By Donna Kuhn
Grant County Press
The weekend of July 10-11, the area was buzzing with traffic, sold-out hotel rooms and busy restaurants. Brent Metheny spent months planning the annual Mountain Mixer baseball tournament, only to have some of the fields flooded during tournament weekend.
The tournament has grown from 11 teams to 41 teams this year. Teams came from Morgantown, Bridgeport, Keyser, Moorefield, Petersburg and Franklin, along with several teams from the Shenandoah Valley.
Brackets were set for ages 8U through 15U. The 8U, 9U and 12U teams played their games at Michael Field. The 10U and 11U divisions were hosted at Moorefield City Park, while 15U played at Petersburg High School’s Bergdoll Field.
A total of 39 of the 75 scheduled games were played. All Sunday games in Petersburg had to be canceled because of the rain.
Metheny will be the first to say he does not organize the tournament alone and appreciates the community’s support and help.
“I could not do this without the cooperation of Grant County Schools allowing us to use the Petersburg High School baseball field, Grant County Parks and Recreation for the use of Michael Field and Moorefield Parks and Recreation for the use of Moorefield City Park,” Metheny said.
Local players who play travel baseball also enjoy having a tournament close to home.
“As a grandparent, it’s the pride of watching your grandchildren doing what they love. It’s making a sacrifice to travel a few hours to watch them play, but making a fun weekend out of it and getting to spend time with family,” Libby Berg shared. “It sure was nice to have a local tournament and only travel to Moorefield.”
Ashley Riggleman shared, “Jase proudly plays for the locally based Reapers 10U travel baseball team. This season has taken us to several tournaments in Virginia, so it was especially exciting to compete close to home in the Mountain State Mixer. Playing in front of family and friends while representing our community made the tournament a memorable experience and a great way to showcase the hard work and dedication of the talented young athletes from our local area, while also sharing our beautiful area with other teams.”
Businesses were not the only ones to financially benefit from tournament visitors. Moorefield Little League raised more than $2,200 from concession sales.
Players could also take home a souvenir T-shirt. Tweedle Tee’s Printing of Staunton, Virginia, enjoys coming to the area. The screen-printing business prints the shirts on site and gives a donation to the Petersburg Athletic Boosters.
Mark your calendars for July 2027. The tournament is held each year during the second weekend of July.
“The tournament continues to grow each year,” Metheny said. “I am always looking for volunteers who are interested in baseball and supporting our youth. I cannot do this alone and appreciate those who help.”
