The skies clouded over but the rains held off, making it a perfect day for a kickball game! Or several! Leadership Natchez 2011 wishes to extend a huge thank you to all who made our second annual kickball tournament a successful one.

A special thank you to those who maintained order on the fields and served as umpires.

Thanks to Vance Laughlin and CCA for providing all the food and manning the grill. And what could go better with good food than the soft drinks donated by the Brown Bottling Company/Pepsi.

Without SportsCenter donating the kick balls, well, we all would have looked pretty silly standing around on the field so our thanks go out to them as well.

We wish to acknowledge our sponsors who helped defray what costs we did incur — Stuart Heflin and State Farm, the Natchez Trace Kiwanis Club, Dunleith and Natchez Pathology.

And last, but certainly not least, all the teams who participated and the folks that came out to watch. With so many events going on that same day our brackets were a little smaller than we’d hoped but all the teams that did come out to play seemed to have a really good time. We appreciated all the efforts of the players who gave a few hours for a great cause. Congratulations to Derek Pyron and his band of buddies that won it this year. Out to avenge last year’s loss in the championship game, Derek and his team almost fell to the youth of Cathedral’s “Team I Don’t Know” but gutted it out to win in extra innings and take home the prize. It was an exciting ending to a great day.

So, again, thank you one and all. It was with much pride that we were able to present a check for over $2,700 to Matilda Stephens and the Sunshine Shelter. We know it will be well used.

See you next year!

Deanne Tanksley is a member of the Natchez Leadership class of 2011.