We have posted our feature story on the 2005 Red Rock Tournament, “Red Rock Ends With a Twist”,
We are pleased to advise that it will appear, along with photos, in next month’s issue of Softball Magazine. (print edition). 
For convenience, you may also read it here:
Red Rock Ends with a Twist
[ST. GEORGE, UT-5/12/05]-Now in its sixth year, the Red Rock Tournament at the Canyons Complex in St. George, Utah has become one of the premier events west of the Rockies, earning a reputation for a top notch facility, spectacular scenery, and attracting top caliber teams and players, including some colder climates like Canada who look to get their season started earlier than the weather back home permits. This year, an entire team from Minnesota, Vannelli’s decided to “go west” and play at Red Rock. For the second year in a row, some of the games were broadcast live on the internet, on Ballparkradio.com. The field of teams for 2005 included several from the ISC Top 25, #19 So Cal Bombers, #20 Team Rainey, CA, and #21 Pueblo Bandits. So when an upstart new team, the California Painters, from the Central California “C†league wanted to make a run at the Red Rock title, they reached into Canada to bolster their roster. They borrowed pitchers Dean Holoien, from Saskatchewan Canada, and Wayne Wells, from Ontario Canada. Holoien is regarded by many as perhaps the best all-around player in the game, with hitting abilities to match his status as one of the game’s premier pitchers. Built like the hockey player that he was, Holoien can bring it, busting the radar gun at 83-84 mph, the fastball equivalent of the high-nineties in baseball. Holoien was a member of Team Canada, which took the silver medal team at the recent ISF World Championships. Last year, Holoien broke the ASA record for strikeouts in a game, with 21, and tossed a no-hitter in the championship game. Remarkably, the feats came against two top 25 teams, the championship game no-hitter against the reigning ISC world champions, Broken Bow, NY. Wayne Wells has pitched at the senior Canadians to level, and pitched his team to a North American title, even beyond his 40th birthday. Just for good measure, they also added a teammate of Holoien’s, and one of the premier hitters in the game, Todd Budke. Budke spent time in the New York Yankee farm system, and was a member of the 2004 ASA Men’s Major National Champions, the Farm Tavern from Madison Wisconsin. In baseball terms, these player moves were like adding Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, and Ichiro Suzuki to your roster. Also joining the club for this season is Larry Ybarra, an ISC World Tournament veteran for the So Cal Bucks and Portland teams.
Not surprisingly, the roster moves by manager Jeff Coleman placed the Painters among the pre-tournament favorites at Red Rock. But in the competition from other teams would be stiff, with several boasting rosters stocked with ISC caliber players, including the Bombers, Team Rainey, Pueblo, and Mexicali, Mexico. Though unranked, Mexicali has taken second and third place in the last couple of AAU International tournaments in Orlando, Florida. The So Cal Bombers went through a major roster overhaul for 2005, adding three players with Team USA experience, catcher Todd Garcia, and pitchers Tony Peeples and Travis Price. Peeples and Price departed last years’ Team Rainey squad, along with three other top hitters, Mike Butler, Nate Devine and Jason Porto, while Team Rainey did some reloading of their own, bringing in British Columbian ace, Bricklen Anderson, Tony Hunhoff and all around talent, Sonny Perkins, along with the nucleus of Captain Dan’s, the only team to take 2004 Red Rock champions, Broken Bow the distance.
Saturday’s Pool Play
The format for the Red Rock tournament is for the 16 teams to play three games on Saturday against teams in their respective pools, which determines seating for two 8-team single elimination brackets. The top 8 teams (two from each 4 team pool) advance to a championship bracket Sunday while the other 8 head to a consolation bracket of their own. Despite pre-tournament prognostications, several of the other teams competing in Red Rock in 2005 reminded everyone that the games are determined on the field and not on paper, providing a number of surprises in Saturday’s pool play. The relatively unknown High Desert Dawgs knocked off the So Cal Bombers first thing Saturday morning, while the Bombers dropped one and needed to win a close game against Pueblo to make the championship bracket. Both the Bombers and Painters entered Sunday as # 2 seeds from their respective pools. Four teams went 3-0 Saturday to claim the #1 seeds in their pools: the High Desert Dawgs, Team Rainey from So Cal, and two home-state Utah teams, Larry Miller Chevy from Salt Lake City and Castlewood, UT. The Painters, Bombers, Mexicali and Page Brake all finished 2-1 and claimed # 2 seeds and the other four spots in the championship bracket.
Single Elimination Sunday
On “Single Elimination Sunday”, the # 2 seeds turned the tables on the previously unbeaten top seeds. Team Rainey fell to unranked Mexicali beating Team Rainey, 5-4 in a nail biter; Castlewood fell to the Painters and Larry Miller Chevy fell to Cal Bombers. The only # 1 seed to survive the first round were the High Desert Dawgs, who topped Page Brake from Salt Lake City, Utah. By the second round, all of the # 1 seeds were gone, as the Painters run-ruled the High Desert Dawgs to claim one spot in the finals, while the So Cal Bombers bats came alive, as they eliminated Mexicali in the other.
Championship Game: California Painters vs. So Cal Bombers
The championship game was set then, an all-California final between the So Cal Bombers and the California Painters. The highly touted trio of “pick-ups” by the Painters had not disappointed. Holoien and Wells won five games between them, and Budke performed as the consummate professional hitter he is. And the “new look” So Cal Bombers lived up to their name, giving aces Peeples and Price plenty of run support.
