From: NAFA Rocky Mountain
To: Web content manager
Re: 2009 NAFA Wood Bat World Series
Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009
J Train (Kansas) fends off Denver Dawgs for NAFA Wood Bat World Series title
LONGMONT, Colo. — The Jaso family and fireballer Ray Foster engineered a championship effort Sunday, Aug. 30, as J Train out of Newton, Kan., captured the 2009 NAFA Wood Bat World Series title.
Featuring 11 men’s fastpitch softball teams competing at Clark Centennial Park in Longmont, Colo., the North American Fastpitch Association event was the culmination of the annual wood bat series.
J Train lost its first two games in pool play Saturday before reeling off four straight wins Sunday to seize the championship, defeating the upstart Denver Dawgs 4-1 in the finale. Foster was named tourney MVP.
“We were on it today. Everything was just clicking,” J Train coach Ray Jaso said. “Our hitting came around. We were just on top of our game today.”
Featuring a mix of young players and veterans, including five players with the Jaso surname, J Train was competing in its first wood bat tourney.
“We went in there with the mindset that we were swinging aluminum — don’t change anything, just go with your regular approach,” left fielder Ray Jaso Jr. said. “Just swing the bat like usual. On defense, you have to play a lot more shallow, because not everyone can hit the ball 275 feet.”
Accomplished right-handed pitcher Foster limited the potent Dawgs lineup to just one run in his career debut in a wood bat event. “It was great. It’s an experience I will never forget,” said Foster, who pitches for the Manor (Texas) Dirtbags and the Ohio Battery 50-and-over team.
Foster, who lives in St. Joseph, Missouri, has helped the Houston Diablos win the past four Latin nationals championships, earning Most Valuable Pitcher accolades twice. Sunday, he was backed by a cast of rising fastpitch stars with baseball backgrounds.
“We’ve known these kids for quite a few years. They’ve come up through the hardball leagues, now they’ve started into fastpitch as young men. They’re starting to develop pretty good. We had a real good time,” Foster said.
The tournament featured an 11-team field divided into three pools. Saturday, the Englewood Dragons, champs of the inaugural NAFA Wood Bat event in 2007, went 2-0 to win Pool A, blanking the Boulder Rebels 4-0 and edging Todd’s Trailer Sales 6-4. Todd’s later defeated the host team, the Rebels, 4-2.
In Pool B, Fort Collins emerged with two shutout wins, blanking the Denver Renegades 9-0 and Boulder Blaze 5-0. The Renegades topped the Oregon Masters 9-1 and the Blaze defeated Oregon 7-1.
The Dawgs unleashed the offense in an 11-6 win against Los Campesinos and defeated J Train to win Pool C. The Colorado Rage also went 2-0, with a 4-3 win against J Train and a 7-0 blanking of Los Campesinos.
In elimination play Sunday, Todd’s defeated Los Campesinos, the Rebels outlasted the Renegades, and J Train dispatched Oregon. In the next round, Todd’s defeated Fort Collins in a rematch of the two teams that tied for the 2008 NAFA Wood Bat Nationals title. The Dawgs broke open a tight game late to eliminate the Rebels, J Train rallied late to clip the Dragons, and Rage defeated the Blaze.
In the semifinals, J Train won a thriller with the Rage, 5-3, scoring four runs in the fifth inning on RBI hits by Ray Jaso Jr. and Rico Garcia. In the seventh, pitcher Albert Garcia got Rage shortstop Bobby Quick, who played stellar defense in the game, to pop out with the potential tying runs on base.
The Dawgs upset Todd’s 5-4 in the semifinals behind a stellar pitching effort from Edward “Too Tall” Walker, who earned Most Valuable Pitcher honors for the tournament. Todd’s managed just four hits off Walker, while Tim Thorton (2-for-2, walk), Dominic Carra (2-for-3) and Brandon Bobican (2-run double) paced the Dawgs attack.
In the championship game, the Dawgs broke through in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly by player/coach Rich Arellano. Keyed by Rico Garcia’s basehit to right, J Train tied the game in the third off Dawgs pitcher Steve Amaya. In the fourth, Andy Jaso and Donavan Scott laced RBI singles to make it 3-1, and that was all Foster needed.
Center fielder Brett Warkentine reeled in a bomb at the fence off the bat of former Colorado State-Pueblo catcher Tyrone Sandoval, and second baseman Andy Jaso made a nice play to end another Dawgs threat. J Train added an unearned run in the sixth, and Foster wrapped up the title with a strikeout in the bottom of the seventh.
“We had a great day,” Foster said. “We had a rough time yesterday with our sticks. The wood bats were a little different for us.. Today we kind of put it together and our sticks came around. It took a whole team effort to win it.”
The Dawgs, a mix of players who formerly competed with the Rookies and the Comets, were playing in just their fifth tourney of the summer. The team won the lower division at the Steamboat Springs metal bat tourney in July.
“Overall we had a good weekend,” said Arellano, who gets a boost on the coaching side from dad Rich, a veteran fastpitch player in the Denver region. “I’m very pleased with the way my guys played. Too Tall was our force this weekend. He was great.”
Walker, one of the most intimidating pitchers in the game, was a member of the 2007 champion Dragons team. “I credit it to my catcher, Tyrone [Sandoval],” Walker said. “He made me hit spots in and out, up and down. I had good defense around me, I felt comfortable, and he made me feel like I could throw any pitch I want, at any time. When my catcher asks me to hit a spot, I hit it.”
Raymond Jaso Jr., Tony Jaso Sr., Rico Garcia and Albert Garcia earned All-World honors for J Train. Sandoval, Joe Lucero and center fielder Carra were named to the All-World team for the Dawgs.
Other All-World team selections:
Colorado Rage
Wade Webster, Steve McFadden, Travis Bruley
Todd’s Trailer Sales
Cory Bentzinger, Travis Boyle
Dragons
Brian Sullivan, Larry Markwell
Boulder Rebels
Christian Moore
Tournament sponsors were the Boulder Rebels Fastpitch Club, the Haag Bat Co. (Parker, Colo.), Benjie Hedgecock of the North American Fastpitch Association (Dayton, Ore.), the Dean Parker family (Rawlins, Wyo.) and the Dave Parker family (Lafayette, Colo.)
For more information and/or photos, contact NAFA Rocky Mountain Commissioner Dave Parker, daparker@wyoming.com.
