Heading into bracket play Wednesday night there were 16 teams still alive in the Winner’s Bracket, the place you want to be in the double elimination tournament.
By the end of the night eight were still standing.
Let’s back up first and look at how good the matchups were in these eight games: earlier this week we predicted who we thought would be the 10 teams that would contend (OK, we wimped out and for No. 10 listed “The Field” but amazingly of the four we listed were three still alive of the 16 in the Winner’s Bracket).
Here are the ones we got right that were in the final 16 (in no particular order):
- OC Batbusters
- Team Mizuno-Stith
- So Cal A’s
- Corona Angels-Tyson
- Beverly Bandits-Conroy
… 5/10, not too bad.
The ones we got wrong, we were close, but not quite right:
- Explosion lost in 8 innings to Gold Coast Hurricane, which made the 16
- The Sorcerers-Phil lost to the Corona Angels (see above)
- SoCal Choppers lost to EC Bullets-Schnute, which made the 16
- Firecrackers-Rico lost to OC Batbusters-Haning (see above)
… we also said “The Field” could include Virginia Legends, Gold Coast Hurricanes, NC Lady Lightning Team Miken and Texas Glory-Shelton. The final three made the 16 and the Legends lost to NC Lady Lightning.
You may disagree, but so far we’d give our prognosticating a B…
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So… tonight’s action. with eight great games going all at the same time and knowing it’d be impossible to follow them all, I thought I’d do a “March Madness” routine… you know, when all the NCAA college basketball tournament games start, you flip through them all to get snapshots of each game?
Here’s my two hours walking through the Huntington Beach Sports Complex to try (and ultimately fail) to see all eight games!
7:00 pm—I arrived at the complex and found the New Lenox Lightning warming up on Field 4 in perhaps the coolest jerseys at PGF. They’re the camouflage type and look stylish.
7:05 pm—I wandered over to Field 3 and said hi to Mike Stith of Team Mizuno-Stith. He and his staff were watching a late-running game which ultimately delayed his game 20 minutes. Mike said he had played he Birmingham Thunderbolts three times during the summer (went 3-0) and remarked, “They’re a solid team… we know them and they know us.”
7:14 pm—Walking behind the outfield fence, I came across Head Coach Richard Shea of the Birmingham Bolts and asked if he had any good stories on his team. He told me a great one: His daughter, Courtney (Auburn), and teammate Madi Moore (Alabama), started a non-profit organization this past winter called “Friends of Lilly” to raise money for epilepsy as Madi’s 13-year-old sister, Lilly, suffers from a serious form of the illness. The two girls have led fundraising efforts that have raised over $10K.
7:18 pm—I videotaped Courtney and Madi before they had to run and get warmed up for the game and look forward to promoting their story soon.
7:22 pm—My quest to see all eight games takes me to Field 1 where I see the third game in my journey, the OC Batbusters taking on the Grapettes. The Batbusters are in their maroon jerseys and black pants and somehow their colors look intimidating, although when I walk up a Batbuster girl is getting thrown out at second. Arizona Head Coach Mike Candrea is there and I almost go up and say hi, but he’s talking with someone and I forego intruding. I actually worked with him a few years ago on some SPARQ Testing components and hope to reconnect soon.
7:30 pm—I walk over to the next game, Jersey Intensity vs. the Kansas City Peppers, and it’s a nice contrast of the Intensity’s blue jerseys vs. the Peppers’ red tops. As soon as I get there the Intensity scores a couple runs as Bailey Bigler (Notre Dame) singles and comes home after a bunt and error and Alyssa Vanderveer (Penn State) grounds a single through the right side plating two. I think this will be a blow-out and head over to the other four field… later I’ll come back to this game and it will be perhaps the best close of the night.
7:36 pm—I check out the start of the Team Mizuno-Stith game and I see two minutes of pitcher Kalyee Carlson (North Carolina) and see she’s dominating so I head over to the other cloverleaf of four fields. Part of it is the sun is setting directly into the batters’ eyesight, but mostly it’s because Kalyee is just that good.
7:42 pm—I make it to the other four fields in about six minutes. It’s getting chilly by California standards—which means it’s about 68 degrees!—and with the sun going down the wind is picking up. Wishing I had brought a jacket about now.
7:43 pm—Next on the tour is the SoCal A’s against the EC Firecrackers. The A’s look methodical and efficient as Brooke Vines executes a perfect slap over second base and comes around to score after stealing second and then third before walking home when the catcher’s throw goes into the outfield as no one covers the bag to take the throw. Oops.
