The Washington State All-Star Little League tournament for boys ages 9 and 10 is under way in Oak Harbor.

The event brings 10 teams to town with 120 boys, their parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents and great-grand parents to have fun and decide who has the best team.

Teams come from Mill Creek, Gig Harbor, Chehalis, Richland, Des Moines, Queen Anne (Seattle), East Lake, Auburn, South Whidbey and Vancouver. It’s a huge event for the players who have played hard in their local leagues, been picked as all-stars, and then competed in district tournaments to win a berth in the state finals.

The opening ceremonies were held Saturday at City Beach Little League fields. Robert Young represented North Whidbey Little League, while Mayor Patty Cohen welcomed all the teams and their families to Oak Harbor. An invocation was given by David Lura of the Oak Harbor Methodist Church who doubles as a Little League coach.

Volunteers are everywhere, including coaches, umpires, grounds-keepers, score-keepers, announcers and everyone else who works to put on the complex tournament. “I like doing this. I played a lot of baseball when I was young, and this is payback,” said Jack Schultz, an umpire.

Dan Mathern’s all-volunteer grounds crew descends on each field after a game and carefully rake, water and re-line the fields so the next teams will have a beautifully prepared diamond.

Families are everywhere during and between games, many with a long history of baseball. Tom and Marge Thornton from Langley sat in the shade of an umbrella watching the South Whidbey team. Marge said her grandson, Tom Fallon, one of South Whidbey’s coaches, must have been born with a baseball in one hand and a bat in the other. He passed on his love of the game to her grandson, T.J. Fallon, who plays on the South Whidbey team.