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The softball fields of Las Cruces were taken over this past weekend with the 40th Whole Enchilada Softball Tournament. Bert Frederick, state director of United States Specialty Sports Association, started the tournament back in 1985 with just 14 women’s softball teams to honor his friend, Jerry Gomez, who had passed away.
Forty years later he still runs the tournament, which drew 247 teams from across the country this year.
A few years into running the tournament, the Whole Enchilada Fiesta asked him to move the tournament to the first weekend in October to coincide with the fiesta.
“Now, we have outlasted the fiesta,” Frederick said.
With the growth of the tournament over the decades, Frederick now has a staff of more than 70 people who help him run this 72–hour, non-stop softball tournament. Some fly in from across the country.
He says this tournament wouldn’t be as successful as it is without the support and help from his staff, the City of Las Cruces, the Parks and Recreations Department, Visit Las Cruces and Elite Sports.
“This year we ended on time and there were no calls to 911 for injuries,” said Frederick jokingly on the success of this year’s tournament.
Frederick is proud to say that the Whole Enchilada Softball Tournament was the biggest tournament in the country for a while. It is currently the largest softball tournament on this side of the Mississippi River. He says there may be one or two back east that are about the same size.
This year’s champions in each class are as follows:
Men’s Class C – Big Dawg Custom Apparel/ GTP, from Windsor, CT
Women's Class C – Lady DC/ Batflip, from San Angelo, TX
Men’s Class D – Dirty Dozen, from Fredericksburg, TX
Women’s Class D – Legit Squad, from Las Cruces, NM
Men’s Class E – Texas Reckn, from Parrot Bay, TX
Women’s Class E – Full Throttle/ Pueblo Lock Doc, from Pueblo, CO
The fields are now quiet after the long weekend of non-stop play, but not for long. This year will be the first expansion of the tournament coming Oct. 24-26, with the Senior and Mixed Whole Enchilada Softball Tournament. Frederick says there are about 30 teams signed up so far and he is excited to see this new chapter of the event begin.