7:50 pm—I walk up to the Corona Angels and NC Lady Lightning Team Miken game and the score is 2-1 Lightning in the third. I sit by the grandfather of Angels infield Marjani Knighten (Nebraska) behind the backstop to take some photos and he couldn’t be more nice.
He introduces me to the mom of pitcher Alexis Osorio (Alabama) and just at that moment I watch Alexis strikeout another Alabama-bound player, Marisa Runyon of the Lady Lightning, but I learn Marisa got the first laugh by hitting a two-run home run earlier in the game.
8:05 pm—Only two games left to sample so I head to the far corner to catch the Beverly Bandits. Alas, I’ll end up being here for the next 45 minutes as I first run into an old coaching friend, Gerry Quinn of the Illinois Chill, who’s a friend of the Bandits director, Bill Conroy. Gerry is understandably bummed because the Chill were knocked out earlier in the day, but is nice enough to point out some great stories such as Megan Betsa (Michigan) playing for the Bandits this week after winning the ASA 18U Gold National Championship last weekend for the Atlanta Vipers.
I also meet a fellow Ohioan in Taran Alvelo, a 2015 pitcher for the Bandits who’s headed to Washington. Very engaging, she tells of how she committed to the Huskies as a freshman and it had a lot to do with their purple and gold colors… which is a story for another time
8:40 pm—I wait for their game to end so I can video the Bandit players before heading over to see the end of the Angels/Lady Lightning game.
8:45 pm—I realize the Gold Coast Hurricane vs. EC Bullets game is over as are most others and I missed seeing snippets of all eight games. Dangit…
8:50 pm—I run into A’s Head Coach Bruce Richardson who rightfully chides me for not having a coat. I guess my chattering teeth were an indication I didn’t plan for the chilly night too well. He says they won 8-0 and will play the winner of the Angels and Lady Lightning game which, at that point, is in the top of the 7th with the Angels trailing 4-3. The third pitcher of the night for the Lightning is perfect and the Lightning win probably the biggest upset of the day as the Angels are loaded and could still win it all… but not this night.
Head Coach John Corn (not “Horn” as we’ve sheepishly spelled his name a few times on our site… yeesh) jumps about five feet in the air when the final out is recorded and he is ecstatic for the win. He says later, “We’ve been here four years and this is the farthest we’ve gotten. I’m very proud and happy for these girls.”
9:05 pm—I get him on video and he says he loves coming out to PGF to bring his girls out to play the best, which tomorrow will be the two-time defending champion So Cal A’s. Talk about your David and Goliath story… should be fun.
9:15 pm—I head back to the original fields and find the Jersey Intensity & KC Peppers game has been a wild one. The Peppers, who won a game earlier in the day with a grand slam when down to their last strike, came back to tie the game 3-3, but Intensity regained the lead 4-3 only to risk losing when the Peppers loaded the bases with two outs. At that point Jordan Weed (Boston College) comes in and makes a great defensive play to get a force out at home and strikes out the final batter to preserve the win.
After the game, Jersey Intensity Head Coach Kevin O’Donnell tells me that Jordan is a great story because she helps her devastated Jersey hometown recover after the awful hurricane. I talk with her later and am impressed how Jordan, like all the other players I talked to tonight, are so well-spoken and intelligent.
And that was my night… a blast seeing great softball and hanging out with fun people, both players, fans and coaches!
— Brentt Eads, Student Sports Softball
brentt@studentsports.com
***
Here were the matchups and the final results:
WINNER’S BRACKET A
SoCal A’s (Calif.) 8, East Coast Firecrackers (Mass.) 0
NC Lady Lightning (N.C.) 4, Corona Angels (Calif.) 3
Gold Coast Hurricanes (Fla.) 8, EC Bullets-Schnute (Ga.) 1
Beverly Bandits Conroy (Ill.) 8, AZ Storm-Brun (Ariz.) 0
WINNER’S BRACKETS B
OC Batbusters (Calif.) 12, California Grapettes (Calif.) 1
Jersey Intensity (N.J.) 4, KC Peppers (Kan.) 3
Team Mizuno-Stith (Calif.) 9, Birmingham Thunderbolts (Ala.) 1
Texas Glory Shelton (Texas) 3, New Lenox Lightning (Ill.) 1
***
Final note: here were the state representations from the final 16:
Calif: 5 teams
Ill.: 2
Ala.: 1
Ariz.: 1
Fla: 1
Ga. 1
Kan.: 1
Mass: 1
N.C.: 1
N.J.: 1
Texas: 1
…. just goes to show how 11 of the 16 were outside California and how good teams are getting—or are—from every region of the country!