Pueblo Bandits Edge out Bay Area Pirates for Top Seed at Best of the West

Here is Saturday’s order of finish and seedings for Sundays’ Single Elimination playoffs: (seeding among teams tied with 2-1 or 1-2 records determined by runs allowed)

‘”ra” = runs allowed, “rs” = runs scored”, above.

1. Bandits, Pueblo, CO, 3-0, 1 run allowed, 7 runs scored
2. Team Pape Pirates, Walnut Creek, CA, 2-1, 2 ra, 17 rs
3. Taylor Farms California Athletics, 2-1, 5 ra, 11 rs
4. So Cal Tribes, 2-1, 6 ra, 9 rs
5. Bakersfield Silverhawks, 2-1, 8 ra, 22 rs
6. Innovative Communications, UT, 2-1, 12 ra, 12 rs
7. Morongo Hostilez, 2-1, 21 ra, 22 rs
8. Santa Cecelia, Mexicali, Mexico, 1-2 , 6 ra, 5 rs
9. Rude Pac, 1-2, 10 ra, 8 rs
10. Portland CR Rockers, 1-2, 15 ra, 4 rs
11. Maccabi USA, 1-2, 18 ra, 16 rs
12. Beaumont Coyotes, 1-2, 21 ra, 15 rs
13. Tri County Santa Barbara, 1-2, 26 ra, 17 rs
14. Santa Barbara Young Bucks, 1-1*, 13 ra, 12 rs
15. Long Beach Black Sox, 0-3, 15 ra, 2 rs
*Young Bucks played only two games, determined by rule as low seed among teams with one win.

**the first tie breaker for teams with the same record is runs allowed; there were no ties for runs allowed, so the next critieria, runs scored was not utilized in the seeding. We’ve posted the totals anyway.

Playoffs – Sunday, May 31, 2009

All games at Elings except 6 v. 11 and 5 v. 12

4 v. 13, 8am,
So Cal Tribes vs. Tri County Santa Barbara

7 v. 10, 8 am,
Morongo Hostilez v. Portland CR Rockers

2 v. 15, 9:45am
Bay Area Pirates v. Long Beach Black Sox

6 v. 11, 8am, Pershing Park
Innovative Communications UT vs. Maccabi USA

8 v. 9, 8am
Santa Cecelia Mexical, Mexico v. A-1 Rude Pac

3 v. 14, 9:45am
Taylor Farms Calfornia Athletics v. Santa Barbara Young Bucks

5 v. 12, 9:45am Pershing Park
Bakersfield Silverhawks v. Beaumont Coyotes

SECOND ROUND GAMES

9:45am Elings Park
Winner So Cal Tribe/Tri County v. Winner Hostilez/Portland CR Rockers

11;30am Elings Park
Winner Pirates/Black Sox v. Winner Innovative/Maccabi

11:30am
1 v. winner of 8 v. 9
Pueblo Bandits v. Winner Mexical/Rude Pac

11:30am
Winner Taylor Farms/Young Bucks v. Winner Silverhawks/Coyotes

THIRD ROUND – SEMI FINALS

1:15 Elings Park
Winner of second round games

3:00 pm
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

The above schedule is not official – please consult with David Blackburn for the official playoff schedule. We’ll post a bracket when we receive the official one from Dave Blackburn.

Sunday schedule with game numbers after the jump:

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Best of the West – May 30-31

This is the twelfth in a series of team profiles for teams competing in this year’s Best of the West tournament.

Thanks to Will Oldham for this information:

ROSTER
#
1 Gabriel Valdivia OF IF
2 Richard Soriano C IF OF
5 Georgie Valdivia OF IF
6 Eddie Soloman IF
8 Albert Garcia IF
9 Will Oldham P OF IF
13 Cecilio Smalling P IF
14 Mario Ramirez C IF
19 Rudy Soriano IF
20 Gilbert Valdivia OF IF
23 Chris Reyes P IF
25 Dustin Edwards OF
26 Mike Becerra OF
30 Arthur Harris OF C

Manager – Richard Soriano

Pitchers
Will Oldham, Cecilio Smalling, and Chris Reyes.
22 year old Will Oldham leads the staff. Cecilio Smalling brings the veteran mentality to the team as Chris Reyes comes in relief.

Motive
Well known for many years in Southern California, the Beaumont Coyotes enter this tourney with young squad. As former manager David Valdivia lets go of the team, his grandson Richard looks to pick up where he is leaving off. With the majority of their team under 25 years old the Coyotes want to show they’ll be around for more years to come.

Best of the West – May 30-31

Click here to view all of the team profiles posted to date for the 2009 Best of the West tournament.

