BASEBALL FIRST BLOG: Presient's Day Global NIT

The President's Day Holiday brought our first Global World Series Qualifying Tournament of the year. All teams playing qualified for the Global World Series at the end of the Season. On top of qualifying for that tournament, each team got to participate in a fan appreciation give away. Prizes ranged from Tournament T-Shirts and Diamond Equipment Bags to Tournament Discounts and even Free Tournament Entries.

The $100 Tournament Discounts went to the 10U Bakersfield Rockets, 11U OC Smash, 11U La Mirada Thunder, 14U OC Pioneers, 13U OC Smash

The Free Memorial Day Tournament Entries went to the SP Pirates and 11U OC Premier

On top of qualifying for Global World Series and winning free stuff, incredible baseball games permeated the entire Three-Day Weekend.

9-Under:
With three day tournaments, only the top few teams advance to the playoffs on Monday. This leaves us with the best teams in the division battling for 1st Place.

In the 9-Under, Baseball West Coast had a perfect Pool Play performance. Going 4-0, they beat every team in their division. Heading into Monday as the 1st Seed, they found themselves against the Irvine Knights again. In their first meeting, the Knights battled hard, but ultimately fell short 9-7.

Baseball West Coast, not looking to do anything different in their second meeting, managed to repeat history when it mattered most. In an identically scored game, West Coast stayed on top of the Knights 9-7 to take home the 1st Place Trophy.

Baseball West Coast stealing 2nd Base

10-Under:
With three teams going 3-1 in Pool Play, the 10-Under Playoffs could go to any team. The 1st Seed Rampage lost to the Irvine Knights in Pool Play, giving them ample motivation to come out swinging and get their revenge.

Locked in a tight match-up midway through the game, Rampage opened up the flood gates, putting up 5 runs and giving them the lead. Tight defense and solid pitching rounded out the game, giving Rampage a 10-6 victory, and the Championship payback win.

Irvine Knights pitcher throwing junk balls to Rampage

11-Under:
After a matchup in the last game of Pool Play, the 2nd Seed LA Xtreme found themselves up against the surging Redondo Samurai. The Samurai had already won two games in Playoffs, including upsetting the 1st Seed to make it to the Championship.

LA Xtreme had won the first matchup between the two teams, and was looking for the same result. Both teams were tapped for pitching, and though both teams were swinging their bats successfully, the Xtreme was able to hold of the Samurai for a 10-9 Championship Victory.

13-Under Major:
In one of the more wild games of the weekend, the undefeated 1st Seed OC Smash went up against the 2-2 OC Premier. With the OC Smash being the only undefeated team in the division, pressure was on them to continue that streak. Winning their Semifinal game with a dominating hitting performance (three home runs, including one into the parking lot), they easily advanced to the finals.

Now on their sixth game of the tournament, pitching was running thin for both teams. OC Premier jumped out to the early lead, but the OC Smash slowly chipped away. Until they got the bottom of the 7th, up 10-9. Bringing in their closer, the Smash was able to hold of the Premier in hard hitting Championship game and take home 1st Place.