Saturday night marked a historic night for Major League Baseball. Bryce Harper made his major league debut at the incredible age of 19. Touted as one of the top baseball prospects since his early teens, Harper went 1-3 with a sacrifice fly in the National’s 4-3 loss to the Dodgers. What you may not know is that Bryce Harper spent his younger years playing in USSSA tournaments in his native Las Vegas, Southern California, and all over the country. At the 8-Under World Series Home Run Derby, he hit from home plate instead of second base. At a 12-Under USSSA Tournament in Atlanta, he hit 10 home runs on 275 foot fences. When he was 13, I was able to watch him play at Steed Park in San Clemente, where he hit multiple home runs and made plays worthy of ESPN, including a bare handed catch at the foul line. Harper joins Hank Conger (Angels), Trevor Bell (Angels), Mike Moustakas (Royals), and more who grew up playing USSSA tournaments. Love him or hate him, you can be sure you will be seeing him on Sports Center in the near future.
Spring Shootout – April 28-29th, 2012
Limited field availability kept the Spring Shootout a smaller tournament, but there was still plenty of great baseball to be played on a beautiful April weekend.
In the 10-Under, the 1st Seeds from both Pool A and Pool B met in the championship, where the Sea Dogs clinched a 7-1 victory. In the 11-Under division, 5th Seed OC Sundevils upset the 1st Seed with a 14-6 victory, but they were unable to carry that momentum to the championship game, where the undefeated VSA Vipers took 1st Place with a 5-1 win.
Three out of the four teams in the 12-Under Gold bracket were undefeated going into Sunday’s games. The Bambinos and Dirt Dawgs Elite met in the championship game, where the Dirt Dawgs were able to keep their undefeated record alive with an 8-4 win.
The 13-Under bracket was an incredibly competitive bracket this weekend. Five of the seven teams went 1-1 on Saturday, making Sunday’s games up for grabs for anyone. The Diamond Trained Jaxx were the only undefeated team going into Sunday’s games, and they were able to keep that streak alive with a 12-1 championship victory.
In the 14-Under bracket, the 13-Under So Cal Angels proved that they could play with the best of them. Heading into the championship game undefeated, they faced the undefeated 1st Seed, No Fear. They rose to the challenge and took home 1st Place with a 6-1 win.
Thank you to all the teams who played this weekend.
Cinco De Mayo NIT – May 5-6, 2012
The Cinco De Mayo NIT is just around the corner. All teams that play in this tournament will receive double ranking points on www.usssa.com. The champions in each division will receive a custom USSSA shirt from A-4. There are still openings in most divisions, and games will be played at Big League Dreams West Covina, Chino Hills and Riverside.
Mother’s Day – May 12-13
Mother’s Day weekend is one of the two weekends that we don’t run a tournament, the other being the week after the World Series. So make sure you take your mom’s out to dinner (or a baseball game), to thank her for all the time and effort she puts in in order for you to play baseball like you do.
See you on the fields
-AC
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