Colorado Fireworks Tourney

[NumeroUno]

http://www.cofireworks.com/brackets.cfm

[3Bsnag]

Here's the 12's and 14's pool and bracket scores so far:
http://www.broomfield.org/recreation/fireworksoftball/2008/PoolStandings.aspx

[coskier]

Glad to see someone is updating brackets. They didn't for the Sparkler (STILL haven't updated them). Overall I was not impressed with the Sparkler tournament at all...

[papabird]

First of all, Congratulations to Cal Lite 18G. They lost to FireCrackers 8-7 after being up 6-0, the ran out of gas, in the final and mercied a great Texas Impact in the battle of the unbeatens before losing to the Firecrackers.

They left 5 signed players at home and played with only unsigned players.

This tournament is very well run, love the early starts, but one thing that would help a bunch. How about not having the championship at 5PM on Sunday and the "If" game at 6:45. This means that many teams have to stay until Monday.

It seems as though many tournaments put parents (and the work and $$ )last. The championship games should be at 1PM, no later than 3PM.

[anonlooker]

The 14U was a great tournament.

A lot of Texas teams were there and held their own early, but many disappeared quick in bracket play. Was looking forward to seeing Glory Elliot and Peppers but neither made it very deep. American Freedom did well early but faded against stronger teams toward the end. FW Bat Busters were solid, and Texas Storm was strong, going all the way to the finals.

Not sure who won, TX Storm (one loss) was playing Lake Shore Lightning (MD) for the championship when we left.

Big props to West Jersey Witches... after losing 1-0 to FW Bat Busters they came up through 6 or 7 tough losers bracket games before finally getting knocked out. Considering they made the trip without two very key players, those girls did a fantastic job.

While the Texas teams doing well was no real surprise (given how many there were, and the way they talk on their boards!, but most could use to clean up their defense if they hope to do well at Nationals. And what is it with coaches getting tossed on purpose?? Nutty, but hilarious too), the success of the East Coast teams had to be the story of the tournament. I think the Witches ended up 4th, (5th at worst), and Lake Shore Lightning went through the brackets unbeaten (at least up to the championship game). Shamrocks (VA) won their pool and did well in bracket play - lookout for their LHP, wicked screwball.

Overall a great tournament and big props to TD Robin Garneau from Broomfield Rec for keeping everything running, the boards updated (from many different locations) and basically pulling off a fantastic week of softball for teams from all over the country. Well done!

[play4fun]

(given how many there were, and the way they talk on their boards!, but most could use to clean up their defense if they hope to do well at Nationals. And what is it with coaches getting tossed on purpose?? Nutty, but hilarious too),

What, who, when, and why?

[TXfastpitchsoftball]

14u FINAL FINISH:
1st Texas Storm
2nd Lake Shore Lightning
3rd Fort Worth Batbusters
4th West Jersey Witches
5th American Freedom
6th OK Diamond Girls

IMHO any of these teams that made it to Sunday could have won the whole thing. All of them brought great pitching, defense, and hitting. Almost every game I watched on Saturday and Sunday could have gone the other way, and usually turned on a single defensive play, hit, walk, or call.

The Texas Storm lost to the Lightning in their first meeting, but they rallied to win 5 games on Sunday, including double-dipping the Lightning in the Championship. The Storm kids just found a way to win every time in some very close ball games, and definitely came out Sunday ready to play.

The Batbusters and American Freedom both made it to the final four in the winners' bracket. Their Saturday night game essentially was decided on a Batbusters' grand-slam home run in the third or fouth inning. The Freedom rallied back but probably just ran out of time IMHO. The Batbusters had some big wins in close games all week long.

There were several other teams I saw that went out earlier in bracket play that also had the whole package to win the tournament, including the Shamrocks, KC Lookouts, OK Turn 2, Originals, Ashburn Shooting Stars, and Texas Peppers. Most of these teams eliminated each other in very, very close ballgames.

Kudos to the '94 Flower Mound Rage and GT Shockers who made a suprise run throught the tournament. Both of these young '94 teams showed they are teams to watch next year. Great, great softball all week long.

[ntxsftbllnut]

16 u results top 3 in each bracket:

Mt. Elbert
Corona Wildcats
Germantown Red Devils
Wichita Wave

Grey's Peak
KuPono
Texas Royals
Rock-n-Fire

Long's Peak
California Tornadoes
Fort Worth Batbusters Sonny
OK Dynamite Badside

Pikes Peak
SGS Magic
OK Babes
NM Sting

Sunshine Peak
TX Stix Nat'l
MN Irish - Rohr
NM Fusion