11-Under:
With 8-Team Division, Sunday's playoffs become a battle ground for every team. No matter what seed you advance as, you still have to win three hard games in order to take home 1st Place. Rampage advanced as the 4th Seed with a 1-1 record. After winning their quarter final game easily, they found themselves pitted against not only the 1st Seed Nomads, but the team that handed them their loss on Saturday.
The Nomads had shut out the Rampage on Saturday, but Rampage wasn't looking to repeat that outcome. Finally getting on the scoreboard against the Nomads, Rampage Pitcher Devin Martinez pitched 6 Strong innings and held the Nomads to just 2 Runs, giving the Rampage an opportunity to advance to the Championship with a 3-2 victory.
On the other side of the bracket, 2nd Seed House of Hardball found themselves pitted against fellow undefeated 3rd Seed Ruffnecks. In what became a hitfest, the Hitmen were able to edge out the Ruffnecks by a 9-8 score to advance to the finals.
With both teams on their 3rd game of the day, the Hitmen were able to take advantage of Rampage's tired pitching supply, putting up 12 runs to remain undefeated for the weekend. This was the Hitmen's first 1st Place finish of the 2014 Season.
12-Under:
With more and more young players looking for teams to play with, organizations often find themselves with multiple teams under the same moniker. This has it's advantages as inter-squad scrimmages are possible, players practice with other players of similar skill levels, and players socialize with a broader range of friends.
However, sometimes the inter-squad scrimmages mean a lot more than just a practice game. BPA DeMarini's Elite Squad and regular squad were both participating in the 12-Under Tournament. The Elite squad had an incredible Saturday, giving up no runs in their run to the 1st Seed. The regular squad had to work a little hard. Going 1-1, they advanced to the Gold Bracket as the 6th Seed.
They won their quarter final game easily, and upset the 3rd Seed with a 4-3 win to advance to the Championship. The Elite team found themselves up against the team that had handed the regular squad their loss on Saturday. Like brother's standing up for one another, the Elite Squad got a bit of payback for the Regular squad with a Semifinal shut out to advance to the finals.
With both BPA DeMarini teams in the finals, it because another practice game, just with a little more on the line. The Elite squad kept their perfect weekend in tact though, throwing yet another shutout to go undefeated on the weekend, and not give up a single run.
This was both DeMarini team's 1st Tournament, so a 1st and 2nd Place finish will decorate their practice facility nicely.
13-Under:
In the 13-Under, yet another BPA team was having a stellar weekend. Moving on to Sunday as the 1st Seed, BPA's pitching and defense kept their opponents at bay. They gave up just 3 runs in two games on Saturday, and repeated that performance on Sunday. Giving up just 1 Run in their Semifinal game, they advanced to the finals to face the 2nd Seed. The 2nd Seed Knights slowed down BPA's bats a little, but they weren't able to get any run support of their own, and BPA took home a 4-2 victory.
This was the 13-Under BPA's 1st Tournament as well, solidifying a great weekend for the BPA DeMarini organization.
12-Under Fountain Valley:
In another 8-Team Playoff bracket, pitching becomes all too important. The LA Xtreme entered Sunday as the 3rd Seed with a 1-0-1 Record. They found themselves pitted against the team they tied in their first playoff game. Leaving no doubt this time around, they scored 11 Runs in their 1st Game of the day to advance to the Semifinals. Putting up 10 more runs, they advanced to the Championship game using very little pitching and energy.
On the other side of the bracket, the 5th Seed HB Cardinals we making a push of their own. Winning their 1st Game no problem, they advanced to Semifinals to face the 1st Seed Downey Tribe. The Tribe had only given up 4 runs up until this game. The Cardinals were happy to break that tradition though, putting up 7 Runs, and allowing just 1, they advanced to the Championship game with a Semifinal Upset.
History has a way of repeating itself sometimes. LA Xtreme had bested the Cardinals on Saturday in a tense 7-6 game, and though the Cardinals fought just as hard, the Xtreme held them to 6 runs again, while putting up 9 of their own.
This was the LA Xtreme's 2nd 1st Place finish of the season.
Thank you to all the teams that particpated in the Fall State Championship. Here is a list of the Champions and Runner Ups.
See you on the fields
-AC
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