Winter Worlds Draws 131 Teams; Lucky Lady Wins $2.5 Million

Feb. 1, 2009

LAS VEGAS – The Western portion of the 2009 Senior Softball season kicked off in November with the Winter World Championships here. For the third year in a row, this time with 131 teams, a record number of clubs battled for championships over six beautiful days and fun filled nights in Las Vegas.

“Las Vegas is the place to be for 24-hour fun in November. The weather is softball-perfect and another record number of teams show that the players and their families agree“, said Dave Dowell, the SSUSA’s Tournament Director.

The mid-week session featured competitive games each day in the Men’s 65 and over age groups at Doc Romeo and Desert Bloom Parks and the all artificial turf Desert Breeze sports complex. However, the likely highlight of Session #1 had little to do with the tournament itself.

Disproving the advertising campaign that “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas”, a member of the traveling group from the Men’s 70’s Chosen Few Kanahiku from Hawaii scored a decisive victory over the Nevada Progressive “Wheel of Fortune” slot machine for just a shade under $2.5 million! Despite the rest of the week’s games, it was probably the best win of the tourney.

The Men’s 65’s Division all played at the Desert Breeze complex, with Bickerton Iron Works (CA) making a very strong debut in the 65’s age group. They prevailed in the 65-Majors with an “If” game victory over Russell Bats of Arizona (24-8) after suffering a loss in the first championship game to Russell (23-21).

The High Desert Roadrunners of New Mexico continued their annual success at Las Vegas in capturing the 65-AAA Division title with consecutive wins over Arizona’s Robson Ranch, 13-12 in the winner’s bracket final and 23-12 in the Championship game to cap an undefeated bracket run.

Arizona’s Kokopelli Eye Care Scorpions won the 65-AA in similar fashion, with consecutive victories over the Palm Springs Diamonds (CA) in the winner’s bracket final (16-5) and the Championship game (37-17)

The Men’s 70’s, 75’s and 80 teams filled the Doc Romeo and Desert Bloom facilities with closely contested games all the way.

The 70-Platinum division came down to two Arizona teams, with the Sidewinders over the Firebirds (11-9) in the Championship at Doc Romeo.

Meanwhile, at Desert Bloom, two California teams, Lighthouse Loan and Latin Mix 2000 faced each other three times at the end of the 70 Silver bracket, with Latin Mix 2000 prevailing in the “If needed” game for the title (27-16).

And back over at Doc Romeo, the Gold Coast 75’s (CA) capped a perfect week with their 19-12 victory over the Minnesota Legends for the Men’s 75/80 Division title.

The weekend brought an influx of another 101 teams playing at almost all of the Las Vegas area softball complexes. The level of play was as exciting and competitive as it has ever been.

In the Men’s 40-Masters Division, an impressive display of power and speed was the norm from all four of the teams over the weekend at Desert Breeze, with no team escaping defeat, and closing with an exciting Championship game victory by California’s J.K., Inc. over Nevada’s Go Deep Sports (34-33), whose bottom of the seventh comeback attempt fell just short.

The Men’s 50+ Divisions saw 34 teams in Las Vegas, the largest individual age group. At Doc Romeo, the 50-55 Major Plus winners were the 50’s Sofa Kings, who a Best 2 of 3 from the 55’s MTC Softball Club.

Also at Doc Romeo, in the 50-Majors, Arizona’s Tucson Bandits rebounded from their 8th-place finish at the World Championships just three weeks prior by winning the nine-team 50-Major bracket in Las Vegas with a Championship game victory over the Colorado Mudhens (30-22).

Desert Breeze hosted the largest division of the tournament, the Men’s 50-AAA, in a closely contested bracket that, unfortunately, wasn’t decided until several days after the event.

With the score tied at 11 apiece in fifth inning of the “If needed” game between two California teams, the Barcelona Bandits and Mountain Mike’s Nor-Cal Legends, play was suspended due to a lighting outage. When the lights were restored, the teams decided not to finish the game, and the Barcelona Bandits were awarded the championship by virtue of their 25-24 Championship Game #1 win over Mountain Mikes, the only head-to-head result in the bracket between those two teams.

The 50-AA, also at Desert Breeze, saw Arizona’s Glory Daze complete an undefeated run through the bracket with a 28-16 win over Missouri’s K.C. Renegades in the Championship game.

The Men’s 55-Major Division, at Doc Romeo saw two Winter World’s newcomers meet for the title. The Burnaby Barons of British Columbia defeated Arizona’s Chicano Cubs in both the winner’s bracket final (13-12) and the Championship game (24-12) to capture their first Las Vegas title.

In the 55-AAA Division, at Desert Bloom complex, California’s Over The Edge team won in similar fashion over Wilson Trophy (CA), 23-12 in the winner’s bracket final and 25-17 in the Championship.

At Hollywood Park in the 55-AA Division, persistence was finally rewarded. Long time entrant Shannon Fence of Ohio won their first Winter World Championship after many years of making the long trek west with an exciting 7-6 Championship game win over the Chicago Blue Chips.

In the Men’s 60-Major+ Division at the Desert Bloom facility, California’s MTC Softball Club 60’s took the first 2 of 3 in their championship series with Texas’ Boaz/ASI (32-19 and 45-27) for the title.

The 60-AAA division was played at Hollywood Park and saw the Las Vegas 60’s defend last year’s crown by defeating the Master’s Marauders from British Columbia in both the winner’s bracket final (33-16) and the Championship game (22-8).

In the 60-AA at Shadow Rock, long time Winter Word’s entrant Last Call of Nevada capped a highly emotional march to the championship with their thrilling 19-18 victory over Arizona’s Sun City Sidewinders. Following the win, Last Call made a special MVP Award presentation to long-time pitcher G.W. Milks who is taking a sabbatical to attend to personal medical issues.

The Women’s Divisions came to town Friday and Saturday with impressive numbers, as 24 teams filled Sunset Park with exciting softball. In the seven-team Women’s 40-Masters, the title went to California’s TKP 40’s with their wins over Nevada’s Tharaldson Softball in both the winner’s bracket final (19-13) and a thrilling Championship game (26-25).

The Women’s 50+ Division saw Arizona’s Team TNC bring home the trophy with an unbeaten run through the six-team bracket, culminating in two narrow wins, 14-12 in the winner’s bracket final and 14-13 in the Championship game, both coming at the expense of California’s Silver Foxes.

The Women’s 55’s and 60’s Divisions featured sister teams from the California Spirit Softball organization running through their respective brackets unbeaten. In the 55’s, it was the California Spirit 55s completing an undefeated weekend with a win over California’s Aches & Pains (18-11) in the Championship. The California Spirit 60s avenged last year’s Championship game loss to the host city Las Vegas Neons by beating the Neons (15-11) to wrap up the action in the largest women’s division field in Winter World’s history.

The Winter World’s 2008 proved once again that SSUSA and Las Vegas together make for a fun kickoff to the new Senior Softball season.