The first annual SCIFL Las Vegas Road Trip is in the books and New Image
of Wisconsin and the Caribbean of California were crowned the winners in
their divisions. While the tournament had some growing pains by being
held in new venue, the weather was perfect for fast pitch. Twenty teams
from four states were entered with two champions from last year's NAFA
World Series and two 23 and under teams. Not to be ignored, the rest of
the entries had plenty of softball experience and there were some
surprises and upsets.
In the Upper Division, New Image rolled to a perfect 4-0 record with
wins over Team Lumpy's of Utah, Rude-Pac and Amigos of California and
Innovative Communications of Utah in the Championship game. Jeramie
Holman and Josh Johnson each pitched 14 innings in the
tournament. Holman struck out 12 with an ERA of 1.50 and Johnson struck
out 18 with an ERA of 2.00. On offense, they were supported by Brent
Holman who went 8 for 14 for a .571 average. Also Jerrod Johnson and
Kris Agnew each hit .462 and scoring scoring 6 times. Jerrod also had 2
doubles over the weekend.
Innovative took the long way to the Championship game by playing 4 games
in a row on Sunday to make it to the Championship game. Counting
Saturdays late game, they made a clean sweep of five California teams in
a row. Steve Black led the Innovative pitching staff with 13 innings and
getting 13 strikeouts and not allowing a base on balls while posting a
2.15 ERA. Jody Osborne had the big bat for Innovative going .500 for the
weekend with 8 hits, two of them doubles, and 4 RBI's.
In the "A" bracket the Caribbean's went into the Championship game as
the undefeated team and faced another Southern California team, the Palm
Springs Express. The game was scoreless into the bottom of the seventh
until Palm Springs loaded the bases and "Big Hank" Prior brought home
the winning run. But the Caribbeans were not to be denied of the their
first Championship and came back to beat the Express behind four plus
innings of relief pitching by Gilbert Joiner to earn the win.
Additional information to be posted the SCIFL at www.scifastptich.com
web site shortly, including the completed brackets and stats. Photo's
by Maddy Flanagan will be posted on www.Fastpitchwest.com later this
weekend as well.
Make plans to attend the second annual Las Vegas Road Trip the weekend
of April 4th and 5th 2009. Also, the SCIFL plans to run a tournament in
Las Vegas in October. Please feel free to contact me if you have any
questions regarding these events.
Robert Hernandez
NAFA Pacific Coast VP
P.O. Box 1891
Anaheim, CA 92806
rmh323@roadrunner.com714-392-1387
