Another successful Bobby Vargo tournament
July 7, 2025, 1:27 pm
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Aside from a few small showers on the final day of the 13th annual Bobby Vargo Memorial Slo-Pitch Tournament, organizers are quite pleased with the results overall.
“We had a great weekend,” said Glen Vargo. “We had a couple of little showers yesterday, but it didn’t deter anything. And great turnout Friday and Saturday. The wind might have kept a few people away on Sunday, it was kind of a cool day, but all in all, I think we would say we were very successful.”
A total of 14 teams came to Kipling for the tournament, plus some special guests in a pair of double headers featuring AA U13 teams (the Sask East Diamond Jaxx vs the Moose Jaw Canucks and White Butte Broncos) and AAA U11 teams (Estevan Brewers vs Regina Wolfpack).
“It was good for those kids, they really enjoyed doing it,” Vargo said. “It’s the second year that we’ve had some higher minor ball for the tournament, and a lot of people really enjoy coming to watch them.”
Involving youth is an important component of the annual tournament, and inadvertently launched a legacy within the community.
“If you get the kids involved, they remember those things,” Vargo said. “We’ve got kids who started out playing in the sandbox years ago when we first started, and now they’ve got their own teams in the tournament.”
This year’s bragging rights for 2025 Bobby Vargo Memorial Cup Champions goes to the Coors Galores team, a crew with local roots that also grew up with the tournament as part of their summers.
“They’re a bunch of kids, basically from Kipling and Windthorst,” said Vargo of the team. “Local kids that grew up here. They’re kind of spread out around now, but they come home every year, and play in our tournament. The tournament’s become a kick off to summer, and I think a lot of the folks that come down look at it that way. We had people tell us over the weekend that it’s like a family reunion every year for them, so that’s great.”
Bryson Andres of the Coors Galores also won the 2025 Nutrien Ag Solutions Home Run Derby, and this year’s Cornhole Champions—Channel 7 News team—were also Coors Galores affiliates.
While final numbers have not been confirmed as to how much this year’s tournament raised, proceeds will be going back into the community.
“We’ve talked as a committee what we might want to do with it,” Vargo said of the money raised. “I don’t think we’re really ready to share anything quite yet, but definitely we’re looking at another project in the ballpark that’s going to benefit the community.”
Last year saw a huge combined donation of $125,000 to the Town of Kipling for the new pavilion at the Kipling ball diamonds. Kingston Midstream generously contributed $45,000 on top of the $80,000 raised by the Bobby Vargo Memorial.
