Thanks to Vanessa Woodmansee for this information.
What a great weekend for softball in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Larry Standley and Castro Valley Community Center Softball fields were groomed to perfection. After 3 straight days of torrential downpours the rain finally moved out on Thursday night, both infields were under water, literally lake like conditions. A tournament directors nightmare, but we were determined to get at least 1 field ready for the Friday night start.
The Hayward Area Recreation and Park District’s groundskeepers along with our very experienced softball field gurus went to work and by 6:30 p.m.on a beautiful Friday October 7th evening, I was asked the question, “Vanessa do you think we will need to water the infield tomorrow?” my answer “we may need to.” I couldn’t believe that we were looking at a perfectly groomed infield that would allow us to kick off our 3rd Annual Amigos tourney. Host team IMUA of Hayward kicked off the tournament with a 11-2 win over team Ohana’s of Hayward.
With perfect softball weather conditions, teams rolled through the Saturday pool play with the Tijuana Rhinos behind the pitching of Panfilo Valdez finishing with a 3-0 record and claiming the 1st seed. Kolohes from Hayward with USA National team pitcher Travis Price and members of the Macabee team SS Larry Silfen and OF Dan Winnick finished in the 2nd seed with a 2-1 record. 3rd seed was awarded to Cal State Builders with pitcher Dan Kolda member of the K Club pitching all 3 games. 4th seed went to IMUA of Hayward with USA National team player Marcus Tan and guest pitcher 17 year old Erik Gonzales joining them for the weekend. 5th Seed was the East Bay Bashers of Hayward who finished tied for 5th in this year Men’s “C” Fasptich ASA West National Tournament, Homerun Champion Jenner Christiansen and brother Matt Christiansen was at the helm of the team for the weekend. 6th seed went to Ohana’s of Hayward and 7th seed was awarded to the So. Stockton Oulawz.
Sunday featured a single elimination bracket format. In the morning games, 7th seeded Outlawz, beat the 6th seeded Ohana’s 11-4 to move on to play the 3rd seeded Cal State Builders. The Builders eliminated the Outlaws with a score of 5-0 to move on to play in the 2nd semi-final game vs the 1st seeded Rhinos.
The 5th seeded East Bay Bashers beat the 4th seeded IMUA 7-3 to move on to play the 2nd seeded Kolohes in the 1st semi-final game. This game the 5th seeded East Bay Bashers vs 2nd seeded Kolohes of Hayward proved to be a pitchers dual through 6th innings. Matt Christensen of the Bashers lead off the 6th inning with a single, after two quick strike outs left handed swinging Donovan Chilton hit his 2nd single of the game into the right centerfield gap, with no intention of being held up at 3rd and a slight bobble in centerfield Christiansen scored the only run of the game to eliminate team Kolohes 1-0 and to move on to the championship game.
The 2nd semi-final game of the afternoon had the 3rd seeded Cal State Builders with Ironman pitcher Dan Kolda facing the 1st seeded Tijuana Rhinos behind the pitching of Panfilo Valdez. Another pitchers dual ensued until the Rhinos scored 1 run in the bottom half of the 5th with back to back singles by Bernardo Rosas and Abel Sanchez and a wild pitch to score the first run. The Builders answered in the top half of the 6th by scoring 2 runs on back to back doubles by Rob Penticoff and Dave Carlton and a single by Ricky Moore. With the Builders holding a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 7th inning centerfielder Jonthan Colmenares batting in the 9th position for the Rhinos lead of the inning with a single, a sacrifice bunt by lead off Bernardo Rosas advanced Colmenares to 2nd, 2nd baseman Abel Sanchez grounded out for the 2nd out failing to advance the runner, rightfielder Alan Salgado stepped up to the plate with two outs and with one swing launched a bomb over the tall right field fence to end the game with a walk off home run to eliminate the stunned Cal State Builders team. The stage was set for the Championship final. The East Bay Bashers of Hayward vs the Tijuana Rhinos. A great competitive game to watch and the Bashers took the early lead and never turned back as they beat the Rhinos to claim the title of the 3rd Annual Men’s fastpitch Amigos invitational by a score of 7-5. Congratulations to the East Bay Bashers!
Individual Awards included:
MVPitcher: Cornel Monte Wells – East Bay Bashers
MVPlayer: Donovan Chilton – East Bay Bashers
HomeRun Co-Champion – Jenner Christiansen East Bay Bashers
HomeRun Co-Champion – Brian “Beezo” Villanueva IMUAThanks to all teams, players and fans that participated in this event, we hope you enjoyed yourselves and we hope to see you again next year.
From the Amigos Tournament Committee
Vanessa Woodmansee
Marcus Tan
Ricky Silvilla
Click here for PDF of Hayward Recap 2011 or view below.
Click here for PDF of Hayward Bracket for 2011 or view below.
Hayward Recap 2011
I saw 4 games on Sunday. This was an excellent tournament with well contested games. I was impressed by the number of younger players participating. Vanessa is doing a good job keeping men’s fastpitch alive and well in Hayward.