Pahrump Valley Adult Softball Co-Ed league hosts All-Nighter tournament

There were plenty of laughs, birria tacos and good-for occurring injuries during the Pahrump Valley Adult Softball Co-Ed All-Nighter American Fast Pitch Charity tournament last Saturday.

Hosted by tournament director Diane Russell at Petrack Park, the event was far from her first rodeo, as Russell has been the director of the event for nearly a decade.

“We run our league because we’re a small league under the AFA slow pitch out of Vegas,” Russell said. “In deciding the charity, we choose different ones every year and usually it goes to a nonprofit, or a specific person that is in need of help because they can’t work for medical reasons.”

Last year, some of the proceeds were donated to the new Pahrump Valley Youth Recreational League, another non-profit organization in town that supports underfunded children’s equipment and seasonal needs.

“This year it will be dispersed between a couple of folks that need it,” Russell said. “The guy that runs it just lost his wife and she was very big into helping the youth here, so we’re going to give a portion of it to them. Everyone truly loved Charlie Seastrunk, anyone that needed help, that was her. And I have another player that can’t play anymore due to breast cancer that we will be helping out.”

Arriving a half hour prior to the event, the array of campers and families enjoying the park nostalgically brought me back to the good old days of Little League baseball events as a kid.

Starting at 8 p.m. sharp, 11 teams in gathered to compete in a double-elimination style tournament. Each participating team was guaranteed to play at least five games, with three round-robin games that started around 2 a.m.

Holding down the fort while laughing like best friends, volunteers Samantha Eaton, Sheree Stringer and Russell carefully accounted for all teams’ insurance forms and payments to make sure things ran smoothly.

“The first- and second-place teams get a trophy for the tournament,” Russell said. “I will be down there all night long because we’re supposed to start with 11 teams, so we’ll go at least ‘til eight or 10 a.m.”

Six teams from Pahrump cleverly represented themselves as “Ump Yours,” “Big Ol’ Hitties,” “Drunk N Disorderly,” “Bunt Cakes,” “Beans ’n’ Krackers,” and the “Misfits.”

There were five teams that represented the Las Vegas Valley, including Suicide Squad, Nitemare, Fireballs, Vengeance and Fat Head Todd.

Shared between the two softball fields at Petrack Park, teams battled it out well into the late morning in 30-minute time limited games.

The spectators and I were in awe as local park legend “Rodeo Mo” nearly repeated how he earned his nickname in the first place by smacking a ball into the McCullouch Rodeo Arena an area code away in softball measurements.

Local favorite El Jefe’s Birria food truck was there serving up delicious fresh quesabirria, mulitas and al pastor all night long to hungry fans and players looking to fuel up in between games.

After nearly 13 and a half hours, there were only two teams remaining standing at 9:30 a.m. Las Vegas’s Suicide Squad put up quite the fight but ultimately fell to Beans ’n’ Krackers in a one-run contest, 8-7.

“I was really pleased with the tournament this year. Jimmy Martinez and his crew are very good to us. They keep the parks beautiful, and anything I need, they always get back to me and always make it happen,” Russell said. “There was good food. People made friends, and we raised money to help a couple of people out that are kind of in need at this moment.”

Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@pvtimes.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X.