Ben White of Ben's Floor Covering is safe at home. Siri photo.

SPARKS, NV - Softball West Magazine hosted its twenty first annual Softball West Challenge on June 19-20 at Don Mello Complex. Twenty-three teams played in three divisions: men´s E, men´s D and coed.

In the men’s E division, Cue-N-Cushion (Reno, NV) lost their first game to Yard Dawgz (River Bank, CA), pushing them into the loser’s bracket. Richard’s Painting went undefeated, winning three games before facing Cue-N-Cushion. The match stayed tight in the championship game, with Richard’s Painting holding the lead until the seventh inning. In the top of the 7th, Cue-N-Cushion scored five runs, taking the lead. Richard’s Painting couldn’t hold on, and scored only one run in their last at-bat of the game. With Cue-N-Cushion winning 14-13, the players prepared to play the if game. Richard’s Painting took an early lead, scoring six runs in the first two innings. Cue-N-Cushion scored a solo run in the third, but Richard’s turned on the heat, both offensively and defensively, scoring another eight runs and winning the game 14-2. The entire team shared the MVP honors.

The men’s D bracket also went to the if game, with fellow host-city neighbors, CDM in the winner’s bracket and BFC in the loser’s bracket. In the first game, BFC took an early lead, scoring six runs in the second inning and giving up their first run in the third. They scored once again, then found themselves facing a revitalized opponent, when CDM scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth. BFC held their one run advantage through the seventh, winning the game 7-6. In the double dip game, BFC took an early lead, scoring eight runs in the first inning. CDM couldn’t catch up, and BFC won the match and the tournament with a 9-4 victory. Ben White earned the MVP award.

In the round robin coed division, past tournament champions, Mastertech Auto (Sparks, NV) showed promise by winning their first three games, out scoring their opponents 55-19. Who would have guessed that the team that went 3-0 early in the tournament would collapse in the first round of the single elimination playoff bracket and the team that went 0-3 would take home the title. The Sharks (Sparks, NV) defeated Mastertech Auto 15-11, then defeated the Cows (Fairfield, CA) 26-13 and earned the crown for the weekend. N-Fuego (Sparks, NV) finished third. MVP went to Josh Franklin.