A 48-hour softball dynasty

One of the great traditions of the annual Festival Days Celebration is the 48-Hour Softball Tournament. And for those of you who may not be familiar with it, when it says 48 hours it's no joke - games go day and night, without stopping, making it one of the most unique softball tournaments around.

Starting Friday night at 6 p.m., 19 teams took part in the slow-pitch competition and battled it out at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field. When it was all said and done, and after taking part in a total of eight games, the team sponsored by Beaver Creek Sprinklers were crowned champions Sunday afternoon.

Beaver Creek Spinklers won the championship by knocking off Frank's Team, a team from Great Falls in the final game by the score of 20-8. The title was also the team's third consecutive, which puts it in rare air when it comes to the 48-hour tournament as only two other teams in the 24-year history of the tournament have been able to pull off that same feat.

A big reason why Beaver Creek Sprinklers was able to complete the 3-peat is that they have kept their team together for three years. The team is filled with former Havre High and Havre North Star greats, including Ricky Brown, a standout football and basketball player for the Blue Ponies, who hit a grand slam home run in the championship game to end the game thanks to a mercy rule.

The team is made up of 13 individuals and features six women in addition to seven men. The men on the team include Shawn Kelley, Bill Evans, Brown, Justin Jensen, Dusty Heath, Brett Patrick and A.J. Keller.

The women on the team include former Havre High and Montana State University-Northern volleyball standout Holley Cartwright, as well as Michelle Oliver, Carly Evans, who starred for the Havre High softball team, Lori Keller, Chelsea Nottingham and Erika Briese.

Beaver Creek Sprinklers has not just won three straight tournaments, they have dominated them. In 2013 and 2014, the team went undefeated en route to the championship. And this year, the team lost just one game, to Frank's Team in round robin play, before getting revenge in the championship game.

The 48-Hour Softball Tournament has long been a great part of the Festival Days celebration - so anytime a team has a chance to set a tournament record, it's notable. And next year, if Beaver Creek Sprinklers stays together and enters again, it will have a chance to do just that, which make the 25th playing of it, even more interesting.