Bowling Green is hosting thousands of visitors this weekend for the Kentucky Little League State Championships and Kentucky Amateur Softball Association tournament.

“It’s going to be a very big weekend here in Bowling Green,” said Amy Cardwell, sports sales director at the Bowling Green Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. 

The bureau is hosting the state little league championships at Ephram White Park, where 24 teams from across the state will compete Saturday through Wednesday. Across town at Michael O. Buchanon Park, several divisions of girls’ fast-pitch softball will compete today through Sunday in Amateur Softball Association tournaments featuring more than 70 teams. 

The two events will have a major economic impact on the area, Cardwell said. “Every visiting team brings the players, their families and fans,” she said in a news release. “Whenever these visitors have downtime between tournament play, they’re eating at our restaurants, shopping at our businesses and exploring our attractions.” 

The opening ceremony for the state little league championships tonight at Bowling Green Ballpark “is kind of like a big show,” said Telia Butler, public relations manager for the bureau. 

“We’re a very small town, but with a big-city atmosphere, so when we give kids a chance to go out on the big ballpark field, it makes them feel like they went big time, like they’re going into the major or minor leagues,” she said.

During the ceremony, children will tour the ballpark, meet the Hot Rods’ mascot, Axle, and hear from Paul Kilgus, a Bowling Green native who played Major League baseball in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

“We try to mimic the Little League World Series and make it a big deal with them,” Cardwell said. 

Bowling Green last hosted the state little league championships in 2007 and the community showed great hospitality to the teams and their families, said John Roll, the Bowling Green area district administrator for Kentucky State Little League, in the release.

“The game is all about the kids,” he said. “I’ve been involved with Little League for over 64 years, and if the kids are happy, then I’m happy. They’re why we’re here.”

— The Little League and softball games are open to the public. For a schedule of the little league championships, visit eteamz.com/kystatelittleleague and for a softball tournament schedule, visit www.asasoftball.com.