Big League Dreams West Covina:
13-Under:
No team will always go undefeated, no matter how good they are. Even the best professional teams will lose 1/3 of the games they play. So when the So Cal Bearcats lost a tough 11-9 game in Pool Play on Saturday, they weren't going to let that get them down for Sunday's Playoffs. Entering as the 4th Seed, they needed to win three games in a row to take home first place.
Not ones to be afraid of a challenge, they sailed past the 5th Seed with an 11-4 victory to move onto the Semifinals. In order to move on, they'd have to upset the 1st Seed Storm Elite, who bested them in Saturday's Pool Play game. Not looking to repeat history, the Bearcats held the Storm to just 4 runs, giving them the space they needed to advance with a 7-4 victory.
Moving on to the Championship game, the Bearcats were up against the undefeated 2nd Seed. Both teams were hitting the ball hard on Sunday, putting up 40 runs in their first four games combined. The key to the Championship was going to be stifling each other's offense. The Bearcats were able to do just that, holding the hard hitting Patriots to just 4 runs, and putting up 12 of their own.
Fountain Valley:
8-Under:
All too often, after a game ends in a tie, both teams immediately check their standings, thinking that the tie will negatively affect their seedings. While it's obviously not as good as a win, a tie can help differentiate between similarly matched teams, and give you the boost you need to make it as a higher seed.
This happened for both Raymar and the HB Mariners. After their 5-5 tie in the first game on Saturday, both teams were concerned for their Gold Playoff chances. A 1-0-1 team has a very good chance of advancing to the Gold Playoffs, so winning the second game in Pool Play becomes crucial. Both Raymar and the HB Mariners did this, giving them a 1-0-1 record, and advancing them to Sunday as the 2nd and 3rd Seeds.
Once in playoffs, you have to have a winner, so Raymar and the HB Mariners would finally have some closure in their matchup. Raymar jumped out to an early lead, and advanced to the finals with a 12-4 victory. Keeping their best pitching for last, they faced the dominant Upland Angels in the finals. The Angels had scored 39 runs in their first three games of the tournament, so Raymar would have to control their hitting if they wanted to have a chance of winning.
Coming out with rock solid defense, Raymar held the high scoring Angels to just 5 runs, while unleashing 12 runs of their own, giving them their first USSSA Tournament victory.
10-Under:
Rampage went on a rampage of their own through the Playoffs on Sunday. Coming in as the 2nd Seed in Pool B, they would have to win three straight games to take home first place. Looking to get payback for their one loss on Saturday, they smashed the ball in their first two playoff games, outscoring their opponents 25-4 to advance to the finals. There they would face the South Bay Swarm, the team that beat them on Saturday.
The Swarm were having trouble getting their bats going on Sunday, only scoring 5 runs in their first win of the Playoffs. Rampage had no intentions of slowing up, putting up 10 more runs in their 10-2 Championship victory.
Thank you to all the teams that played in the Fall Classic. Here is a list of the Champions and Runner-Ups.
See you on the fields
-AC
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