As far as Ron Crouse is concerned, there can never be enough family reunions.

"We have family scattered all over, and it isn't that often that we get everyone together at one time," said the long-time Mandan resident, who is in his mid-50s. "If there's a chance for a reunion of some kind, we'll try to make it happen."

A Crouse family reunion will happen this weekend during the McQuade Softball Tournament in Bismarck and Mandan. Family members will gather to watch Team Crouse play in the Men's Rec 3 Division. The team is made up of Ron Crouse; his sons, Mike of Bismarck, and Jim of Brighton, Colo.; his son-in-law, Ed Dirck, a U.S.Army combat engineer who is stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; his brother, Tom Crouse of Mandan; his brother-in-law, Rick Tentis of Mandan; nephews, Ryan and Jay Crouse of Mandan, Leonard Crouse of Fargo, Casey Crouse of Bismarck, and Steve and Danny Tentis of Mandan; Rick Tentis' son-in-law, Robbie Baker of Mandan, and the family patriarch, 79-year-old Leonard Crouse of Mandan. Ryan and Jay Crouse are Tom's sons.

Ron Crouse said thoughts of entering a family team in the McQuade tournament first surfaced during a holiday get-together last winter.

"I don't know how the subject came up, but the cousins talked about it one day," he said. "There have been lots of family teams in the McQuade, and they talked about how much fun it would be to do that. It just took off from there. We knew it would be easy to find enough guys for a team."

It will be the first McQuade tournament for most of the team members.

"I played softball for a lot of years, but I never played in a McQuade before," said Ron Crouse, who managed his wife Lynn's team in four previous McQuades. "I'd say five of the guys played in about 20 between them. Otherwise, it'll be a whole new experience for most of us. It should be a lot of fun. Win or lose, it'll be a great weekend."

The oldest team member, Leonard Crouse, will serve as the team's third-base coach this weekend, but Ron Crouse said he might try to get his father to make an appearance at the plate. Leonard Crouse played fastpitch and slowpitch softball in Jamestown and Mandan for more than 30 years before bowing out at age 50.

"Dad was quite the player in his day," Ron Crouse said. "He was strong. He had great big forearms, and he could launch a softball a long, long way. It's been awhile since he last played in a game, but maybe we can talk him into pinch hitting once … maybe twice."

Ron Crouse said Team Crouse isn't stacked with regular softball players, but several team members made their mark on the baseball diamond. They include his sons Mike and Jim, who excelled in Legion ball at Mandan. Mike is perhaps the best athlete of the bunch. He was the starting center on the University of North Dakota's national championship football team in 2001.

"All of us have some kind of baseball or softball background, but some of us haven't swung a bat in a long time," Ron Crouse said. "I guess that part of it really doesn't matter. We're doing this for the fun of it, that's all."

Ron Crouse said the reunion will be a bittersweet one. His mother, Hazel, passed away on June 2.

"Mom was really looking forward to this. She always loved having the family together," he said. "It'll be tough not to see her there. But it'll be great having my dad there. He's excited."

Team Crouse will play its first game tonight at 7:10 p.m., at Cottonwood.

n NOTE: This year's McQuade Softball Tournament, which begins today and runs through Sunday, will host a record 433 teams. That's nine more than last year's record turnout.