***NEW TOURNAMENT OPTION FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND***

[2nd2none]

WOW!!! What a clinic 14u Sorcerers put on this weekend.

Played in the tuffest pool. Started off slow this Saturday (albeit w/o starting CF & some key starters) but was on a mission starting Sunday. Run ruled everyone they played Monday in the gold bracket division, including AASA in the ship. AASA threw all their pitchers against them and they all went down one by one. Sorcerers has been flying below radar this season even though they won a tourney in Stockton and won a tough silver division in the Fresno Force Classic. Well, it's no secret anymore. For those who doubted their automatic berth to premiers...well you can pick your faces off the ground now.

Also, too bad Breeze played in same pool as Sorcerer but they won Silver bracket. Could of made a push in the gold division but I don't think Sorcerers would have been denied today.

Great tourney!

[WatchinBall]

Outside of that issue, I happened to be sitting behind a U12 Gold Monday morning (elimination) game waiting to watch my DD's team play. I was absolutely flabergasted at what I was seeing. The plate ump deliberately refused to call strikes that were so clearly strikes even to an unknown eye. There was another ump that stood back and watched for a few then offered to walk down and get the UIC, he also couldn't believe what he was seeing. Another observer (not a part of either team playing or my DD's team)went to get the tourney director because they couldn't believe it either. Once the tourney director went and stood behind the fence (behind the plate) the ump straightened up really quick. Unfortunately, for the team effected it was too late. There wasn't enough time in the game to recover. It as too bad that the coaches on the other team lacked integrity as well. They were telling the players take it any way you can get it knowing full well the ump wasn't calling anything that they didn't swing at a strike. There was one team for sure that was robbed of a game that was even remotely fair. Many of the umps were up there in age (not against older umps) but they should be able to do what they are paid to do. If they can't get down enough to see pitches or they can't run quickly enough around the bases to make good calls they shouldn't be there. Between the lack of integrity of the ump (mentioned above), and the lack of integrity in the tourney director(not refunding money or not making appropriate accomodations to ensure a 6 game guanantee for all teams) I am not so sure this tourney will be one that many will continue to attend.

Are you really saying the ump had an agenda against one pitcher or team out there? Really??

Surely not saying the ump had an agenda, I don't know what his issue was maybe he was upset at the coaches I don't know. All I know is it was one of the worse one sided called games I have ever seen. Like I said maybe the grape's will post the video then everyone can decide for themselves I feel very confident that many if not all would be surprised at the way the game was called. Don't get me wrong the dirt dogs didn't play a perfect game but they never had a chance with an ump making calles like that.If I am not mistaken the grapes only had 1 or 2 hit's (not big hit's little bloopers) I think all of the runs that scored were walks that were really strike outs from what I saw except for 1 that was an Hit batter..

[dittoz]

From our perspective in 16's, this was a well run tournament.
HEAVY kudos to the crew working the Vista Del Lago fields - they raked, dragged and chalked in between every game and the facilities were pristine. A little short on port-a-potties and a bit of a hike from the JV field to get there but all-in-all a very good experience.

Played at Lembi on Monday and while it wasn't quite as well maintained, it was still FAR better than anything in Stockton and everything one would hope for.

The cancellation of games due to rain was inevitable and with pool and bracket play already scheduled, there probably wasn't much chance to make anything up. The updates began at 7am on the website as was announced well ahead of time. Teams had only to get online and the current status was there, clearly posted and in proper English. Not giving refunds is baloney - that policy is clearly posted too, and no... Gary isn't likely to be standing in the parking lot with a bag of 20's handing them out. If a refund is due, I would imagine it would be done in the coming days. Geeeez!

In retrospect, I'd strongly support playing in this tournament again any time. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the fall when (and IF!) the SorCal teams journey north. RR has clearly stated that those who did not play in Stockton this past weekend will be unable to play in the fall. Will that really happen? Will ASA simply schedule v.2 of this past weekend and take the cake again?

[ssarge]

I'm involved with a 14U team this summer.

I thought this was a very well run tournament as well. Umpires out to start games EARLY. Everything on time. Fields well prepped, every game. Decent snack bar. Clean, adequate bathrooms. No gate admission, we brought in drinks and food (and still used the snackbar as well). Really good, I thought.

Best regards,

Scott

[Norcal33]

I agree.

Tournament went well.

No gate fees. Fields dragged and chalked every game. Ability to bring in food and drinks. All in all I thought the organization did a nice job.

[Mustafa]

From the 18G perspective things went very well. We were informed of schedule changes due to the rain in plenty of time. The TD sent this email out to all 18G teams:

"Since not all teams will get to play their 5 games, we will base the seeding for Monday based on Pool play games only. For those teams that did not get to play all 5 games, For the games you did not get to play, I will be following up after the tournament with refund info."

The fields were raked and chalked between EVERY game. Pretty much ran on time even with a few ITB games. Umpires were on time (actually early in some cases) and did an adequate job.

Rating: 1-5 (5 being the high end)

Field Conditions: 4.5
Snackbar: 4.0
Restrooms: 4.0
Umpires: 4.0 (they'll never be perfect)
Organization: 4.5

Overall Score: 4.2

We will be back next year. Very well run!!

[lawdawg]

I know 10U softball is not a big deal to most people on Heybucket NorCal but I will put in my opinion of this tourney. Umpires are umpires and win or lose not everybody is going to be happy with them. As for fields, Dixon was ok. Open fields, plenty of warm-up area, maintain pretty good. Davis had excellant fields but no warm-up area at all. Alot like Arnaiz, alittle area between fields. If they could have used the soccer field to warm-up on it would have been great but it was locked. For the number of teams, which by the way was real good for 10U (20 teams) I felt the TD should have cut number of guaranteed games down and made it a 2 day tourney. Just my opinion but 3 days for 10U is long others will disagree with me though. Most the top Norcal teams were there and it was great competition. TD did a great job getting all those teams there. Congrats to AASA on another Norcal tourney win but did see some teams getting alot better. Congrats to Breeze for making the championship and also Grapes and Norcal Elite for the semi's. Overall very well ran 10U tourney, think alot of teams will be back next year.

[GameTime23]

U12’s point of view:

“OUTSTANDING” job by Gary and his crews this weekend. Great fields, no fees and solid umpires.

Gary you did a good job with accommodating as much as you can. Fixing the CX games that were rained out late sat and finishing them on Sunday was a great decision. I was glad to see you had total control, even if others attempted to control your tournament and make decisions for you.

That’s the way you take constructive feedback and make changes for the betterment of Nor Cal softball…GREAT JOB GARY & CREWS!!!!

Next year: I would consider a better way to do the pool and bracket play. Way too many good #2 seeds should have been in Gold….AASA, Valley Stomper, Blast, Breeze99 all beat teams in gold… Some pool play brackets were weak at best. Just don’t understand how the brackets changed midweek?

Thanks again for a great experience and keep up the good work.

[#1fann]

Best tournament in Norcal in years! Hey RR why don`t you recruit the umpires and ground crews? While you`re at it, recruit the facilities and the folks taking the money at the gates!!

[norcalballer]

This tournament was a huge success in my opinion. Great fields, they were taken care of between all games as needed. It was nice not having to pay gate fees to get in throughout the weekend, saved a lot of money. Could still bring in your own food and ice chests and the snack bars still had long lines and were getting support. Weather wasn't too great but nothing can be done about Mother Nature.

Thanks Gary for all the hard work you put into this tournament. Hope you do a repeat next year (without the rain).