top of page

PLAYBALL​

​​​​SIGN UP NOW!​

​What is a Superdraft?
 

The Stark County Super Draft was put together in 2011 by the Founder, Jack Gardner. When Jack was in Florida playing softball he entered a draft style softball tournament and thought it was such a fun time and knew he never played in anything like that in Ohio before and he thought it would be not only a great fund raising event but it would be a wonderful way to grow the sport in the area that we all love. How it works is you enter as an individual, opposed to entering as part of a team. They are open to both men and women as well as players of all talent levels. All entries are placed in a pool and a draft is held with predetermined captains taking turns selecting their teams much like the NFL draft. By doing this, it breaks people out of their tiny softball community shell and gives everyone a chance to play on the same field with other players of all skill levels and meet a whole new group of people with the same interest as yourself.  In the few years I've been involved,  I've seen several new tournament teams develop and countless "unknown" players discovered. And all this came from the love of the game of softball and a rewarding format to enjoy that love with friends new and old. I hope to see all my friends - and the ones I have yet to meet come out this year. 

 

                                 Kaiden Kares Vice President Mike Horton

 

 

​What happens at this event?
 

The day starts out around 5am with the volunteers arriving. Tables are set up, banners are hung, volunteers are trained on their job duties for the day. The player check in starts at 7am all players must sign in and get a wrist band to play ball.

 

At 8am, we have families share their stories along with the presentation of the Nate Milleman Stark County Man of the Year award. At 9am, games are scheduled to start. Between 4 and 5:30 pm there is a dinner break. Games will resume at 6pm.

 

Throughout the day, there will be a DJ playing music, and a photographer taking photos. There will be over $3,000.00 dollars in prizes given away throughout the day as well.

 

The event closes after the championship game. Volunteers will then get the park back to its normal self, pack and load up all materials. So as you can see this is a big and busy event. If you would like to help out in any way, even if its only for an hour, please click here to let us know! Hope to see you there!

21105511_1609980362387238_69081236869651
Christimas Family 2018- TBA
2014 Mens Home Run
Derby Winner

Brad Reusch

2014 Womens Home Run
Derby Winner

Megan McQuain

The SuperDraft is more than just a game...

how it started
14114941_10157324686830103_1099848537468

The Superdraft started in 2011, basically as a tournament to get area players, play the game again. I started it with only one sponsor - Nate Milleman, owner of Nathans Patio in Canton, Ohio. The first one only had 89 players made up of mostly local Stark County players. We raised a little over $1000 to be donated to Make-a-Wish foundation. In 2012, I once again ran the tourney by myself gaining a few additional sponsors and signing up 156 players. We raised almost $4000 for the Canton Challengers baseball team.

 

2013 was a year of transformation. The tournament grew to the point that I assigned a board of directors and gained 12 sponsors and 169 players. We raised $9000 to be donated to Mended Little Hearts of Northeast Ohio. This was the 1st year the tourney was extra special to me. My son Kaiden was born with a heart defect named Tetralogy of Fallot, it opened my eyes that I could do more for these kids and their families. Me and my wife along with a few others have made it a goal since that day to make this the biggest and best event around.

 

In 2014, we exceeded our goal and raised over $16,000 and had over 200 players signup to play. Players from all over Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York come to the event. We have received numerous compliments for doing this. But the reward is seeing the kids and the families we help.

 

In 2014, we started a separate process of this fundraiser. We take a local family Christmas shopping. Our mission is to provide a great event for all participants, with the reward being, seeing these kids smile. I can't say everyones name that has helped with this event but my wife Christine Gardner has been awesome, my vice president, Mike Horton, has put this as his main goal to grow the event, board members Joe Moore, Lenny Vance and Jared Poling have put a lot of effort into growing the event as well.

 

I have had cash offers to move this event to another city but one of my main goals was to keep this event in Stark County where I grew up playing the game. Kaiden will take this event over some day and I want it to stay in our roots. I have high hopes for the future of this tournament, it is a fun tournament, competition is great, we get players from rec level to B level conference players. We have had professional softball players enter the event. We want to spread awareness for children with congenital heart disease.

 

Every year the winning team is invited back and they get to wear the Kaidens Army gear and they get to go on the list of Kaidens Army Alumni. which will be posted at the Stark County Softbal Hall of Fame when I get my induction.

                                                                                     

                                                                 Founder and President,

                                                                 Jack Gardner

2015 HIGHLIGHTS

2014 HIGHLIGHTS

Swing batter, batter

Swing batter, batter

The Hollywood Knuckler

The Hollywood Knuckler

Smiling Swish

Smiling Swish

Tons of raffles and gifts to win!

Tons of raffles and gifts to win!

Opening Ceremony

Opening Ceremony

Fun filled day!

Fun filled day!

Past Photos
Anchor 1
Live Draft Night! August 21st, 2019

Nathans Patio & Grill in Canton, Ohio

 

At 6:30 pm the auction player list is revealed. This means we take the 20 best players in the tourney and put them on a auction board for the managers to bid on. We go through the auction player bidding 1st. Then the actual player draft starts directly after. The 4th round of the draft every team must draft a women. There are 2 wild rounds as well where each captain drafts for another captain. We take a 10 minute break after round 6 of the draft. During the draft we will have bat raffles, 50/50 and some other raffles. We also give out prizes based on the amount of people that show up. Everyone is invited to this. It is a very good time to spend with some of the areas best softball supporters. This is a very fun event that is basically the kickoff of the actual SuperDraft tourney. Captains choose their colors for their jerseys. Some awesome prizes are given away so please come out and support Nathans Patio and the best sponsor in Stark County softball...Nate Milleman.

$300 Sponsor

Name on Banners, Website & Tournament shirts


$500 Sponsor

Name on Banners, Website, Tournament shirts & a Direct Link to your website

 

$1000 Sponsor

Name on Banners, Website, Direct Link to your website & Name on FRONT of Tournament shirts

 

$1500 Sponsor

Name on Banners, Website, Direct Link to your website, Name on FRONT of Tournament shirts & mention in Homepage video!

 

SPONSOR THIS EVENT
bottom of page