Jake Hodge Wiffle Ball Tournament returns to Princeton for scholarships

The Jake Hodge Wiffle Ball Tournament returned to Princeton on July 24 at 1301 South Jefferson Street, keeping alive a summer event organizers had not been sure would continue. The restart mattered well beyond the bracket, because the tournament exists to raise scholarship funds for area children and high school seniors.

The tournament has become the Jake Hodge Foundation’s biggest money-maker. Foundation materials say the annual wiffle ball event has raised more than $500,000 for students to further their education, a figure that shows how a neighborhood-style sports weekend can generate real college aid year after year. The games are staged at Little Field of Dreams and Little Yankee Stadium, turning the Princeton site into both a ballpark and a fundraiser.

That scholarship money has had a wide reach. A 2014 account said the foundation awards college scholarships to high school seniors in Caldwell, Crittenden, Lyon and Livingston counties. By 2021, the foundation was describing the annual wiffle ball tournament as its largest fundraiser for students across western Kentucky, and by 2022 scholarship eligibility had expanded to include students from any county who had participated in the event. The criteria have also carried a character component, with foundation materials describing awards for students who display honesty, character and integrity.

The event’s significance is tied to Jake Hodge himself. Foundation materials say Hodge was born in 1995 and died in 2008, and the tournament has grown into one of the foundation’s most visible ways to keep that memory active. A 2018 post from the Jake Hodge Memorial Project said the tournament broke a record, underscoring how the event has repeatedly outgrown its role as a simple local gathering.

The return of the tournament this year preserved more than a date on the summer calendar. It kept a scholarship pipeline moving in Princeton, where every inning has been linked to educational support for students who will carry the fundraiser’s impact far beyond the field.