The Rugby Chamber of Commerce and the Rugby Convention & Visitors’ Bureau hosted their annual softball tournament last weekend, Saturday, July 9 and Sunday, July 10.

A total of 13 teams participated this year, with each team having eight to ten members.

First place went to AGT out of Minot, winning with a final score of 24-7 against the Rockies from Rolette.

First place prize included a trophy and $400; second place was awarded a trophy and $300. There were also prizes for third and fourth place teams, $200 and $100, respectively.

“The reason the Rugby Chamber of Commerce does this is because people love softball tournaments,” Shelley Block, Executive Director of the Chamber, said. “It’s also great for our businesses because the teams stay in town at our hotels, go to our restaurantsit’s huge!”

Teams in the tournament came from cities such as Williston, Minot, Rolette, St. John, Dunseith and more. One umpire came all the way from Bottineau.

One of the players, Brian Johnson, out of Minot said that he thought the tournament was pretty good, overall.

“We like coming to this tournament just because you get to play so many gamesa five-game guarantee when most tournaments are only three is great,” Johnson said.

His team, Nola’s Lounge, has participated in Rugby’s tournament since the very first year. “As long as they keep having this tournament, we’ll keep going,” he said. “It’s always a good time. We get to see teams we normally don’t get to see, and it’s a lot of fun.”

Steve Nelson and Mark Hamilton also helped plan and run the tournament.

“We’re really going to start looking at having a girls tournament, too,” Block said.