Busch Classic

Last year was about as atypical as it got for the Busch Softball Classic thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. There will be a more conventional feel to things when the three-day tournament kicks off July 2.

Last year was about as atypical as it got for the Busch Softball Classic.

Dugout limitations for players and coaches, separate entry and exit points for fans and social distancing orders for everyone all were in place – courtesy of the coronavirus pandemic – when the showcase’s 41st run took place last July.

There will be a more conventional feel to things when the three-day tournament kicks off July 2, and that’s music to the ears of event founder Clint Albright, considering the obstacles he and his organizers were presented with 12 months ago.

There were a number of state guidelines that were put in place by the Arkansas Department of Health last

year in order for sports to be played safely after covid-19 caused nationwide health concerns. Preparation for the tournament, which is sanctioned by United States Specialty Sports Association, is a chore in itself, with tasks like team registration and overall scheduling among the wealth of duties needed to be handled beforehand.

But when additional work has to be done because of a pandemic, it creates even more difficulties that may not have occurred otherwise.

“We didn’t get health department approval to even know we could have one last year until June,” Albright said. “We had roughly 30 days to kind of put it together. It still went off fine, but we’d rather have it when it was more normal when you don’t have to rush things and you don’t have to worry about keeping people safe as much.

“You always want to keep people safe, naturally, but that created a problem there. Of course, we’re an outdoor event, which helped with everything. Now, with things getting better, it gives us some relief to operate in a normal way.”

That normalcy, at least some semblance of it, will be on display at ballparks in North Little Rock, Jacksonville and Sherwood.

There are still tedious scheduling concerns that have to be taken care of, which is nothing out of the ordinary for a tournament of this caliber.

Albright said with 195 teams from all over the country entered, the tournament is basically at capacity. And that’s not including the many other teams that were on the waiting list to take part in the six-division tournament.

“We’ve had a big response from the USSSA conference this year,” he explained. “Right now, we’re standing at 10 men’s conference and six women’s conference teams. Those teams will play in the Men’s Major and the Women’s Major division. Then of course, we’ve got the Men’s C, D and E and the Women’s D/E, which are lower divisions.”

The Women’s D/E division, Albright noted, is now double elimination as opposed to single elimination, which adds several more games to an already stacked slate. That, in turn, also created potential issues with availability of the playing surfaces.

“At this point, it’s all about field space for us,” Albright said. “How much field space do we have to try to manage from Friday night at 6:30 p.m. to some reasonable hour that following Sunday afternoon. With six divisions, we put it to where the major divisions can finish earlier, and the lower divisions finish a little later because they tend to be driving and not flying.

“So it’s been like putting a jigsaw puzzle putting the brackets together.”

The tournament did receive a boost to combat that space issue when Burns Park in North Little Rock offered two additional baseball fields to be used. That gave Albright a total of 18 that will be utilized.

Those lingering problems are minuscule. Albright’s just happy the event is in a better situation than what it was last year.

“We’re all so excited to be back,” he said. “Things are so much better for everybody now. Of course, we all still have to take some precautions, but just to be in this position. … It’s just a great feeling.”

“We’re all so excited to be back,” he said. “Things are so much better for everybody now. Of course, we all still have to take some precautions, but just to be in this position. … It’s just a great feeling.”

Clint Albright, Busch Softball Classic founder