Jamestown teams head to Bismarck for massive charity softball tournament

Several Jamestown teams traveled to Bismarck for the Sam McQuade Sr. Budweiser Charity Softball Tournament, a three-day slowpitch event that organizers describe as the country’s largest non-profit, single-weekend tournament. The 51st annual tournament ran June 26-28 at the Clem Kelley Athletic Complex, putting Stutsman County players into one of the biggest amateur softball gatherings in the Upper Midwest.

For Jamestown, the trip was more than a bracket assignment. It meant hotel rooms, meals, gear hauls and a full weekend shaped around competition, with local players carrying the name of their town into a field of more than 360 teams. The tournament stretched across 14 men’s and women’s divisions, giving rec teams, age-group squads and higher-level lineups a place in the same event.

The scale of the tournament showed why it keeps drawing teams from across North Dakota and beyond. Official materials described players, families and fans coming in from the United States and Canada, and the bracket structure included women’s rec divisions along with men’s rec and age-group divisions for 35+, 50+ and 60+. That kind of lineup turns a softball weekend into a regional meeting point, with Jamestown teams part of a crowd that mixes recreation, competition and family travel.

In the Bismarck-Mandan area, the tournament also carried a public safety message. Local efforts tied to the weekend promoted discounted Lyft rides because of alcohol-related driving concerns, a reminder that a major sports event can spill well beyond the ballpark and into traffic, transportation and late-night safety planning.

For Jamestown, the value of the trip ran in both directions. The teams got a chance to measure themselves against a massive field, and Stutsman County kept a visible presence in a tournament that depends on steady adult participation to stay strong. A weekend like this points to something bigger than one roster or one result: it reflects whether local softball culture still has enough players, coaches and supporters to send teams away and bring them back with stories that keep the season moving at home.