From Fastpitchwest’s “Leagues” section:

Palm Springs I

[PALM SPRINGS, CA – 03/26/06] -After dropping their first two round robin games on Saturday, Fernie Ramirez’s Panteras squad reeled off five consecutive wins, including three in Sunday’s single elimination bracket play, to capture the first So Cal ASA “A/B” league weekend tournament title of the 2006 season. The Panteras saved their best for last, posting a convincing 13-3 run-rule victory over Rude-Pac in the championship game. Along the way, the Panteras knocked off two teams in Sledgehammer’s California Top 10, # 6 Savala Rounders and # 9 Rude Pac, the latter twice, making a strong case for inclusion in the next set of rankings.

Panteras starter Bobby Lara went the distance for the win, after Jesse Duncan pitched the squad to a 6-2 semi-final win over the Black Sox to get the Panteras into the final. If you were looking for a player of the game (and day), it might well be Anthony Rocha, the ;power hitting shortstop for the team. Rocha hit a key home run against the Black Sox in the semi-finals, then homered and doubled in the same inning (the 10 run fifth), driving in 3 runs. Eli Salazar nearly matched him, also homering in the semi-final win over the Sox, and hitting a triple and single in the championship game, and driving in 3 runs.

Click link above for complete recap, including scoring summary from Championship game, along with Sunday’s Elimination bracket, scores, and photos.

From So Cal ASA Website: Click here for Standings and Stats:

The standings for the first week have been posted. The Panteras lead the A/B Classification by one over Rude-Pac. In the C Classification, the So Cal Hustlers are on top with a one point lead over the Express. Even though the Express won the tournament, the Hustlers came out on top as a result of the wins during the round robin. To view the standings, press the button above marked Standings.

STATS
The stats from the first week on now available. Press the links below for the tournament leaders or the button on the top row marked Statistics to see the team stats.

The Palm Springs Express won the first So Cal ASA “C” division league weekend Sunday, with a victory over the runner-up Hustlers in the champions game at 1:15pm Sunday at De Muth Park in Palm Springs, after knocking off the So Cal Rebels in the semi-finals, 8-0, behind the pitching of Graham Balog. The win marked the first time that the Express has brought home the gold on their home turf. The Hustlers earned a spot in the title tilt with win over Level One Raymar.

Injury Report: We are sorry to report that Don Vilander of the Gamecocks suffered a broken wrist, in two places on Saturday, and had to go to the ER in Palm Springs for a cast. He was struck by the ball while batting. The prognosis is the usual for broken bones, 6 weeks, so he’s likely to miss the next league tournament or two. (now I have company on the DL). For those of you who don’t know Don, he is Tyler Vilander’s dad.

Fernie Ramirez’s Panteras posted a 10-spot in the 5th inning, to break a 3-3 tie in the championship game with Rude Pac. Anthony Rocha started the inning off with an inside-the-park-home-run, sliding in safely on a bang-bang play that set the wheels in motion for the Panteras. Rocha drove in another run in the same inning, as the Panteras pulled away for a 13-3 run rule victory. Bobby Lara picked up the win, over a tired Doug Rooney in the championship game. The two teams were playing their 7th game of the weekend, and Rude Pac was down to just nine players, and no relief for Rooney.

The Panteras eliminated San Diego Primetime in the quarterfinals, and topped the Long Beach Black Sox 6-2 in a semi-final game behind the pitching of Jesse Duncan.

Rude Pac opened the weekend as the #9 ranked team in California, and made a strong case that they belong in that top 10 with their runner up finish in Palm Springs. The champion Panteras entered the weekend unranked, and will certainly must be considered for a spot on the strength of their opening weekend championship.

Click here for the complete recap.

After an opening weekend rainout to start the month of March, the SoCal ASA got their season started Saturday under sunny skies at De Muth Park in Palm Springs. The league has been revamped substantially, with a half dozen of the top “C” teams from 2005 bumped up to the “A/B” division.

Click here for Saturday’s Scoreboard from the Round Robin portion of the tournament.

With most of the pre-season talk focused on veteran ballplayers being added to roster or moving from one team to the other, it was youth that was served on Saturday, as the Young Bucks went 3-1 and grabbed the top seed and first round bye for Sunday’s single elimination bracket. Of course, it didn’t hurt the talented Santa Barbara squad to have a veteran Buck on the mound, in the form of manager Clyde Bennett’s son Mark Bennett, who pitched in 3 of the Bucks 4 games, enroute to a 3-1 record Saturday. The Santa Barbara Young Bucks, whch finished 2nd in last year’s 23 and under Nationals, was the only team to notch 3 wins in 4 round robin games Saturday. The Young Bucks top seed earned them a first round bye while the other 6 teams slug it out Sunday morning in single elimination bracket play.

Mark Bennett would be the first to concede that, having passed his 40th birthday, he no longer qualifies as a “young” buck. But with their regular ace, Anthony Martinez pitching for his regular season team, the Amigos, the Young Bucks were happy to have the dominant veteran starter in the circle. Mark is a member of the 2006 ISC level CR/Portland team, expected to play in Kitchener, Ontario Canada in August. He is no stranger to ISC World Tournament competition, having been the mainstay for the Santa Barbara Bucks, at a number of world tournaments, and was the face of the team to many So Cal fans. At 6’8″, he casts an imposing figure on the diamond, and showed Saturday that he can still dominate a game.

The Young Bucks dropped their nightcap (and starting at 11:30pm, I do mean nightcap), a 6-5 thriller to San Diego Primetime, in which the “kids” rallied to tie the game at 5 before Primetime scored the game winner in the 7th.

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