Photo courtesy from left: the late Katie Grace Wentz with her mother Brenda Wentz, her sister Alyssa Wentz and her father Joe Wentz.
By John Hartsock
Katie Grace Wentz was a young woman who was passionate about softball.
She began playing softball at the age of 5 and continued her participation in the sport both in travel ball and as a varsity player at Cambria Heights High School.
Following Wentz’s tragic, sudden death in October 2019 from a pulmonary embolism suffered at age 16 during her penultimate year of high school at Cambria Heights, her parents Joe and Brenda Wentz, along with her older sister Alyssa, wanted to do something special to honor and preserve her memory.
The Wentz family came up with the idea of a softball tournament that takes place every summer and celebrates its fifth anniversary Friday through Sunday. This year, a total of 11 teams in the 14U and 16U age groups can compete. The games will be played at three locations – two fields in Patton Park and the softball field at Cambria Heights High School.
In its five years of existence, the tournament has grown from four teams in the first year to 11 teams today. Teams have entered from as many places as Patton, Hastings, Ebensburg, Altoona, Hollidaysburg, Claysburg and even as far away as St. Marys.
“Katie loved softball, she loved traveling to her games, and she especially loved pitching,” said Brenda Wentz, who pointed out that Katie Wentz was a pitcher and played first base on the softball field. “(Katie’s death) was so heartbreaking that we weren’t expecting it, and she touched so many lives. This is something we wanted to do to honor her memory and keep her memory alive.”
Since the tournament’s inception, the Wentz family has awarded $500 scholarships to high school students who write personal essays to help cover their college expenses.
“Last year we awarded nine scholarships,” said Joe Wentz, who noted that so far the scholarships have been awarded to high school students from four different school districts. “For the first two years, any student-athlete was eligible, but for the last two years, we’ve limited who’s eligible to girls who participate in this tournament or other high school students who have helped with this tournament — such as working the concession stands, selling 50/50 tickets or blocking off the fields to get them ready for play.”
The essays, which will be sent to Cambria Heights High School and then to the Wentz family for judging, include personal accounts on topics such as how playing softball has positively impacted an athlete’s life or the story of how another person encouraged an athlete to play sports.
Local businesses and individuals have also donated gift baskets that will be raffled off as prizes at the tournament. Tournament T-shirts will also be available for sale to participants in the event, which requires teams to pay a $350 registration fee to participate.
“The number of teams has increased,” Joe Wentz said. “I guess the word has gotten out over the last two years, but we still want to keep it at 11 or 12 teams so it doesn’t get so big that we have to use more fields than we do now.”
This Sunday the championship games of the two divisions will be played.
“This is a great way to keep Katie’s memory alive, and this event also gives some of the girls the opportunity to compete in an additional tournament during the summer,” said Joe Wentz. “We wanted to keep the tournament competitive, but we also want the girls who participate in the tournament to have fun.”
