Cal Cup Draws 58 Teams

Sept. 1, 2013 – Giovanni Crotti

Warriors, MTC, STIXX, Royals, Buds Among Winners

Softball News Report

For the second year in a row, Placer County hosted the California State Championships, much to the delight of players, managers and families.

Drawing teams to Placer County is not very difficult as it boasts beautiful fields and amazing softball weather. Fifty-eight teams (55 from California) fought tremendously hard to see who would be named the best of the best in this Golden State classic.

“The weather like the competition heated up as the week went on,” said Tournament Director Dave Dowell. “There is no wonder why this tournament draws as well as it does year in and year out. Each team brings their A-game to be crowned California State champion.”

The ultra-competitive Men’s 40 Masters Division paired three Major Plus and six Major teams for pool play before they broke out in their own brackets.

In the 40 Major Plus bracket, Prestige/Premier of Stockton entered as the last seed, but played their best when it counted and won the bracket as they beat the top seed twice to claim first place.

The 40 Masters Major Division saw the second seed SBS40 from Folsom slice through the winner’s bracket to set up a showdown with Needle Madness. In this matchup of teams with only one loss in the tournament, SBS40 showed great poise and knocked off Needle Madness 27-21 in the championship game to reign supreme.

The Men’s 50/55 Platinum division, the largest of the tournament, produced two winners in this mixed bracket. The Nor Cal Warriors raced through the winner’s bracket to become the 50 Major champions while MTC 55’s, after losing to the Nor Cal Warriors in the winner’s bracket, made their way through the loser’s bracket to become the 55 Major Plus winner.

The 50/55/60 Platinum division was an all-California affair pitting teams from both north and south parts of the state.

In bracket play, the 50/55 Gold division was the most competitive division in the tournament, with five out of the six games decided by a single run. In the championship game where Sonoma County Crush defeated North State Extreme 16-15 to garner the top honor.

The 60 Major Plus bracket matched two familiar foes as Timberworks Construction out of Yuba City faced off against the Old Dawgs out of Sacramento. In the first game, Timberworks eked out a close victory 14-13. The championship game, however, was a different story as Timberworks outlasted the Old Dawgs 24-14 to land the first place trophy.

Viejitos and Norcal Storm both proved to be the cream of the crop in the 55/60 Gold Division. After going through the pool games as the second and fifth seeds respectively, both teams fought hard to make it through the bracket. After Viejitos beat Norcal Storm 12-2 and knocked them to the loser’s bracket, Norcal Storm beat No Dice in a close 16-15 game to make it to the championship game. By virtue of their different age divisions, Viejitos was named the 55AAA division champ while Norcal Storm was declared the 60 Major champion.

It took an “IF” game but the Nor-Cal STIXX pulled off an impressive run to take home the 60AAA crown. After losing to the Sacramento Islanders in the winner’s bracket, the Nor-Cal STIXX would not be denied and made their way into the championship game. They exacted revenge on the Sacramento Islanders by winning 14-12 and then 15-11 in the “IF” game to conclude their great run with a first place finish.

Islanders Gold took the 60AA division in impressive fashion as they beat their opponents 13-3 and 17-6 in bracket play to win the three-team division.

Eight teams competed in the 65/70 Gold Division. Omen 65 bested Streamline Circuits three times in the tournament, which included their 15-5 victory in the championship game to wrap up the 65/70 Major Plus title.

The 65 Gold Division bracket went true to form as the top seed Mustangs from Livermore faced off against the No. 2 seed Old Dawgs 65 in the championship game. A back-and-forth game saw the Mustangs prevail 13-7 to end a magical weekend with a championship.

After the Sacramento Buds finished pool play, they went into bracket play as the No. 2 seed in the three-team 65AA division. After a hard fought 20-15 win over Physiomotion, the men from Sacramento continued their winning ways beating top seed the Sacramento Blues, 16-15. The rematch of the first-round game against Physiomotion had the same result as the Sacramento Buds wrapped up the tournament and a 65 AA division title by the score of 16-4.

RWC State Roofing Systems went a perfect 6-0 in the tournament and won all of their games in impressive fashion to take the five-team 70 Gold division.

The 75AAA Division featured three teams from Northern California. After a very even pool play session where all three teams ended up with a 2-2 record, Sacramento Gold reigned supreme as they beat State Roofing Systems 16-11 to claim the title of best 75AAA team in California.

For complete scores, bracket results, and All Tournament Player lists, please visit the California State Championships Tournament page at www.seniorsoftball.com.