Rumble at The Ballpark wrestling tourney returning to OOB, expanding to two days

The event will feature a high school and open tournament on Saturday, July 2 and a youth tournament on Sunday, July 3 at the historic stadium in OOB.

 "The Rumble at The Ballpark has been growing each year and we are thrilled to expand the event to two days this summer," said tournament organizer Pat McDonald, who previously spent four years as the sports editor of the former Journal Tribune newspaper in Biddeford. "This will allow us to highlight each of the divisions and also to have a more wrestler and fan friendly schedule this year."

The youth tournament is for wrestlers in grades 3 through 8 as of the 2022-23 school year.

The high school tournament is for wrestlers in grades 8 through 12 as of the 2022-23 school year. Eighth graders can choose which tournament to compete in or they can wrestle in both events.

The trophies for this year's tournament are once again baseball bats for the champions of each bracket with medals for second-and-third-place finishers.

Wrestlers can register here: https://form.jotform.com/210633752416148.

The expansion is not the only exciting news for this year's Rumble at The Ballpark as the event has teamed up with the long-running Maine-Nebraska Wrestling Exchange.

The Maine-Nebraska Wrestling Exchange brings together high school wrestlers from both states each summer, and this year the Nebraska wrestlers will travel to Maine for several duals across the state.

As part of the Rumble at The Ballpark weekend, the final dual of the Maine-Nebraska Wrestling Exchange will be hosted by The Ballpark on Friday, July 1.

"When I was with the Journal Tribune I covered the Maine-Nebraska Wrestling Exchange and know how special that event is. I am absolutely thrilled to be bringing our two events together," said McDonald, who is also on the board of directors for the Maine Amateur Wrestling Alliance. "Not only will the Nebraska wrestlers get a chance to compete on Friday night in the dual, they will also wrestle in the high school tournament on Saturday."

In past years, the tournament has drawn high school wrestlers from across Maine as well as New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. This year's tournament will now feature some of the best wrestlers from Nebraska thanks to the partnership with the wrestling exchange.

"The reason we run this tournament is to give Maine wrestlers as well as competitors from across New England and beyond a unique experience, but it's also about bringing great wrestlers together to get some tough competition. Our partnership with the Maine-Nebraska Wrestling Exchange will help us reach that goal as we get to have some extremely talented wrestlers from Nebraska in our tournament," McDonald said.

For more information contact Pat McDonald at rumbleatballpark@gmail.com or through the Rumble at The Ballpark Facebook page.