On July 1st – 3rd, the Cal Ripken Baseball Tournament will be coming to Riverside to begin the journey to the Little League World Series. The tournament will host seven area 12 and under teams including Washington, Riverside, and Mt. Pleasant. There are also two teams consisting of multiple towns called Tri-County Southwest, which includes Kalona, Wellman, and Keota, and Tri-County Southeast, which includes Riverside, Ainsworth, Hills and Lone Tree. Since it’s the host town, Riverside has a second team in addition to the kids selected for the Tri-County Southeast team, giving more kids the chance to play in the tournament.

Organizer Todd Forbes said the tournament starts as pool play with each team playing two games. After that, it moves to a seeded single-elimination tournament. The winners will advance to the Midwest Regional Tournament in Missouri, and the winners of that advance to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.