Reno Championships Hits Limit at 204 Teams - Organizers Expanding to 2nd Weekend in 2010

Sept. 1, 2009 – Dave Dowell National Director

RENO, NV ― Senior Softball USA’s 22nd annual Rock ‘n Reno Challenge Cup kicked off the summer tournament season with a bang. The “Biggest Little City in the World” swelled considerably as 204 Senior Softball teams took in the nightlife and beautiful scenery in addition to the softball for a jam- packed week of fun. The tournament historically has been the sport’s largest National Qualifier with this year’s team total shattering the previous record of 171 teams, set just last year.

“Rock ‘n Reno has been such a popular tournament for many years, and with the opportunity now to play a large part of the schedule at Golden Eagle, the growth surprised even us,” said Terry Hennessy, SSUSA’s chief executive officer.

“The facilities are first rate, the regional area offers wonderful support for us and there’s something fun and affordable for every player and their families,” added Hennessy. In December at the SSUSA National Convention, the Golden Eagle Regional Park softball complex in Sparks was named the “National Complex of the Year” for 2008.

The first session kicked off on May 26 with 60 teams (a record for the session) in the Men’s 65’s, 70’s, 75’s and 80’s playing at all three of the Reno-Sparks facilities. Divisions were large and competition spirited in all levels of play. Winners received a nice awards package for the individual team members and the highly coveted invitation to the 2010 SSUSA Tournament of Champions in Polk County, Fla., in February.

In the Men’s 65-Platinum, seven teams competed in the Major-Plus and Major ratings for seeding the respective brackets. The Nor-Cal Bluejays (CA) capped an unbeaten week by defeating the W.E. Ruth Realty (WA) in both the winner’s bracket final (22-17) and the Championship Game (19-14). After a slow start in seeding for the 65-Major, the Scrap Iron 65’s (CO) held off the top seeded Las Vegas Elks (NV) in two closely contested thrillers, 14-13 in the winner’s bracket final and 17-14 in the championship.

The Men’s 65-AAA had a diverse group of nine teams, from New Mexico all the way to the upper Northwest. In an impressive display of timely hitting and solid defense, C.E. John’s (OR) also escaped the week unbeaten on the way to their title, with wins over the Lincoln Hills Coyotes (CA) in the winner’s bracket final (25-8) and the Championship game (20-4).

It was a bit more interesting in the Men’s 65-AA eight-team division, with no team avoiding defeat. In the end, it was British Columbia’s Moonraker Pub winning from the #5 seed, with victories over the Sacramento Blues in the winner’s bracket final (26-13) and again in the championship game (16-9).

The Men’s 70’s division was also the largest in tournament history, featuring 26 teams. Like their counterparts in the 65’s, the Men’s 70-Platinum featured multiple teams from the Major-Plus and Major ratings. The San Francisco Seals captured the 70-Major-Plus title with a championship game win over The Bellettini (WA) in a see-saw game, ultimately 14-11 for the Seals. The Major division was captured by Thousand Oaks (CA) with consecutive wins over the Seattle 70’s, 10-5 in the winner’s bracket final and impressively over a loser’s bracket weary Seattle team in the championship (16-1).

The Men’s 70-AAA was the age group debut for Oregon’s PDR•Fastsigns, graduated from the Men’s 65’s in 2008 where they enjoyed consistent success. The 70’s proved to be more of the same, as they completed an unbeaten week with wins over the Renegades (CA) in the winner’s bracket final (12-10) and the Lighthouse Loans (CA) in the championship game (21-14). The 70-AA division was the largest of the session, with an 11-team field playing a multitude of close games marked by last at-bat wins by too many teams to list. In the end, another unbeaten champion emerged as Central California’s Physiomotion finished strongly with their winner’s bracket final defeat of the Sonoma (CA) Fog (15-6) and championship game victory over California’s Chiefs 70’s (10-1).

The Men’s 75’s also featured seven teams, once again their largest age group turnout in tournament history. Both brackets ran true to form after seeding rounds, with the top seeds winning their respective brackets in unbeaten fashion. Fairway Ford (CA) won the 75-Major Plus over Joseppi’s (WA) in the championship game (14-8) while the Sacramento Gold overwhelmed the field, ending with a championship game win over So. California’s Top Gun Jets (19-5).

For the first time in tournament history, the game’s eldest Statesmen had their own free standing division and championship. The Tiodize D-99 (CA) squad won all four of their round-robin games, finishing off their own unbeaten week with an 18-8 victory over runner-up River Hawks 80’s of Sacramento.

Friday’s sunrise brought another 144 teams into the tournament for the Women’s divisions and the Men’s divisions from ages 40’s though 60’s, requiring expanded scheduling into the beautiful Centennial Park Sports Complex in Carson City. Every available game time slot was filled, and traditional tournament formats were adjusted to meet the demand, working around pre-existing local league play on Friday.

The Men’s 50-Major Plus had an impressive six-team field, playing a full round robin into a single championship game. The Seacrest Mavericks (CA) defeated NorCal’s 5-Spot (24-21) in the final, with both teams not losing to any other teams in the field.

The 10-team 50-Major’s also played a five-game round robin to seed a “Final Four” single elimination bracket. True to form, the top two seeds met in the championship game, with the top-seed East Bay Oldies (CA) winning 26-17 over the second see Scrap Iron Colorado Mudhens.

The Men’s 50-AAA was another large bracket, with 11 teams competing for spots in the Final Four portion. The fourth-seeded JU Entertainment (CA) barely made the bracket, winning the final fourth seed by virtue of the second tie-breaker, but made the most of it. JU won a thriller in the final, 17-16 over the Las Vegas 50’s, avenging a close loss to the same club in the “If” game of the SSUSA’s Spring World Championships in Utah in March.

