USSSA Memorial Day Tri-State Championship:
9-Under:
Three day tournaments usually end one of two ways. Tired teams have to resort to small ball to bring runs across, or teams are so low on pitching, a slugfest breaks out. The 9-Under at BLD was the latter of the two. 2nd Seed Chino Hills Dirt Dawgs, who only scored less than ten runs once all weekend, found themselves up against the 4th Seed Northridge Pride. The Pride had upset the 1st Seed Tribe in a bit of revenge from a Pool Play loss on Saturday. Both teams scored over 10 runs in their semifinal game, so it was little surprise that the Championship game went the way it did.
Trading blows the entire game, neither team could break open a comfortable lead. The Dirt Dawgs took small lead, and were able to hold onto a 15-14 Championship victory.
10-Under:
Another common outcome of three day tournaments are lower seeded teams upsetting higher seeded teams in the playoffs. Higher seeds may have tapped their pitching resources early in an attempt to make the Gold Bracket, resulting in their star pitchers being out of innings for the playoffs.
The 9U Easton Elite and 9U So Cal Outlaws stayed patient and waited until Monday to strike. As the 4th and 6th Seeds, they had to win an extra game on Sunday to make to the Championship. 4th Seed Elite won their quarterfinal match up, advancing to face the 1st Seed Venom. Venom had snuck by the Elite on Saturday with a 3-2 win thanks to stellar pitching. Easton Elite wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Scoring 11 runs, they advanced to the Championship game.
The 6th So Cal Outlaws played their Quarterfinal game against the 3rd Seed Tribe. The Tribe had beaten the Outlaws by a close score of 8-6 on Saturday. The Outlaws weren't going to let another close game like that happen again. They won a 9-0 shutout to advance to the Semifinals. There they faced a tough Nevada Wildcats. After a wild 7-6 victory they moved on to the finals to face Easton Elite.
Now with two 9-Under teams in the 10-Under Championship, they both brought out their ace pitchers. Couple that with being their third game of the day, and 6th of the weekend, both teams had to work to get runs across the plate. In the end, the Outlaws outlasted the Elite in a 4-1 victory.
11-Under Red:
The 11-Under Red saw a truly unique run to the Championship game. The Thousand Oak Bulldogs and So Cal Cobras advanced to Sunday as the 5th and 6th seeds, and only had one win between them, which was when the Bulldogs beat the Cobras on Sunday.
The Bulldogs won their Quarterfinal game, advancing to face 1st Seed Cory Lidle Baseball (10U). Cory Lidle baseball produces some of the top teams in the region, but the 11-Under Bulldogs were just able to overpower their 10-Under opponents with a 3-2 upset to advance to the Championship.
The So Cal Cobras got some early revenge with a Quarterfinal victory over the So Cal Quakes. In the Semifinal Game, they faced yet another team that beat them in Pool Play. This time, the 2nd Seed OC Bulldogs gave them a tight game, but the Cobras were able to upset them with a 4-2 victory.
Headed to the Championship game, the Cobras were about to play the third team that gave them a loss in Pool Play. The Thousand Oak Bulldogs and So Cal Cobras battled for 6 long innings, before the Bulldogs were able to stop the Cobras upset streak with a 9-8 nailbiting victory.
Thank you to all the teams that participated in the USSSA Memorial Day Tri State Championships. Here is a list of the winners and runner ups.
FVPB / USSSA Memorial Day Tournament:
Before travel baseball was the monster that it is today, PONY and Little League All-Star tournaments were exciting event to end the season. To get ready for those tournaments, leagues would organize events beforehand on weekends like Memorial Day so that teams could get a couple games together as a team before playing in the real tournament.
17 Years ago, when I was just 11 and playing Bronco in Fountain Valley PONY, the then President of Fountain Valley Youth Baseball (before changing their name) was our very own Craig Ciandella. Growing weary of the other options available for a Memorial Day tournament, Craig and the board organized the very first Fountain Valley Memorial Day Tournament. Fast forward to 5 years ago. FVPB's Memorial Day Tournament was still going, but struggling compared to others in the area. They approached USSSA Southern California to see if they would be interested in running the tournament, meshing All Star Teams and Travel Ball teams with access to all 15 Fields at Fountain Valley Sports Park.
The first year USSSA ran the tournament, it was 45 teams. What wasn't expected was the incredible growth the following years. Increasing in size each year, we hit our tournament best 104 teams this last year. Let's take a look at the games from the weekend.
