Inaugural MSUB Desert Stinger an Overwhelming Success

BILLINGS, Mont. – Perfect weather, top of the line facilities and tremendous softball action, led to the overwhelming success of the inaugural Montana State University Billings Desert Stinger Tournament held at Majestic Park in Las Vegas, NV, last weekend. In all, 16 NCAA Division-II softball teams turned out from 11 states, five conferences and three regions, to take part in the three day event.

After the last run was scored and the final out made, Grand Canyon University was declared the first-ever champions of the MSUB Desert Stinger Tournament. Although three teams went undefeated, Grand Canyon University, Augustana College (South Dakota) and Saint Mary’s University (Texas), the Lopes were declared the victors due to having three run-rule games resulting in three shutouts under tournament rules. With run differential being used a tiebreaker; Grand Canyon had allowed just two runs under the format.

The event began on Friday, Feb. 12, with four games beginning at noon and ran into the evening hours after the lights came on. Four fields were used for the competition while two other fields in the 12 field complex were used for warm-up areas for the teams waiting to play. Each team was guaranteed five games from Friday through Sunday, each of the 16 teams earning at least one victory.

Months of preparation and work went into the logistics and scheduling to make the tournament so successful. MSUB assistant softball coach, Lisa Allen, and tournament director, Steve Johnson, had tirelessly worked on the event for the past eight months, committing teams to play, laying out the schedule so that every team was assured not to play a team from their own conference, as well as other essential details that go into planning such an elaborate event.

Other people behind the scenes also helped to make the tournament a success. In the city of Las Vegas, Clark County Commissioner, District C, Larry Brown, helped organize getting the venue and working through the technical issues. The City of Las Vegas Parks and Recreation were on top of every need if any issue was raised.

Multiple people from MSUB were there to help set up and take down the equipment every day as well as maintaining the fields and park area. Sports Information Directors from Saint Edward’s, Dixie State and Augustana joined the MSUB staff and volunteers to make sure every game had stats and official scoring.

Jim Adrian, Great Northwest Athletic Conference Umpire in Chief, scheduled all of the umpires for the event and made sure a proper rotation was set so that no field saw the same umpires every game. The umpires themselves provided fair play throughout the tournament and made sure the integrity of the game was kept.

Without the large number of volunteers and staff that helped throughout the process, the 2010 Desert Stinger would not have been possible. All of the coaches and teams provided exciting games and gave the large number of fans in attendance throughout the week something to talk about. The success of this year’s tournament is sure to leave a lasting impression and gives Montana State-Billings something to build on for years to come.