SCARBOROUGH, Maine — Mike O'Donnell is a father of two boys and a little league coach in Scarborough for ages 9-10.
"I coach them, and I thought it would be fun to line the field in the front yard," he said. "I thought it would be fun for them, and it kind of grew from there and got some energy."
Neighbors, his kids' friends, kids he coaches, and everyone else who drove past the house knew Mike had something big and exciting in the works, to the point that he thought about hosting a wiffle ball tournament.
"I had my assistant coaches involved to play with it, and it just grew from there, and it snowballed into a 16-team 12 and under tournament," O'Donnell said.
Seventy-five kids signed up within a matter of hours. He also took in some sponsors.
"It also snowballed into a benefit for Scarborough Little League, so I thought it would be great and at the end of the day I thought it would be fun," O'Donnell said with enthusiasm.
Fun for the kids, fun for O'Donnell who built it and planned it, and fun for Scarborough Little League because it'll hopefully get proceeds from any donations that he gathers.
O'Donnell and his family are all big Red Sox fans, so trying to have all the Fenway features in his "Mini Fenway" was one of the most exciting parts, he said.
"We've got Pesky's Pole in right field, which we made out of our mailbox. We've got the green monster and all the sponsorship banners that we put up. We've got the scoreboard that's not complete yet built into the monster. ... That'll have Boston vs. Scarborough come tomorrow. Not up yet is the Citgo sign in left center that will be up behind the monster come Saturday, and then we have the triangle in center field built into the wall and then we have Ted Williams red chair," the father said.
The tournament will happen this weekend starting ta 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, and Sunday, Aug. 6, in 4 Turnburry Circle in Scarborough.
During the tournament, O'Donnell plans to also sell burgers and hot dogs, have a corn hole tournament, and other fun activities where all the money gathered will go straight to benefit Scarborough Little League.
"Just to be able to do anything to give back to that system I think would be great, I think they are now one of the largest if not the largest little league in the state, so coming out of the pandemic, they've been able to really grow back and get a ton of involvement from the community kids, it's been great!" O'Donnell said.
Anyone is invited to swing by his house on 4 Turnberry Circle in Scarborough this weekend starting at 8:30 a.m.
People can also donate via Venmo to @LittleLeague04074 (Scarborough Little League) and make sure to put #wiffle in the donation name.
"I personally think that this is super cool. I've never ever seen a wiffle ball stadium before. This is just amazing. I love this. Just awesome! It's fun to have it here and be able to play. It's good that we can do this more than one year, and it's really cool. I think it's exciting that kids have the opportunity to play in wiffle ball," a bunch of kids said ahead of the tournament.