Mesquite Senior Games preparing for exciting fall events

By Breven Honda

The summer break for the Mesquite Senior Games is coming to an end as a few events are right around the corner.

Beginning next month, the Mesquite Senior Games will have five events between now and the end of the year, kicking off with the yearly men’s softball event from Oct. 6 to 21 at Pioneer Park. This year’s event will be followed by the Huntsman World Senior Games, based on the different age brackets.

Mesquite Senior Games Interim President Sandy Tudor, who is also coordinating the softball tournament, said teams are coming in and are putting the finishing touches to their preparations as teams are submitting their names before the deadline. 

“These teams are used to coming here,” Tudor said on Aug. 23. “They come here, play and then they go to Huntsman. I think I’ve got like 20 teams right now and there’s probably another five or six that I’ve talked to that go, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ll get your registration in soon.’ So, I think we’ll be fine.”

There are multiple age brackets for this year’s softball. The first age bracket to open play is the 65-plus teams, which get under way on Oct. 6 and end the following day before the Huntsman World Senior Games on Oct. 9-13.

Also playing on Oct. 9-13 for the Huntsman World Senior games is the 60-plus age bracket as play is from Oct. 7-8. As a result, that means these players will not have much rest if they are playing every day for six straight days.

Also playing Oct. 7-8 are the 74-plus age group, who also won’t have a break with the World Senior Games taking place Oct. 9-13.

By having this event every year, the planning for this tournament is nothing new for Tudor and her event committee. Tudor said the experience has, feels like second nature to those who planned the event in the past.

“We’ve got the fields at Pioneer, which is probably all we’ll use,” she said. “I’ve got my umpires lined up. We’ve got the concessions ready to go. So, we’ve been doing this for so long. This one pretty much runs on its own.”

The following week, the 70-plus, 79-plus and 84-plus age groups get underway from Oct. 11-12. These three groups will have extra time to rest and recover ahead of the World Games, which kick off Oct. 16-20.

The two youngest groups, the 50-plus and 55-plus age brackets, begin play on Oct. 16-17 before the Huntsman World Senior Games on Oct. 18-21 for both age groups.

In each age division, gold, silver and bronze medals will be handed out as the deadline to submit a team is Oct. 1.

The men’s softball event is not the only event taking place in October. Two events from the spring slate of events are making their return before the end of the year.

On Oct. 23-24 the Mesquite Senior Games will have a bocce event and during the following three days, a pickleball tournament will commence. 

The bocce event, which is scheduled to take place at the Sun City Recreation Center, is open to anyone at or above the age of 50. The registration deadline is Oct. 16.

The pickleball tournament, which runs from Oct. 25-27, will have a men’s double event on the first day, mixed doubles on the second and women’s doubles on the final day with 8 a.m. starting times for each day.

As the pickleball event is slated for the Mesquite Recreation Center, brackets will be based on skill followed by age. Round robin play will ensue, and all players need to have an account on pickleballbrackets.com to participate.

Tudor said there are many players who requested to have a fall bocce event as the pickleball continues to make its return to the fall for another year.

“We’ve had pickleball the last three years,” she said. “I think that was one of the ones we have in the fall when we opened it up after COVID. And then we just we had so many people ask us in the spring to have bocce in the fall.

Having that jubilation from the players caught the eyes and ears of Tudor and her board members, prompting preparations to plan a second bocce and pickleball event this year. 

“We’re really excited and the bocce players, you know, there are a couple of bocce clubs here in town, one of them obviously up at Sun City because that’s where the courts are, so they’re really excited,” Tudor said. “And the signups for both (pickleball and bocce) have been really good.”

The Mesquite Senior Games will also hold a cornhole event on Nov. 18, which will be in conjunction with the Mesquite Recreation Department before the final event, the Bowling 9-Pin no-tap event on Dec. 9.