Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Softball tourney brings together alumni from valley schools

Denny Crine graduated from Basic High School in Henderson in 1992, but each October, he gathers graduates from schools across the valley for his annual Southern Nevada Alumni Softball Tournament.

The seventh edition of the tournament will be played Saturday at Big League Dreams Sports Park, 3151 E. Washington Ave., with as many as 25 teams expected to compete.

“I remember when I was in high school, I knew a lot of guys around town, so it’s a good excuse to see those guys again and hang out,” Crine said. “Some teams come to win it, and some are there because they haven’t seen each other in awhile and want to have a good time.”

While the field is made up of mostly men, women are welcome to play, too, Crine said. The team fee is $275, and the deadline to enter is Wednesday. For more information, click here.

“It’s a wide range of people, going from those who just graduated to guys in their 50s playing,” Crine said. “The hardest part is the initial contact of getting someone out there. Once we get that, they tend to return because I try to make it less of a softball tournament and more of a social event.”

Crine hosts a bar night the Friday before the tournament. This year’s get-together will be at the Hooters on Eastern Avenue and Horizon Ridge Parkway.

The event started with seven teams — three made up of Basic High alumni — but the tournament has grown every year.

Crine’s Basic Wolves won the inaugural tournament in 2010. Then the Bishop Gorman Gaels won four straight tournaments until the Chaparral Cowboys unseated them last year.

The winning team receives a prize package.

“The whole idea for it came from Hawaii,” Crine said. “They do something very similar there, and I heard about it from some guys in town that went to high school in Hawaii, so I stole it from them.”

Crine has played in the tournament every year but will sit out this one after tearing his biceps during a softball game in July.

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