Almost 200 people attended the event that benefited the William "Babe" Conroy Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The scholarship is awarded to a Senior Shenandoah Valley Baseball Player who has played all 4 years and will be continuing their education in college or technical school.
Conroy was the head Baseball Coach at Shenandoah Valley for 16 years and passed away in 2015.
For this year's challenge, 13 participants, from Shenandoah and around Schuylkill County, competed to earn the right to be the one with the "Best Bundukies". Each contestant created 3 dozen of their best bundukies, which are a Lithuanian recipe for pork meatballs and are very popular in the coal region.
10 judges taste tested each of the submissions. The judges participating this year were: Dan Salvadore, Mark Kowalonek, Ed Lizewski, Dave "Lucky" Lukashunas, Helen Mikita, Catherine Toborowski, Stanley Pietkiewicz, and Ray Stasulli.
Last year's champion, Janet Antz, returned this year and brought her recipe that she says she has been using for almost 30 years and learned from her mom.
Sam Matta, a friend of Babe Conroy, emceed the event and also introduced Dave 'Whitey' Williams to those attending.
Williams, a former high school football coach for Shenandoah Valley, was a good friend of Babe Conroy and helped donate a signed football by Kansas City Chief Patrick Mahomes as a prize for the event.
After the judges test all the bundukies, Babe Conroy's son, Brian Conroy, thanked those who came and announced the winners.
Coming in 3rd place for the event was Jay O'Boyle, last year's winner Janet Antz came in second place, and first place went to Mark Mikita.
"I've been eating bundukies all my life and I just took the recipe that I already had, made some adjustments to the taste, and used fresh ingredients" said Mikita after his win.
