sftblldad25 wrote:As the fall season wraps up, the 12U division is heating up! Lots of good teams and plenty of teams looking to improve. '06 holdovers will move up in the spring and that may require some teams to reload for the year. All this is Captain obvious stuff, so let's get to it. These are open to discussion and this post is designed to bring out some passionate responses!
1. Corona Angels Perez/Knighten 07 - Clearly the most stacked team out there has been rolling over opponents. Lately has shown some kinks in the armor, maybe due to fatigue of their core players? If they stay healthy, they could go deep in summer tourneys. PGF Shootout winners, co-champs of TCS Monster Mash. Stellar defense, good bats, and top pitchers.
2. OC Batbusters Lastrapes/Sasaki 07 - Kept most of the OC Tigers team that placed 3rd at PGF Plat. Added a few key pieces for the new season. Finalist at TCS Monster Mash. Winner of silver bracket TCS Pre-Thanksgiving Cup. Well rounded team.
3. USA Athletics Rogers/Mathis 12U - New team has shown great promise with 3rd place at PGF Shootout, 3rd at TCS Monster Mash, and finalist at TCS Pre-Thanksgiving Cup. Has beaten most of the top teams at least once. Solid, deep pitching and some monster bats, well coached. Watch out for this sleeper.
4. Explosion Flores/Wren - Winner of the TCS Pre-Thanksgiving Cup, this team lost some pieces for the fall, but filled right in. Scrappy team, well coached, has a core that has been together for three years. Can get hot and beat any team in the top 10.
5. Choppers Gurule 07 - Recently beat some of the top teams in So Cal friendlies. Will compete in the summer tournaments
6. Athletics Mercado Valencia 07 - 2nd place at PGF Shootout with strong pitching. Has been playing up in 14U quite a bit this fall, which should only make them stronger. Should have a strong spring and go deep in the summer.
7. OC Batbuster Areliz - New pitching has made this team a strong contender
8. Ohana Tigers Indian - Gives top teams fits
9. OC Batbusters Garcia 2025 - New team hasn't lived up to it's potential yet, but poised for a strong spring.
10> So Cal A's Medina/Kingery 07 - New team is showing promise.
I may have missed some honorable mentions (Locomotion Greene 07, Team Freeman, Corona Angels Vasquez, Power Surge Chavez, Firecrackers Sabo and some strong 1st year teams like Choppers Franco, and Angels McCullough, So Cal As Fitzgerald) Please weigh in with your comments!
Happy Thanksgiving and good luck in your Christmas Tournaments. See everyone in 2020!
A quick shout out to BB12 in the NorCal forum for keeping it real and entertaining! And to you old school Bucketeers, you know who you are!