Softball For The Win

We are the Champions. Back-to-Back Championships which makes it even sweeter. The tournament director challenged us to try for a three-peat because no one has ever done that before. Of course he also does not want us to defect to Las Vegas as most of the country does because it is a bigger and better tournament. We can't afford the trip, so we have not been. Our big expensive trip every year is the World Series (more on that later).

So we had to beat the three teams who came in first, second, and third to in the Ft Lauderdale to win the Orlando Championship. We beat the team that won Ft. Lauderdale twice, including the round robin win. It was a great feeling and much fun.

The first game of the day was the Winner's Bracket Championship. Win it, and we were guaranteed at least 2nd place because we were in the Championship Game. A loss would have meant we would have had to win three games to win it all. Look up 2-Game Elimination tournaments format if you want to know more details about how tournaments work. Or just ask me.

We were ready and beat the team that came in second in Ft. Lauderdale soundly. I believe the score was 13-4 and a few defensive changes by head coach (who was coaching his first game of this tournament as he was playing with his upper division team until this game but they were knocked out yesterday) cost us runs and gave the other team a chance to come back. Anyway, we won and I processed the poor coaching move and moved on. We were in the Championship game.

We waited for that team to play the third place Launderdale finishers and they lost that game too in a squeaker so the finals were set. Two Orlando teams. The team we had to play, Onslaught, had beaten us in the regular season and were definitely the most improved team in our division. They have a great pitcher, great bats, and good fielding. We had to bring our A game and we did.

We won 4-3. The difference was defense. A few really spectacular plays saved the game in the final two innings as they were creeping back with a run in the first and two more in the fifth after we opened up with three in the first and one more in the second. We played seven innings. We won three, tied three, and lost one. We did it, Back-2-Back Orlando Meltdown Champions.

So it was a great tournament. We had much fun and came together even more as a team on the field. No one hung out after the two days though. They all go their own ways, mostly socializing in couples or going out to clubs with the club crowd. It would be great if we all bonded off the field too, but I am happy we are tightening up on the field as it is fun to play well as a team and not have too many outside pick-up players.

Yay for softball. I want more. I should summaries more immediately after games as memories are in the details.

Narf. :)