Tournament to Test Students’ Math Skills

At least five Valley schools will participate in an educational tournament that tests students’ mathematical skills while playing a baseball-style board game.

They will be among 45 Los Angeles Unified District schools competing April 29 in the Baseball TIVY Qualifying Tournament. The top 80 students who advance from the first round will compete for $2,000 in cash prizes at the championship in May at the Dodger Stadium clubhouse.

The three-game tournament challenges students’ quick thinking and logical computing. Participants try to outwit their opponent during a board game designed like a baseball field. Under time constraints, students use mathematical skills to score the game and check their opponent’s tallies. The student with the most points when time expires advances to the next round.

The tournament is open to students in fourth through eighth grades. Students from Noble Avenue, Woodlake Avenue, Sharp Avenue and Carpenter Avenue elementary schools and Noble Middle School have signed up.

Schools have until the end of the week to register, said Greg Miyata, a school district spokesman.

The tournament winner will receive a trophy during the pregame ceremony of the Los Angeles Dodgers-St. Louis Cardinals game June 16 at Dodger Stadium.