So far, we have received and posted profiles for 10 of the 15 teams in this year’s Best of the West. We’d like to have one for all of you, so if you’re among the teams not yet posted, please send one to jim (at) fastpitchwest (dot) com. Just a roster and a paragraph or two about the team would be great. (See others for samples)

MIA: (please send)

SantaCecelia, Mexicali, Mexico
Bandits, Pueblo, CO
InnovativeCommunications, Lehi, Utah
Coyotes, Beaumont, CA
C.R.Rockers, Portland, Oregon

Teams who have submitted a profile shown in bold:
(if you’re not among those with profile posted, be sure to send it in)

1. SantaCecelia, Mexicali, Mexico
2. Hostilez,Morongo Reservation
3. Bandits, Pueblo, CO
4. Tri-County, Santa Barbara, CA
5. ISC II #32 InnovativeCommunications, Lehi, Utah
6. Coyotes, Beaumont, CA
7. Taylor Farms Athletics, Salinas, CA
8. SilverHawks, Bakersfield, CA
9. ISC II #6 Rude Pac, Sun Valley, CA
10. SoCal Tribes,San Jacinto, CA
11. ISC II #15 C.R.Rockers, Portland, Oregon
12. Young Bucks,Santa Barbara, CA
13. Black Sox, Long Beach, CA
14. Team Pape Pirates, Walnut Creek, CA
15. ISC II #37 Maccabi USA

Best of the West – May 30-31

This is the tenth in a series of team profiles for teams competing in this year’s Best of the West tournament.

Thanks to Clyde Bennett for this information (and for his work in hosting the tournament)

The Young Bucks are defending National Champion 23 and under(NAFA). We will be at a big disadvantage this weekend since 4 of our best players are playing with other teams and 2 other starters have to work Sat. Also our pitcher Guido Silbert is still in school in Barcelona Spain. However we still want the competition of this tournament to prepare us for the nationals

Larry Watts Jr
Joe Kock
Lumar Goss
Buddy Armijo
Joel Lange
Danyl Dondero
Michael Watts
Eric Sander
Jacob Venzor
Josh Venzor
Eric Smalling
John Diekman
Matt Bando

Click here to view other team profiles for the 2009 Best of the West tournament.

Best of the West – May 30-31

Fastpitch fans will get a first look at the #12 Pueblo Bandits as well as the # 19 California A’s this weekend at the Best of the West tournament in Santa Barbara, . New Zealander Jeremy Manley, one of the top pitchers in the game, returns to his US roots, with the Bandits, after a stint with Broken Bow and the Midwest Stampede. Manley is always among the strikeout leaders in any tournament, and should make #12 ranked Pueblo among the teams to beat this weekend at BotW.

As noted in our comments yesterday, the # 19 ranked California A’s, is made up of most of the players from the 2008 ISC II champion California Lumberking, including 2008 ISC II MVP Dave Drotzmann and Mike Egerdeen, bolstered by a group of talented ISC World tournament players, including Team USA’s Nate Devine, Steve Pinnochio, and pitcher Travis Price. Price will be with the Vancouver Grey Sox during the regular season and at the ISC World tournament, but is pitching with the A’s at BotW. The A’s will have the services of a well known ISC World Tournament pitcher to join Drotzmann and Egerdeen at the WT in Quad Cities this summer.

Former Professional baseball players at Best of the West:

In addition to the Lumberkings, several other of Californi’as top players will be at the Best of the West, tournament. Todd Budke and Fred Hanker will be with the Long Beach Black Sox. Budke is among the premier hitters in the game, while player-manager Hanker’s diet and training regimen has made him a shadow of his former self, figuratively speaking, and playing shape reminiscent of his pro baseball days, giving the Sox a potent 1-2 punch in the middle of their batting order. Both played baseball professionally. Budke ranks in the top 20 of all ISC World Tournament hitters over the past seven years, in batting average (16th with .350 average) and home runs (tie, 20th), as well as several other offensive categories. This feat is more remarkable considering that those seven years are as he approached age 40 and omits his younger years at the World Tournament. Click here to view a YouTube clip of Budke’s picture postcard swing as he triples into the gap at the AAU Tournament.

A third former pro baseball player at Best of the West is Brian Teeters, who as talked out of “retirement” by the Bakersfield Silverhawks. Anyone that saw Teeters play at the ISC II T of C knows there is a lot of game left in him. Twice in the playoff round in that tournament, Teeters homered, just when the Lumberkings appeared on the brink of elimination, including a 2 run shot in the 6th inning of their semi-final game against the powerful NY Knights, that catapulted the Lumberkings into the finals against Ontario Canada’s Waterdown Hammer.

All three of these players can elevate the level of play for their respective teams, and will be among the players to watch this weekend at Santa Barbara.