West Salem’s Freedom Celebration adds wiffle ball tournament with cash prizes

West Salem is putting real stakes on the diamond, with a wiffle ball tournament set for 10 a.m. Saturday, June 27, at Centennial Park as part of the village’s Freedom Celebration. Teams can carry up to six players, pay a $50 entry fee, and chase a guaranteed $200 cash prize plus 20 percent of the entry-fee pot.

That is a long way from a casual backyard game. West Salem split the field into two classes, 8th grade and below, and 9th grade through adult, giving younger players a lane to compete without being buried by older hitters. Winners in each division will take home trophies and a party pack from Britton’s Bullpen, which adds a little extra shine to a format that already has a cash payoff.

The tournament is one piece of a full Saturday schedule built around the holiday weekend. The day opens with breakfast at 6 a.m., followed by village-wide yard sales and 5K registration at 7 a.m. The wiffle ball tournament slots in at 10 a.m., then food vendors and music begin at 11 a.m. An America 250 parade follows at 3 p.m., Chips for Cash starts at 6 p.m., and fireworks close the day at dusk.

The Freedom Celebration itself runs Saturday and Sunday, June 27-28, and is organized by the Volunteer Firemen’s Association of West Salem, Inc. The weekend also includes the Freedom Celebration 5K, which features a run-walk, a 5K walk and a 1-mile kids fun run, giving the event a broader reach than the tournament alone.

Brad Lake is handling registration for the wiffle ball field, and entrants can reach him at 618-445-7887. That direct signup and the two-division format suggest West Salem wants this to feel organized, not improvised, with enough structure to attract families, young players and adults who want a real bracket instead of a pickup field.

The setup also hints at something bigger for the village. Wiffle ball has already shown up in Freedom Celebration programming before, and bringing it back in the middle of a Saturday that includes a parade, music and fireworks makes it look less like a side event and more like part of the holiday’s identity. In West Salem, the plastic ball is becoming part of the tradition.