Teams gear up for Annual Ringneck Softball Tournament

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The 47th annual Ringneck Invitational International tournament is back in Sioux Falls this weekend bringing more players than the year before.

134 teams from eight states will play in Sioux Falls this weekend for the Ringneck Tourney. The event has been around 47 years, bringing friends together each season.

“The Canadian team, Smitty’s Terminators, hasn’t been here for a few years, and one of their coaches called me this year and said, ‘I want to bring our club back because I played in this’,” VP & Ringneck Tournament Director Rick Graff said.

With an influx of people coming into to town, preparation is key and for the tournament board members, prep lasts all year long.

“Our committee meets once a month, all year long, and we start taking registrations for this tournament in October. After this, as soon as this is over, we’ll start getting things ready for next year’s tournament as far as registration and stuff online,” the Ringneck tournament director said.

The tournament forces players to put their skills to the test, to possibly even get recruited.

“For this area, this is probably one of the highest quality ball players that you’re going to see. And we do have college coaches that come in and give it a clinic Friday morning, and then some of those college coaches stay around and watch,” Graff said.

Graff says the tourney will feature three days of high quality, entertaining softball for anyone interested in sports.

“People that play baseball have all said to me that, it is a much quicker game. I’m not saying it’s a better game, but it is a much quicker game. And we play a 70-minute time limit. We’re going to whip through games and we have games scheduled every hour and a half. Come on out and enjoy a few ball games,” Graff said.

The tournament begins with pool play Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. Then bracket play is set to begin Sunday with the championships being held at 6:30.

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