Sports at the Beach complex is alive and well

Now in its seventh season, Sports at the Beach in Georgetown is thriving and attracting teams from all over the country and even the world. Last weekend for the Rally Cap Open, the complex welcomed a squad from Saudi Arabia. The Dhahran Warriors traveled farther than any team in the facility’s history to play on the grounds.

The Warriors are ultimately bound for Williamsport, Pa. as they will be representing the Middle East in the Little League World Series. They are making a couple stops on the East Coast playing several tune-up tournaments to prepare, including this one in Sussex County.

Manager Dan Somogye was very impressed with the atmosphere of Sports at the Beach. “This is like baseball America heaven,” he said. “To come to a facility like this to play with all these great teams is awesome.”

This seems to be the popular opinion of people coming to Sports at the Beach as the complex has grown every year.

“It’s been a great summer as everything is coming around,” general manager Pete Townsend said as he monitored the fields. “The economy has not been as much of an issue; the weather has been the biggest factor this year.”

That has certainly been the case as head groundskeeper Linden Holston says his grounds crew has gone through seven times the usual amount of drying agent in a year already.

The schedule has been a bit different this summer as a number of three-day weekend tournaments were added and the amount of weeklong events was reduced.

The biggest tournament of the year came over the July 4th weekend, when 120 teams competed.

The three-day weekend tournaments have been a big draw as teams are guaranteed five games from Friday to Sunday.

Teams have been willing to make the trip from many hours away in addition to an ample amount of local teams.

The addition of these tournaments has been a big reason for the success this summer, but director of baseball operations Jeff Peet continues to work on growing the weeklongs.

“We would like to add more weeks and more teams in the future,” he said.

Peet also boasted about the new media lounge that was added this year.

It features a movie theater, several computers and two video game systems for the entertainment of visitors.

Hosting all of these tournaments has drawn many people to the area and has helped the local community in a positive way. Owner Nick DelCampo estimates that Sports at the Beach brings $35 million in economic impact to the area.

Overall, Sports at the Beach continues to expand, bringing in teams from all over.

The season will continue the rest of the summer and into the fall concluding with a weekend tournament at the beginning of November.