Connect Sports, Chattanooga Sports, a division of Chattanooga Tourism Co., and Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors have teamed up with The Alliance Fastpitch to host the Third Annual Alliance Fastpitch Open Nationals, also known as AFON, in Chattanooga this week.
Tim Morgan with Chattanooga Sports said, “Our collaborative team approach convinced The Alliance Fastpitch that we have the venues, the resources and the local technical expertise to produce this new event.”
The Alliance Fastpitch Open Nationals will be hosted in Chattanooga for a minimum of five years, with this being year three, but all parties involved are in favor of a much longer relationship.
Over 175 teams from 35 states will descend upon the Scenic City for this five-day event. National Champions will be crowned in the 14U, 16U, and 18U age divisions, with championship games set for this coming Sunday. Multiple college programs will attend with the intent to recruit potential student athletes.
“Chattanooga has a long history of hosting fastpitch National Championships. Our Connect Sports staff, along with Chattanooga Sports Tourism staff, worked for a year to develop this concept with the Alliance Fastpitch leadership and bring it to life. Each year, this event has grown larger and we cannot wait to see what happens in the future.” said Connect Sports President Jeremy Higdon.
According to Chattanooga Sports, this nearly weeklong event is set to have an estimated economic impact of five million dollars.
Officials said, "A unique component of AFON is its incorporation of the Champion Cup. This year, all AFON teams, parents, families and residents will also have the chance to watch some of their favorite and well known professional athletes on the field, too. This Cup Series will bring in four professional fastpitch teams from the Association of Fastpitch Professionals league to play their end of the year series that runs concurrently with AFON. The Chattanooga Steam, Oklahoma City Spark, Florida Vibe and New York Rise will battle it out to win the Champion Cup.
The Professional games will be held at Warner Park in Jim Frost Stadium starting this Thursday, running through Saturday. Each day will have at least two professional games being played. Interested in attending? All games are open to the public. Daily Session tickets, which include access to all games that day, are available online. For more information and to claim your tickets, visit the Chattanooga Steam’s
website."
AFON will be held at Warner Park, The Summit of Softball, Camp Jordan, Poplar Springs Park, Jack Mattox Park and Boynton Recreation this Wednesday through Sunday. The public is encouraged to come watch these teams compete for the title of National Champions. To see more information about AFON, check out their website at https://allianceopennationals.com/.
"The goal for the Alliance Fastpitch Open Nationals is to exceed 300 attending teams in 2025 and add an additional 100 teams each year after. The partnership between The Alliance Fastpitch, Connect Sports, Chattanooga Sports and Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors continues to expand. Numerous additional Alliance events in Chattanooga are being discussed and considered," officials said.