AURORA | Competitive high school softball’s local rite of summer returns with Triple Crown’s Colorado 4th of July Fireworks Tournament, which began Tuesday at venues all around Aurora and in other locations in the metro area.
The Aurora Sports Park is the fulcrum of the event that is run concurrently with the Sparkler Tournament in Westminster with competition and special events involving more than 1,000 teams from across the country in multiple age groups through July 3.
Already completed is the second edition of the TC International Challenge, which featured 28 teams (9 U16 and 19 U18) that included players who were born in the United States who had family ties with other countries and tried out to represent them in the tournament.
The U18 tournament included a couple of Aurora area representatives, as Gabi and Izzy Giroux of Smoky Hill were part of Team Canada. Izzy Giroux just graduated after starring for the Buffs and Gabi Giroux is expected to be one Smoky Hill’s key pieces in the fall.
The Fireworks and Sparkler events also bring together hundreds of coaches from college programs of all sizes who also ran camps prior to the start of the the tournament. The combination of the two give players on the teams in attendance a great chance to get exposure for potential scholarship offers.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
