Sara Thompson wants young girls who come to Greenville for the Little League Softball World Series Aug. 11-18 to feel like “rock stars.”

Perhaps just as important, she wants them to know they’re getting the exact same perks as the boys arriving in Williamsport, Pa., for baseball’s version of the Little League World Series.

Thanks to a growing number of sponsors for the first-ever staging of the softball event at Stallings Stadium at Elm Street Park, the girls will get just that kind of treatment.

“Our sponsors will come in, they will outfit all the girls with all-new uniforms, equipment, bats, Easton bags, brand new helmets, catcher’s gear, batting gloves, cleats, you name it,” said Thompson, Director of Softball Development for Little League for the last 12 years, who was the guest speaker for Tuesday’s Greenville Chamber of Commerce virtual power luncheon. “They walk out, hopefully, like it’s Christmas and like they are rock stars.

“That is our goal for this tournament and this event, is that these girls feel like there is nothing better and they get the exact same treatment as the boys do up in Williamsport.”

A new tenure

The series previously was held in Portland, Ore., at Alpenrose Dairy for 26 consecutive years, but in the fall of 2019, the dairy was sold to a company in a decision disputed by members of the original family owners, prompting Little League to seek greener pastures.

Thompson said Greenville and Elm Street Park were chosen among three to five final possibilities, and Little League President Stephen Keener among others were in Greenville in February of 2020 to announce the tournament was coming to the historic Greenville baseball park.

A few months later, the tournament and all other sporting events for the foreseeable future were wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. Little League announced last month both the baseball and softball World Series were coming back this year with modified formats that limit the field to U.S.-based teams only.

More than a year later, the tournament’s new home remains lucrative.

“You guys offer tremendous accommodations and resources that will fulfill the needs of all of our visitors and families coming to the area, and you offer such hospitality,” Thompson said of the tournament coming south to Greenville.

Like Keener and others before her, Thompson said that even with the knowledge that Elm Street would need to have its infield stripped and pitcher’s mound leveled each year to accommodate the Softball World Series, the Stallings Stadium complex as a whole sold itself.

She said the facility was already “tournament-ready” when it was chosen.

“It was a vision in the making,” she said. “It’s a fantastic site, all ready to go, for these 10 teams that are going to come into Greenville. It is one of the nicest facilities that any little leaguer will probably have ever participated on, and I’m so excited to be able to offer that opportunity to girls from around the U.S. and the world.”

The long haul?

The long legacy created by the previous host city will be a tough act to follow, and while she didn’t spell out a definitive number of years, Thompson said she hopes Greenville will be the tournament’s home long enough to build its own legacy.

For now, the city has signed on as the host for the next five years.

“Even more than that, I want this to be, hopefully, one of the final homes of the Little League Softball World Series,” Thompson said. “My hope is for this to remain in Greenville, North Carolina, not for five years, not just for 10 years, but for a considerable amount of time.”

Contact: Nathan Summers, Sports Editor
The Daily Reflector