After having to cancel last year’s tournament, players, umpires, and fans from all over the country traveled to Bismarck and Mandan for the 46th Annual Sam McQuade Charity Softball Tournament The atmosphere at the tournament was that of excitement and anticipation not only of playing softball, but also renewing friendships! The tournament is in the books, and we are hoping once again to have raised more money to distribute to local charities than we have ever raised before! The McQuade Board of Directors would like to thank once again everyone for their support! It was a great weekend, and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. The crowd for Friday night events was one of the biggest we’ve seen in recent years.

The USA Patriot Amputee Softball Team played an exhibition game on Thursday night at Dakota Community Bank and Trust Field. The event was a success and we capped off the evening with the USA Patriots taking on a McQuade All-Star team in an exhibition game. Overall, Thursday events were a huge success, and everyone enjoyed the evening.

We kicked off the tournament in fine fashion with our annual Military/First Responder Appreciation game on Friday night. The Military/First Responder appreciation game is held to say “Thanks” to all military personnel and first responders for all the sacrifices they have made to defend our Country and our freedom and for the services they provide! We were fortunate to have the USA Patriots Softball Team back playing in the tournament and they kicked off the tournament by playing their first tournament game. Unfortunately, the Patriots lost a nail biter 12-11. The Military Appreciation Game Friday night featured a team of North Dakota Military personnel active and retired and they took on local first responders from the Bismarck Police Fire Departments, Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department, Mandan Police and Fire Departments and the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. It was a great game and the North Dakota military and First Responder teams were all great ambassadors and did a great job.

The USA Patriots were unable to defend their 2019 McQuade Championship as they moved up to the Rec 3 division. The Patriots continue to be impressed by followers of the McQuade Tournament and they want to come back to the McQuade next year and we are working on a way to do just that.

The McQuade Tournament held its fifth annual cancer awareness appreciation day which was capped off with the Connie Wolf Cancer Awareness Appreciation game on Saturday night. There was a great crowd in attendance at the game with a lot of fans dressed in royal blue and pink. Two teams made up of Bismarck/Mandan celebrities and McQuade sponsors squared off for a very entertaining game. We received many compliments for putting on our cancer awareness appreciation game and it will be back again next year.

Everywhere we look, it seems we all know someone whose lives have been affected by cancer in some way or another. So, we continue to think that it is a good idea to honor those who are suffering from cancer, have beat cancer, or have lost their battle to cancer so that is why we incorporated this great day into our tournament. On Friday and Saturday night we held a cancer awareness ball toss to raise money for cancer patients. Volunteers worked the crowd selling baseballs for $5.00 each and prior to the final game of the Friday night game, everyone tossed their ball towards a target in the center of the infield. The person who got their ball the closest to the center of the target won $1,000.00 on Friday night and the winner Saturday night won $500. The winner Saturday night was our very own RC Courtright, Director of Operations for USA Softball ND. True to RC’s character, her donated his entire winnings back to the tournament to be given to cancer patients! Thank you so much RC!!! Between Friday and Saturday nights cancer ball toss, the tournament raised $4,000.00. The money raised through our cancer awareness fundraising activities will go directly to cancer patients in the form of gift cards to help them with gas, food, and lodging expenses.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the cancer awareness days activities! Your generosity does make a big difference in people’s lives! MANY thanks to all of our great volunteers for doing such a great job selling the balls for the ball toss!

All of the umpires also rallied to support our cancer awareness appreciation day by wearing royal blue and pinks and hats all day Saturday. Many thanks go out to the many generous sponsors who helped to purchase the shirts and hats for the umpires. The umpires looked great, and they were very proud to support the cancer awareness appreciation day! The shirts and hats were so popular that players and fans were asking umpires for their shirts and hats throughout the day!

Another big highlight of the McQuade Tournament was our annual exhibition game of Special Olympic athletes. The Special Olympic athletes from Bismarck and Mandan put on quite a show for the large crowd of fans that gathered to watch them play on Sunday. Watching them play puts a lot of things into perspective, especially when you see just how much fun they have, the excitement they show, and the enthusiasm of cheering for each other and not caring who wins. The Special Olympic athletes were decked out in fancy softball jerseys that were donated by Mike Loerch from Anarchy Bats and OA Apparel. A big thank you goes out to Anarchy Bats and OA Apparel for their generosity! It is so fun to see how proud the athletes are of the jerseys they were wearing!

Speaking of Anarchy Bats, Anarchy and Smash It Sports teamed up to produce four special edition McQuade Tournament bats. A limited edition of only 300 bats were produced. McQuade Softball has developed a great working relationship with Anarchy and Smash It Sports to raise much needed money for McQuade Charities. Anarchy and Smash It Sports produced a Michelob Ultra, a Bud Light Lime, a Naturdays, and a Busch Light camo bat to help raise money for McQuade Charities. In total, $25,000 will be donated back to the McQuade Tournament by Anarchy and Smash It Spots. Need I say more in how grateful we are to them for their support of our tournament and our charities!! I would also like to thank all of the volunteers and volunteer groups that help make this tournament so successful! Without their help, we could not run a tournament of this magnitude.

Another group I need to thank are all of the umpires who worked the McQuade tournament. I had 108 umpires this year. Whether it is a local umpire from Bismarck or Mandan, or umpires from somewhere in ND, or umpires who travel from out of state to the tournament paying their own way to get here, every umpire makes many sacrifices to help make our tournament successful. This year we had umpires from 13 different states. In addition, umpires every umpire who worked the tournament donated back game fees to the tournament and many of our local umpires donate many of or all of their games that will be used to help support the many charities that benefit from the tournament. I received many compliments on the quality of umpiring at every level. Over $7,000 in umpire fees were donated back to the tournament by umpires! That is impressive!! All the umpires should be proud of their efforts. Thanks again to all of the umpires for their dedication and commitment to the McQuade Tournament. We couldn’t do it without you!!! I’d like to also thank all the teams, fans, and volunteers for the important roles they play in the success of our tournament. Without the combined efforts of umpires, teams, fans, and volunteers, we could not hold an event of this magnitude!! Thank You!!

I would like to thank my fellow board members, Jack and Cheryl Jones, Eldie Ulmer, Mike Offerdahl, Brooke Larson, and Norlyn Schmidt for their dedication, time, and huge commitment to this great event! The McQuade Board would also like to thank USA Softball of ND Commissioner Dick Gulmon for his presence at the tournament. Dick is a great ambassador for softball and the tournament gives him an opportunity to visit with many players, fans, and umpires throughout the course of the weekend. Other guests in attendance were Steve Riswold, Region 8 UIC and Dave Epperson, Topeka, KS, a retired regional UIC.

The culmination of the tournament comes when we hold an evening of celebration for all the charities that receive funds from the tournament. It is heartwarming to hear the many stories on how vital the funds they receive are to the many services they provide. So, plans are already underway for the 47th Annual McQuade Charity Softball Tournament. We know we will see all of you again next year and even some new teams and umpires. We are always looking for ways to raise money for the McQuade charities, so if you have any ideas, please let me know. Shoot me a text at 701-400-2100. See you next year!!