In what should have been the simplest of divisions, the Men’s 50-AA, rain on Saturday evening threw a glitch into the plan. The last two round-robin games were rained out, but all five teams advanced to a single elimination finals, with the top-seeded SoCal Knights winning close games over Enterprise Electric (ID) 11-8 and the Nevada Silver Stars (19-16) to take home the title.

The six-team Men’s 55-Major Plus played the same format as the 50-Major Plus, a full five-game round robin in Carson City into a single championship game between top seeded W.E. Ruth Realty (WA) and second-seeded MTC Softball Club (CA), with MTC squeezing out a 20-18 championship game victory.

The nine-team Men’s 55-Major, also played at Carson City, was highly competitive throughout, with the second seeded Master Collision (CO) putting up some very impressive numbers in their 36-17 Championship Game victory over the NorCal Reds.

The ten-team 55-AAA division was yet another group at Carson City featuring closely contested games and the seeding for the Final Four in doubt until the last round of games. The fourth seeded Top Gun III squad from Southern California, playing inspired softball in the memory of a recently passed team member, upset both top seeds in thrilling fashion, first over the Reno Express (24-23) in the Semi-final and Timberworks Construction (CA) in the championship, 28-23.

In a rarity for the weekend, there was an unbeaten champion in the Men’s 55-AA division as the California Black Hawks were one of only three teams in the entire tournament to complete a perfect 7-0 tournament with Final Four wins over Rexius of Oregon (12-11) and California’s No Limit (15-10).

Another of those perfect 7-0 teams captured the Men’s 60-Major Plus division. In a truly remarkable field of eight teams ranging from Florida to Washington, California’s Old A’s•Miken demonstrated once again why they are always in the mix as Sunday afternoon rolls around. They defeated a strong Miken•Tanel club from Florida in the semifinals (29-21) and capped off their spotless run in the championship game with an offensive outburst to end their 38-21 win over Arizona’s GSF.

The Men’s 60-Major featured a strong six-team field, playing a full round robin into a single championship game. As was the case in the 50-Major-Plus, the top two seeds met in the final, with top-seeded Robson Ranch (AZ) winning a thrilling come from behind 20-19 championship game. Neither of these teams lost to any other team in the field for the weekend.

In one of the larger tournament divisions, the 12-team Men’s 60-AAA, the four teams that made the playoffs had an impressive combined 17-3 record in round-robin play. Something had to give in the Final Four, with Central California’s Game On getting hot at exactly the right time, defeating the Animals (CA) 26-8 and Oregon’s Jeld-Wen Communities 22-9 for the championship.

The Men’s 60-AA Division was the largest of the tournament, with 13 teams vying for a scant four spots in the playoffs. Colorado’s Scrap Iron Diamonds became the last of the three 7-0 teams for the week, sweeping through the round robin unbeaten before closing things out with a hard fought victory over the previously unbeaten Austin Lonestars (17-11).

The final men’s division, the 10-team 40-Masters, began play on Saturday in Carson City and played deep into the night to get their games in prior to splitting for single elimination brackets on Sunday. In the 40-Masters Major-Plus, featuring the top five seeded teams, JK Inc. (CA) capped a perfect 6-0 weekend with a 23-17 Championship game victory over the NorCal Stars. Their counterparts in the 40-Masters Major division bracket experienced a bit of a surprise, as the fifth, and last, seeded NorCal Stars swept through the bracket unbeaten, defeating their NorCal neighbors, PTV (Pass The Vicodin) by a 20-10 score in the championship.

The Women’s Divisions 50 and over began play on Friday at the Shadow Mountain Softball Complex in Sparks, their home for the entire tournament, with the Women’s 40-Masters joining the fun on Saturday. The 31 Women’s teams represented yet another record-breaking attendance figure, easily surpassing the 24 teams from the prior year. The only disappointment of the weekend was the loss of two complete rounds of games, eight total, in the 40-Masters and 50+ divisions Saturday night due to rain outs.

In the eight-team 40-Masters, the Old School 40’s (CA) completed a perfect 6-0 weekend with Final Four wins over the Arizona Saints (17-2) and Team K.H.A.O.S. of California (16-15) for the title. They may have been able to match the 7-0 supremacy of their men’s counterparts had the rain not cost them a game.

The Women’s 50’s division, with another large 10-team field, saw spirited close competition throughout, with two familiar foes meeting in the championship. The fourth-seeded California Spirit 50 barely squeaked into the Final Four on a tie breaker, but also made the most of it, upsetting the top seeded California Silver Foxes (16-15) in the semifinal and California’s Ladies Choice in the Final by a 9-3 score.

The seven-team Women’s 55’s also saw two familiar foes facing off in the championship. The second-seeded California Spirit 55 matched the accomplishment of their “younger sisters” with an impressive 21-5 victory over the Tucson Classics.

The Women’s 60’s also had a perfect set-up for the most pure of seeding processes, as the six teams played a full round robin to seed the championship game final. Arizona’s Golden Saints finished with a perfect 6-0 record following their exciting 12-11 win over the California Express. Every other team in the division lost at least two games during the weekend, making their run very impressive.

As the sun set on Sunday evening, thoughts were already turning to next year’s event. The recent growth of the Rock ‘n Reno Challenge Cup has been astounding, and is greatly appreciated by everyone. Plans are in the works to successfully accommodate the future of the largest National Qualifier in the country.

---------------------

Dave Dowell is an SSUSA National Director and its Schedule Consultant for all of their events. He also served as the lead Field Director at the 2009 Rock ‘n Reno Challenge Cup. He can be reached at dave@seniorsoftball.com. Complete game scores and bracket results are available online at the SSUSA’s web site: www.seniorsoftball.com.