Remember the fellow on the Saskatoon forum board who posted his predictions for the AAU tournament? I’ve reprinted his predictions below, with the actual results. Not too shabby, considering there were 40 teams.
From the Sask Jr. D’back board:
He predict the following Elite 8 (5 out of 8.)
correct picks in bold
Team Minnesota
Dominicana US
NY Gremlins
Sureno Soy VZ
Chicago/NY
Los Socios
IAC
Millwood Logistics
Actual:
Chicago/NY
Puerto Rico National Team
Italian Athletic Club
Dominicana USA
Gremlins
Hill United
Dominican Republic
Team Minnesota
Two of the three picks that he missed on did well – making it to the Sweet Sixteen, Sureno Soy and Milwood. Sureno, with Adam Folkard was eliminated 1-0 Saturday by Team Minnesota, on a Frank Cox 1-hitter, while Milwood was eliminated by champion Chicago/New York. Only Los Socios finished out of the money, going 1-1 in round robin and falling in their first playoff game to Dominicana. Not the two-time AAU champion Los Socios team that fans are accustomed to seeing at the AAU.
His Final Four picks: (2 out of 40)
Sureno Soy
NY Gremlins
Chicago/NY
Team Minnesota
Actual:
NY Gremlins
Chicago/NY
IAC
Dominican Republic
The IAC squad was picked by many as a “contender”, but I’m not sure how many had them pegged for a 7-0 finish and a ticket to the championship game. Their roster was small (11 players), but well balanced with great pitching (Witten and Mayson), great defense (Waverick, Fehrman and Tan up the middle), and plenty of hitting (Mayson, Turner and Waverick had good weekends at the plate). Witten was stellar in their biggest game of the weekend, a 6-0 shutout of the defending champs, Chicago/New York, and Chase Turner came up with a game saving catch. Nearly half their roster had world championship credentials. Someone noted that their 7-0 weekend netted IAC only a bronze, but that, regretably, was an anomaly of their own creation. Call it a silver if you wish, they had an amazing weekend, though I suspect skipper Bob Piddock and his team would trade either to play the game, and will always wonder what might have been…
No one really knew what to expect of the Dominican Republic squad, which proved to be formidable, if not disagreeable. They beat Gervesutti, Goss and Newton in the same weekend, no easy feat. Could they have beaten IAC or Chicago/New York in the championship game? Unfortunately, that’s one we’ll never know. Then again, did Witten or Mayson have enough left in the tank to beat the Dominican, after pitching seven games between them? Again, we’ll never know. ..
Sureno Soy was eliminated by one of his other picks, Team Minnesota, which still finished in the Elite Eight, falling to runner-up Dominican Republic.
And his pick for the finals (1 out of 2, sort of, anyway)
NY Gremlins vs. Chicago/NY in the final
But for the Dominican Republic’s come-from-behind home run in the 6th inning of their semi-final, (or prevailing on the protest of the home run), the NY Gremlins would have been in the final.
You made better predictions, you say? Ah, but you didn’t post them before the tournament !