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The 24th annual Molly/Abbie Softball Tournament will be held July 21-22 at the Winchester City Park in memory of two Franklin County High School seniors who passed away in 2000.

The now-yearly event began in 2000 after Molly Stewart and Abbie Bondurant tragically passed away in a boating accident on Tims Ford Lake on May 12, 2000.

The money raised from the event will benefit the FCHS softball program.

Winchester Parks and Recreation Director Darrell Jolley has helped to put on the event each year since its inception and said that the event is beneficial for the Stewart and Bondurant families.

“It’s just something that still brings those families together when that happens. They can come and visit, see people and see that people know what went on and what the girls were about,” he said.

Jolley had also said the event is a special one for him because he coached Stewart and Bondurant on school and travel-ball teams, and he also knows their families very well.

The Molly/Abbie tournament will see a slight change this year as instead of fielding teams of seven men and three women for a competitive bracket or five men and five women for a fun bracket, all of the teams will be in a 7-3 or 8-4 format and will be placed in one of two divisions based on pool play.

“You’ll play some pool games now, and then you’ll be put in your deserved bracket. Instead of picking which one you’re in to begin with, you’ll play some pool play and then they’ll seed you,” Jolley said.

He added that the change was made in the hopes of getting more teams to come out and participate.

“It’s just been hard to get more women to play and to get enough teams that way. This way, it’s easier to get more teams involved,” he said.

The 2022 edition of the Molly/Abbie tournament had to be pushed from its usual late July window into September due to scheduling conflicts, but the event will be returning to its July roots this year with Jolley expressing optimism that the change of months will help with bringing in more young players.

“I think it’ll involve more teenagers and more kids that are in the high school that want to play or even college students. A lot of them didn’t come home in that late time last year,” Jolley said. “It gives them a chance to play, plus it gives us a better number.”

Jolley said that he is hoping to get 20-plus teams signed up for the 2023 event after having just 10 teams sign up for the 2022 edition of the tournament.

Teams can register for the Molly/Abbie Softball Tournament by calling Steve Lovvorn, the Independent Sports Association’s state adult program director, at 931-703-2019. Entry fees are $225 per team.