The second annual Ryan “Pie” Truesdell memorial sports weekend was held Saturday and Sunday in Albert Lea and the event has become a community event.

“That’s what we wanted it to do,” said Pie’s father, Scott Truesdell.

The softball tournament attracted 19 teams and many others came out just to watch the tournament while there was also a fishing tournament over the weekend.

The tournament is the last of the year for many of the players and it’s an opportunity for his former team, the Aragon Pirates, to get together.

Much of the team lives all over the state, but the weekend allowed them a chance to reunite and catch up.

“It’s great getting together with the guys again because a lot of our team we don’t see a lot of each other all year round,” said Chad Sorenson, who played with Pie for a number of years.

It was Sorenson’s idea to start the tournament shortly after he heard Pie had passed away. In the past two years the tournament has continued to attract a lot of teams from around the area and people who knew Pie come out to honor him.

Last year Sorenson’s team won the tournament and he said the team feels like they represent him.

Sorenson’s brother, Brock, was Pie’s best friend. The two were became friends at an early age and spent a lot of time together, for Chad, Pie became like another little brother.

Pie and Brock played softball together on a couple of different teams during summers, playing around four nights a week.

“I think it’s cool to see people that don’t always play softball together, like all my friends are out here that don’t play ball,” Brock said.

A lot of the teams that participated in the tournament aren’t the type of teams that play all year round, instead many were friends of Pie’s who decided to get a team together just for Pie.

“It’s a good way for them to honor their friend,” Chad said.

Pie’s stepfather Jay Underwood put together a team just for the tournament. He hadn’t played softball for a long time.

“We got our old team together from 20 years ago,” he said.

Underwood’s entire team wore No. 9, Pie’s old uniform number to honor him.

Pie’s father, Scott, would like to see the tournament to go on for a long time.

“I joke with Chad and Lonnie (Sorenson) all the time, some day when I die this thing is going to become even more huge,” Scott said.