Rose Cup - Post Tournament Sunday Night Summary

The Broken Bow Spirit of Amsterdam NY captured the 2004 Portland DeMarini Rose Cup championship with a 6-0 win over Team Rainey of Whittier, California Sunday afternoon at Delta Park.

Frank Cox was the winning pitcher, as the Spirit finished the tournament with a perfect 6-0 record. BBS started the day as one of two #1 pool play seeds, earning a first round bye, defeated Morgan Transfer of Olympia WA 8-0 in the quarterfinals, followed by a 13-2 mercy rule win over host Portland DeMarini in the semis, to put them into the championship game.

For Team Rainey, it was the second year in a row that they reached the championship game, and the second year that they found themselves facing the defending ISC World Champions and #1 team in the world in the finals. (Last year, it was St. Joe's Frontier Casino Players) Team Rainey reached the finals this year with a 2-0 win over the Fullerton Leafs in a 9am opening round game, behind the pitching of Tony Peeples, followed by a quarterfinal win over #6 ranked Victoria Travellers Inn, 10-2, with Travis Price picking up the win. Rainey brought out the big bats in that one, as Chris Wright, Nate Devine and Mike Butler all homered, Butler hitting two, his second and third home runs on the tournament. Peeples struck out 11 in the semis against Castlewood, as Rainey defeated the Utah team and advanced to the finals.

For Broken Bow, it marked the second tournament victory in as many months, after their Red Rock tournament win in May, as chronicled in the latest edition of Softball Magazine.

Ryan Wolfe was named the Most Valuable Player of the Rose Cup tournament, creating havoc from the leadoff spot all weekend long, and playing some great defense in centerfield. In the championship game, Wolfe ran through the portable fencing to take a home run away from Rainey's Nate Devine. Gerald Muizelaar was the Most Valuable pitcher, picking up two wins yesterday and two more today.

Host Portland DeMarini and Castlewood tied for third, reaching the final four. Castlewood outpeformed fastpitchwest voters, which predicted that the top finishing ISC-II team would fare no better than 6th place.

It will be an interesting week as the ISC ranking committees consider the results of this tournament, which included a number of upsets, including two notables today, with #17 Team Rainey knocking off #6 Victoria Travellers Inn, and ISC-II #24 River City Rockers knocking off #10 ranked Vancouver Grey Sox. For Team Rainey, it was another win over a higher ranked opponent, added to the list which now includes #7 Midland, #9 Houston and #13 Portland DeMarini.

For Tom Ree and the folks in Portland, we echo the comments of the players who describe this tournament as one of the best around, and one that they don't want to miss next season. It was a weekend of perfect weather in Portland under sunny skies, shorts and shirtsleeves weather.

We'll be updating the site in the next day or so, so check back for more later, including Maddy's photo gallery, coming soon to a theater or drive in near you.

Click here for box score and play by play, courtesy of the www.bowspirit.com website.