2016 SPRING TRAINING CLASSIC RECAP

March 1, 2016

PHOENIX --- The Spring Training Classic started off March as the 40’s, 65’s, 70’s and 75’s began the tournament with the first session March 5th-6th while the 50’s, 55’s and 60’s concluded the tournament during the second session March 12th-13th.

Starting off the tournament with the first session in the 40’s division, T's Train/Team Kleen OG 40's went 4-1 in bracket play to take the top spot. T’s Train started off 3-0, defeating Sons of Thunder 19-16; Tucson Hammertime 27-16, and AZ Regulators  24-23; before falling to Regulators 25-23 in the championship game, forcing the “if” game. After falling to T’s Train in their first matchup, Regulators defeated Hammertime 20-15 in the loser’s bracket to get back into the championship picture. In the “if” game, T’s Train took the rubber match 19-9 to earn the tournament victory.

In the 65/70 division, Hooters/Ginco, AZ Ancient and Real Estate Pros all had strong showings on day one, as all three teams posted a perfect 3-0 record. Moving to day two, Poncho’s went 2-0 defeating both Tri-City Diamondbacks and Hooters/Ginco in the three-team 70 division. In the 65 division, which was split between AAA and major, Desert Bats defeated NM Boomers in the AAA final, while Real Estate Pros defeated AZ Ancient in the major division. Bennett Property Management, JABOG and ROX all participated as exhibition teams.

Moving onto session two, in the 50 Major Division, Tucson Hammertime came out of the elimination bracket by knocking off Arizona Old School 11-10 and then edging out Phoenix Bulldawgz in the championship final 9-8. Tucscon Hammertime avenged an earlier loss to Phoenix Bulldawgz 14-9, knocking Hammertime down into the elimination bracket.

Benefiting from its No. 1 seed following a perfect 4-0 record in seeding play, AZ Primetime earned an automatic spot in the championship game and defeated Thunderstruck 16-9 to win the 50 AAA Division.

The 55 Major Division saw the Tucson Bandits avenge an early loss in bracket play and come out of the elimination bracket to defeat Arizona Old School 55M 23-19 in a rematch in the championship game.

Arizona Old School 55M defeated Tucson Bandits 22-14 knocking the Bandits into the elimination bracket. The Bandits bounced back with a slim victory over AZ Legends 23-22 to set up the rematch.

Santisi also benefitted from its top seed after going 4-0 in seed play, earning a spot in the championship game, where they edged out Arizona Old School 55A, 20-19.

As the No. 4 seed, CJ & S Express went a perfect 3-0 in bracket play to win the 60 AAA Division.

Top seed New Mexico Boomers, 60 AA, also went 3-0 in bracket play to win the championship.