6-Under:
The always entertaining and stressful 6-Under tournament ended in an appropriate fashion. All tied up, the game moved into extra innings. The East Bay Outlaws went up the maximum ten runs in the top of the inning with Fountain Valley matching that ten, sending it to another inning. It wasn't until the final score of 33-30 could the teams and parents stop holding their breath. The East Bay Outlaws came out on top, and had a hard earned trophy for their trip back to Northern California.
8-Under Blue:
The Chino Hills Dirt Dawgs and Knuckleheads had to wait until Sunday to see who would come out on top of their match-up. After having a 7-7 tie on Saturday, they advanced to Sunday as the 2nd and 3rd seeds, continuing their game in the Semifinal game. The Dirt Dawgs were able shut them out, and took a 5-0 victory to the Championship game.
The So Cal Outlaws started of Sunday by facing the East Bay Outlaws. After a shutout victory, they advanced to the Semifinals to face the 1st Seed Cali Gamers. The Gamers had claimed a 2-0 victory over the Outlaws on Saturday, but the Outlaws turned the tables and topped the Gamers 7-2 to advance to the finals.
Moving onto Monday, they So Cal Outlaws and the Chino Hills Dirt Dawgs faced in the final game. In what turned out to be a great pitching duel, the Dirt Dawgs were able to sneak a 3-2 victory past the surging Outlaws.
8-Under White:
The Long Beach Rascals are a brand new team run by the Los Altos field crew that we work with a couple times a year in our Long Beach tournaments. Not knowing what to expect from their players, they went 1-1-1 in Pool Play, advancing to the Playoffs as the 3rd Seed. After winning a Semifinal upset against the 2nd Seed, they advanced to the Championship where they would face the Brea Stars. The two teams had tied 1-1 in their first game on Saturday, leading up to a monumental showdown to see who would be the top team. A surprising pitching duel in the last game on Sunday led to nailbiting 3-1 victory for the Long Beach Rascals, and a 1st Place Finish in their first tournament
10-Under Red:
The rivalry between Fountain Valley and Los Alamitos is a long and deep one. Being in the same division, chances are the two teams would always meet up in the opening rounds of the PONY All Star tournament, usually leading one of them knocking the other out from advancing to the next round.
The 10-Under Red division was all A All-Star teams from the region, and it was only fitting that the Championship game was between the Fountain Valley A and Los Alamitos A All Star teams. Both teams were undefeated heading into the final game, and their first meeting turned out to be an incredible game. Deadlocked at 0-0, Los Alamitos was finally able to break it open with 2 runs, taking a 2-0 lead. That would be all that they needed, as their defense and pitching was able to hold off Fountain Valley's batters, giving Los Alamitos a 2-0 Championship Victory.
10-Under Green:
In a division of all PONY All-Star B Teams, Fountain Valley was able to take advantage of the home field advantage. Outscoring teams 47-16 in Pool Play, they advanced to the Playoffs as the 1st Seed. After surviving a scare in the semifinal game, they came back in the Championship swinging, and outscored their opponent 14-7 to take home the first place victory.
12-Under Red:
Another Fountain Valley team found themselves on their home fields, and loving it. Advancing to the Playoffs as the 2nd Seed, they won their semifinal game 7-4 to advance to the finals. Facing a strong travel team in the So Cal Mustangs, they played a defensively strong game, and held the Mustangs to just 2 runs in their 3-2 victory.
12-Under Blue:
The 12-Under Blue Championship provided one of the most entertaining games of the weekend. With 1st Seed FCBA Cobras hitting everything thrown their way all over the field all weekend, the 3rd Seed Tustin Scorpions took a different approach. Throwing a junkball pitcher against the hard hitting Cobras proved to confuse their batters, and limited the 1st Seed to just two runs in the game. The Scorpions, knowing they couldn't catch up with the hard throwing Cobras pitcher resorted to incredible small ball to score their runs. A beautifully executed sacrifice bunt loaded the bases in the second inning, where a gutsy suicide squeeze squeaked by the pitcher, bringing in one run. An unexpected slash bunt brought in another run, and that was all the Scorpions needed. With impeccable defense behind their pitcher, they held on to the 4-2 score for an amazing victory.
Thank you to all the teams that made this the most successful FVPB / USSSA Memorial Day Tournament yet. Here is a list of the Winners and Runner-Ups.
-AC
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