 |
| The sun setting over Fountain Valley on Saturday Night |
Major Tournaments:
While there was incredible baseball on all fronts this weekend, the Major tournaments provided viewers with some of the best youth baseball in the country. With teams from Southern, Central, and Northern California, much more was on the line than just 1st Place in the tournament. Winning teams would find themselves with an Elite World Series berth for the end of the season.
9-Under:
The San Diego Stars have plenty to be thankful for on Thanksgiving weekend. Last year as an 8-Under team, they went 5-0, scoring 62 runs on their run to 1st Place. This year, they scored 51 runs against the best 9-Under teams in the state, improving their Thanksgiving over the last two years to a perfect 10-0. This season however, they will be representing Southern California at the Elite World Series, where they will give the best teams a run for their money.
10-Under:
Diamond MVP and Swagger Elite entered Sunday's playoffs as the 1st and 2nd Seeds. In some NIT tournaments where all teams advance to playoffs, teams will hold back their pitching and save it for the playoffs. This results in apparent upsets on Sunday due to higher seeds losing to lower seeded teams. Diamond MVP and Swagger weren't going to let that happen.
Some stellar, long inning pitching performances found the top two seeds battling it out for the Elite Berth. In 2013, the 10-Under Dimaond MVP team (now 11-Under), won the Elite World Series. The 2014 10-Under Diamond MVP seized the first opportunity of the year to repeat in the 10-Under. Scoring 7 runs, and keeping the hard hitting Swagger to 5 runs, they clinched 1st Place, and an Elite World Series berth.
11-Under:
Speaking of the 2013 Diamond MVP, they were back in perfect form on Thanksgiving, looking to get an Elite Berth to defend their title. They didn't miss a beat, giving up no runs in Pool Play, they easily advanced to Sunday's playoff games as the 1st Seed.
In the Elite World Series in 2013, Diamond MVP lost only one game, in which they uncharacteristically gave up 8 runs. In every other game, they never gave up more than 3 runs (including two shutouts of the team they had lost to). Their pitching game hasn't changed. As they faced some of the best teams in the state, if not the country, their pitchers made it well known why they are returning Champions. Giving up just one run in both the Semifinal and Championship game, Diamond MVP will be returning to Florida, looking to defends their title.
12-Under:
As an 11-Under Major team last year, the VSA Vipers played up to the 12-Under division since the 11-Under division was full. In a normal tournament, a Major team playing up will usually fare well for themselves, but against a division of older Major teams, the Vipers didn't fare so well.
Fast forward to 2014, and they Vipers were back for redemption in their proper age group this time. Not letting their opponents get any sort of foothold, they jumped on their opponents early, scoring 19 runs in two games on Saturday to advance as the only undefeated team to the Playoffs. They continued their hot streak, scoring 24 runs in two games on Sunday to take home 1st Place, and get their shot at Elite World Series.
13-Under:
In 2013, the SY Titans qualified for the Elite World Series, but for circumstances beyond their control, were unable to participate. Back in full form, made the drive back down to Southern California for a shot at qualifying yet again. Their weekend started off rough with a 9-4 loss to the PBA Renegades. Winning their second game, they advanced to the Playoffs as the 3rd Seed.
They won their first playoff game no problem, and quickly found themselves up against the Renegades yet again. Not looking to go 0-2 to the Renegades, the Titans quickly jumped out to a lead, and held off the Renegades for a 8-3 victory.
Headed to the Championship on a hot streak, the 1st Seed had already been upset and eliminated. The Titans didn't slow up, despite being on their third game of the day, and put up huge hits, winning 13-5, and taking home 1st Place.
14-Under:
The NorCal Naturals are a new team to plate, but they're made up from some of the best players in Northern California, many of whom have gone to the Elite World Series before with other teams. They made the trip down to Southern California to try to qualify for the Elite World Series nice and early in the season. Thankfully we were able to get the fields playable for the weekend after the rain (though it was a beautiful weekend, I'm sure they would have found something fun to do in Southern California).
After going 2-0 on Saturday, they entered Sunday as the 2nd Seed. They found themselves pitted against a fellow Northern California team, the NorCal Young Guns. The Young Guns are another new team, but are quickly establishing themselves as a team to be cautious of. The two NorCal teams battled it out, but the Naturals held off the Young Guns in a 4-3 Semifinal victory.
After the tense Semifinal game, the Naturals were happy to put up runs quick in the Championship game against the 1st Seed. Scoring 8 runs and never looking back, the Naturals established themselves as a top contender come the Elite World Series.
Thank you to all the teams that played in the Thanksgiving Super NIT, and thank you for being patient with us as we delayed games to get the fields ready to play.
See you on the fields
-AC
Find us on Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment