A love of the game and a desire to honor the memory of an Ashtabula woman was the motivation for 24 bocce teams that descended on the Sons of Italy early Saturday morning. The Columbus Avenue area was busy  as the Izzi Bocce Tournament got underway at 9 a.m. at the Sons of Italy and fall softball was playing next door at Massucci Field.

"My mom [LuAnn Izzi] had passed away five years ago. She used to love watching us play the game so we decided why not have a tournament?" said Alex Izzi, who organized the event with Sarah Izzi. Twenty-four teams accepted the invitation to attend the event from Cleveland, Youngstown and a large amount of players from Ashtabula, Alex Izzi said.