League of Their Own."

___

Information from: Rockford Register Star, http://www.rrstar.com