For the championship game, Red Rock fans were treated to a dream matchup, with Dean Holoien for the Painters and Travis Price for the Bombers, two pitchers who just last year, were pitching for their respective countries at the ISF World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, Holoien for Team Canada and Price for Team USA.
The Painters struck first, scoring one run in the first on singles by Javier Fiero, Dean Holoien, and Larry Ybarra. The Bombers got even quickly, on one swing of the bat on a Mike Butler home run in the bottom of the first inning. The Bombers Arturo Solano led off the bottom of the second inning with a solo home run to put his team on top, 2-1 lead. But that lead was short-lived. In the top of the third inning, Todd Budke drew a one-out walk, advanced to third, and scored on a two-out single by Larry Ybarra, tying the game, and bringing the catcher Jeff Twist to the plate. Twist got a rise-ball-in and hit a towering 2-run homer to left field, and giving his team a 4-2 lead. The Bombers trimmed the lead to 4-3 when Mike Butler picked up his second RBI of the game, singling home Dean Waltier, who had reached on an error.
After both Holoien and Price had easy fourth innings, the game headed to the fifth. Painters’ veteran third baseman Mick Ventura led off the top of the inning with a double down the line. Ventura was erased at third on a fielder’s choice grounder to second, with a nice play turned in by Mike Butler. Price got the next hitter for the second out, bringing up Larry Ybarra, in the same situation he faced in the third — Budke aboard and two out. Once again, Ybarra hit a two out single, his third of the game, sending Budke to third, and bringing home run hero Jeff Twist to the plate with two outs. In what proved to be the pivotal moment of the game, Jeff Twist did it again – – hitting another blast, this one a three run shot for a 7-3 one lead and 5 RBI on the day. The Bombers made a pitching change, but never recovered, as Painters’ pitcher Dean Holoien settled in, and the Painters added four more runs in the sixth on singles by Jerrod Vassure, Tim Briscoe, Javier Fiero, a two-RBI single by Holoien himself, and one more by Ybarra, capping his perfect 4-for-4 game, and giving the Painters a commanding 11-3 lead. Needing one run to escape the 8-run rule, the Bombers put a couple of runners aboard in the bottom of the sixth inning, but could not score, and the California Painters were the 2005 Red Rock Champions.
Ybarra, Holoien, Wells and a Twist
The Painters’ Larry Ybarra was named the Most Valuable Player in the tournament, while pitcher Dean Holoien picked up the Most Valuable Pitcher award. Holoien smiled as he picked up the trophy, but was quick to direct the praise in Ybarra’s direction. “He must have hit .800 in the tournament” Holoien said. “I don’t think he made an out today”. Scorekeepers would tell you he wasn’t far off. Fellow Canadians Holoien and Wells both talked of returning to Red Rock. In reflecting on the weekend, Holoien said “The diamonds were in great shape, the weather was fabulous, which made it an all around great tournament to be a part of. This year’s tournament I had the great fortune to play with a team for the first time, the Painters. What a bunch! What makes this sport great is the people you meet along the way, and the Painters team is a great group of guys”.
All Tournament pitcher Wayne Wells echoed those comments, adding “The Canyons Complex is a beautiful facility to hold a major tournament, you have the scenery which is breath taking………the field were in excellent shape and remind me of the Wide World of Disney Complex in Kissimmee, FL.” Wells also mentioned enjoying the night life in nearby Mesquite where the team stayed.
Deservedly, Painters catcher Jeff Twist was named to the All-Tournament team. Certainly he was the difference maker in the championship game, with two home runs, and five RBI, on perhaps his biggest day as a fastball player, and the reason we say that the 2005 Red Rock Tournament “ended with a Twist”. Twist spent four years in professional baseball, in the farm systems for the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants, but is a relative newcomer to the game of men’s fastball, joining the Painters this year after short stints with the Sun Devils and Leafs teams. His time in professional baseball gave him the opportunity to learn the fine points of the game from such notables as manager Don Baylor, hitting instructor Art Howe, bench coach Don Zimmer, and catcher Ron Hasse. Now a teacher and baseball coach in Bakersfield California, he now passes on some of that knowledge to the young players of today. At age 31, he is looking to continue to hone his fastball skills and progress to the next level. He knows of the past greats that came from the Bakersfield area, the Ed Smith Welding teams, with Paul Magan and Steve Schultz and others. A great tradition to build upon, he suggests. Having caught major league baseball pitchers in the past, he had high praise for pitcher Dean Holoien. “My hand was sore for three days after Red Rock”, he says after catching Holoien. “He throws hard, and his ball really jumps”. “It was a great experience to catch someone of his caliber” Twist adds. A student of the game, Twist also enjoyed spending the weekend talking ball Holoien, Budke, and USA Jr. men’s coach, Tim Lyon, players he says “know a lot about the right approach to the game.†You can bet that when the 7th annual Red Rock rolls around in 2006, Twist will have a harder time flying under the radar of opposing pitchers.
Most Valuable Team: City of St. George Grounds Crew
After awarding the Most Valuable Player and Pitcher trophies, tournament directors Ken Hackmeister (ISC), Josh Olmstead (City of St. George) and Roy Stout (UIC) talked of the most valuable team. “That had to be the grounds crew for the City of St. George. With the heavy rain that fell earlier in the week, it was remarkable that they had the fields ready to play by Saturday morning. The fields were under water. They worked round the clock the last two days before the tournament began, to have ready to go for the tournament. You really have to commend them for the job they did”