The 15th Annual Travis Field Memorial Softball Tournament Takes Off August 3

Not long after the death of Travis Field in May 2008, his family and friends gathered at the home of his parents, Annmarie and Christopher Field, still mourning the loss of their beloved son, brother and friend, and wondering about what could be done to carry on his legacy, Mike Graham, one of his best friends, recalled this past week.

Just months later, the Travis Field Memorial Softball Tournament was born, and not only is it still going strong 15 years later, it’s one of the premier community events in East Hampton Town every summer. The 15th annual tournament is set to take place Thursday, August 3, and will run through that following Sunday, right where it all began at the Terry King Ballfields in Amagansett.

The annual Bracket Bash, which works as the kickoff for it all, will be held this Friday, July 28, at The Clubhouse in East Hampton, where there will be a cash bar and a ton of items to be raffled off to support the Travis Field Memorial Scholarship Foundation.

Scholarships are given to local East Hampton High School graduates each year. This year’s recipients included some of the top student-athletes from the school in Eric Armijos, Finian Byrnes, Jack Dickinson, Hunter Eberhart, Daniel Lester, Gabrielle Miller, Daniel Rossano and Emma Terry. All have been invited to throw out the first pitch just prior to when games kickoff at 5 p.m. on August 3.

For Graham, who grew up with Field and graduated from East Hampton High School with him in 2006, the tournament, which he helps to organize, has become one with a true community feel to it.

“Travis left such a major impact in such a young lifetime, and he had a major passion for softball, he played baseball in high school, so what else better than this?” Graham said. “For me, this tournament is really a celebration of Travis and the community. We turned something that was such a tragic event for all of us into something so memorable and positive, and it’s something that we really celebrate as we continue to grow. The amazing impact this has had on everyone — there are 300-400 people who are down there at those fields on any given day of the tournament — it’s just incredible. It’s pretty much everything — family and friendship — that East Hampton is.”

As it has been the past several years, the tournament will comprise, and was cut off at, 17 teams. And, as usual, there is a more competitive ‘A’ division, that includes seven of the teams, and a more relaxed ‘B’ division that includes the remaining 10. Part of the fun of the upcoming Bracket Bash is the selection process where all the teams are seeded. Graham likened it to a college bracket seeding party and said that it has really become a lot of fun.

The first two days of the tournament get underway at 5 p.m. with four games played each day before the bulk of the games are played on Saturday and Sunday, when games start at 8 a.m. and can run through 10:30 p.m. The double-elimination tournament has a one hour and 15 minute time limit on games, although they can run longer to avoid any ties.

Graham said organizers have been asked constantly over the years to expand the field, but that would most likely entail moving away from the Terry King fields, which Graham said is really set up nicely for such a community event. That resistance to expand has created a waiting list of teams champing at the bit to enter the tournament. Graham said they tried to expand one year to 18 teams, and it really didn’t go as smoothly as it went previously, so they went back to the original number of 17 teams.

“We’re really at the capacity of the field, which is where Travis played most of his men’s league games, and we’re able to sell merch and food in the parking lot. There is a PA system behind home plate and the kids can run around there. We really enjoy having it there,” Graham explained. “But we’re all there for a cause of honoring Travis and raising money through our scholarship foundation. There aren’t a lot of community events out there anymore. It was just an idea we all had 15 years ago, and still grows every year, which is just incredible.”

A brand new website was recently launched — created by Travis’s brother Brian Field — for both the foundation and tournament. While there isn’t a ton of info on the tournament currently on the website, at tjfscholarship.org, Graham said more will be added following this year’s tournament.