By Derek Thompson | The Selma Times-Journal

Sixteen teams participated in the men’s memorial softball tournament Saturday to honor former Selma recreation director Elton Reece.

Reece is well known in Selma for his years as director of recreation and his tremendous love for softball.

Reece oversaw the city’s athletic programs for football, baseball and softball, and also managed the city’s fields at the Dallas County Sportsplex, Bloch Park and Memorial Stadium.

Reece’s son, Todd, organized his team, Bet Chu Won’t, to play in his father’s memory at the tournament.

“I’m just pleased with the turnout overall,” Todd said.

“Seeing these people that I haven’t seen in 10 or 15 years is always good. It speaks volumes for what dad did for this community.”

Todd said he knocked some of the dust off his swing earlier this year playing for the church team in Clanton before leading Bet Chu Won’t to an 18-7 victory over Money Shots in its first game of the day.

“It’s fun to be back with this group of guys, “ Todd said. “I’ve gotten older, but it was great. You always have fun when you win.”

Bet Chu Won’t started out hot at the plate scoring ten runs on ten hits through the first two innings.

Their opponents, Money Shots, scored four runs on five hits to tie things up in the first inning, but couldn’t get anything big going after that.

“It’s just a good feeling to see all these guys come together for a good cause,” said Reece’s teammate Kevin Smitherman. “We’re about like one big family and man we’ve played together for so many years. It’s just a great feeling to be on the field with these guys. It feels good to always get your first wins in the mornings and then you just got to be consistent and play hard all day and hope you come out on top at the end.”

All proceeds from the tournament will go toward an annual scholarship in honor of Reece for an area senior athlete next school year.

Todd said the fundraiser is something he wants to continue annually and has thought about alternating the scholarship between male and female recipients each year.

“We’re going to sit down and come up with some guidelines and qualifications that they have to meet to be a candidate for the scholarship,” Todd said. “I hope we can have this much turnout every year if not more. Hopefully it’s an event that people will see and we can grow it from year to year.”