[Alsfastball] Colorado/New Mexico/Arizona/Nevada Areas Tournament

[Dick Mason]

Albuquerque, NM


After lots of last minute snags on fields and umpires, the combined 
Colorado/New Mexico and Arizona/Nevada Areas WT and ISC II qualifier was 
played with 12 teams in the heat of Albuquerque this past weekend. My 
appreciation goes to ISC Treasurer Charlie Smith, Maggie Banales, Ginger 
Rendon and New Mexico ASA Commissioner, Alice Cox for helping to gather a 
great umpire crew at the 11th hour, that we received compliments on from 
the teams. Also, thanks to Charlie and El Paso friends Larry McFarland and 
Frank Wilkins for their help as game controllers, field raker's, coin 
flippers, and all around good guys. With the barriers thrown at us this 
past couple weeks, we couldn't have pulled this thing off without the help 
of these fastball friends.

Here are the results:

  Champion = Pueblo Bandits, (MV Pitcher = Jeremy Manley, and MV Player = 
Mark Moziejko (Mojo))
With the Manley brothers having one more year experience and one year older 
(19 and 21), the Bandits pitching gets better each time they play. The 
Bandits defense and offense got better this year also with Arizona 
additions Cliff Wisdom, David Frank and Frank Dasurto. They dominated the 
areas tournament, going 6-0 and having a 65-7 run differential. They 
already had a berth to the WT from winning the Western Fastpitch Alliance. 
I will be surprised if they don't end up in the top 12 in Fargo this year.

2nd = Colorado Rage
The Rage had a hiccup in pool play against the tough Las Cruces Titans but 
came out as the best #2 team to earn a bye for Sunday's single elimination 
play. On Sunday, they beat a good Gallup NM team named RICO/McDonalds 
Tigers, then beat the Colorado Raven (#4 in the ASA 40+ Masters last year), 
before running into the Bandit wall. The Rage have accepted an ISC II berth 
and I expect they will be tough in Fargo.

3rd (tied) = Las Cruces Titans and Colorado Raven
These two teams will be heard from later this summer. The Titans won a 
berth in the ISC II from the WFA or they would have gotten one here. The 
Colorado Raven are headed to the ASA 40+ Nationals to improve on their 4th 
place finish last year.

5th (tied) = Among the 4 teams tied for 5th are the Albuquerque Bulls who 
have accepted the other ISC II berth. They struggled in pool play on 
Saturday, but beat a rising Los Alamos Nitehawks team, then lost to the 
Titans 1-2.

It was a fun weekend. Of the 12 teams, the above 5,  plus the Albuquerque 
Roadrunners and the RICO/McDonalds Tigers are either headed to Fargo or an 
ASA Nationals at some level.

Dick Mason, Commissioner
mailto:dickmason at qwest.net

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