So Cal ASA A/B at Norwalk, CA 
February 22-23, 2003

RAINEY ROCKS AT NORWALK

Team Rainey finished the 2002 season as runner-up National Champions at the NAFA "AA" World Series at Salem, Oregon.  Rainey manager Dale Lopes appears to have his club in mid-season form already, as they opened the new So Cal ASA A/B league with a perfect 5-0 record, behind pitchers Travis Price, (newly added) Tony Hunhoff, and Randy Clay, on a cool, cloudy weekend at Norwalk, California.  Rainey's pitching staff yielded only two runs in 5 games, with three shutouts.  Rainey's formula of good pitching, solid defense and timely hitting all added up to a perfect weekend.  Team Rainey returns most of its 2002 roster, including shortstop Rod Rainey, catcher Tony Acedo, the Hunt brothers, Chris and Tim, third baseman Jason Aceves, and infielder Ralph Salcido.  New additions for 2003 include pitcher Tony Hunhoff, formerly of the Long Beach Painters, with plenty of experience at the upper levels, Paul Reyes, who spent the 2002 season with the Portland Merchants, and young Damian Guerrero, who provided power in the middle of the lineup for Raymar fastpitch last season.
 

On Sunday, Hunhoff beat the So Cal Bucks in an 11am game, while young Travis Price shut out Captain Dan's 8-0, for the fifth win of the weekend. Shortstop Rod Rainey put a punctuation mark on the final game a with a long triple over the centerfielder's head.

Mexicali and Ralph Trejo's So Cal Bombers finished the weekend with 3-2 records, the So Cal Bucks were 2-3 while the Blackhawks and Captain Dan's were 1-4.  A glance at the scoreboard reveals a well balanced league, with nine of the fourteen games decided by two runs or less, and six by one run. (Quest Fastpitch has returned to its old, and familiar name, Captain Dan's for 2003).

Top Flite Men's Fastpitch Returns to So Cal

The league weekend was the first of five such gatherings, for the newly organized So Cal ASA A/B league, the result of the efforts of So Cal ASA commissioner, Robert Hernandez.  Upper level men's fastpitch has been missing from the Southern California scene the past few seasons, except for the  Best of West tournament kept alive by longtime fastpitch organizer David Blackburn.  While league and tournament play at the ASA "C" level was flourishing, finding quality opponents at the upper levels was a difficult proposition for the few remaining teams, like Team Rainey and Quest Fastpitch.

Last season, those two teams traveled north to find a higher level of competition, joining the CCMSA, the Central California Men's Softball Association, generally regarded as California's top men's fastpitch league, run by Iren Hodge (aka "The Hodgie").   There, they joined such top teams as last year's ASA "A" National Champion and NAFA "AAA" Runner-up, Team Lyons, perennial ISC World Tournament entrant, the So Cal Bucks, ASA "A" runnerup Sharks, as well as the Blackhawks and Bombers. The competition paid off for Team Rainey and Quest.  Team Rainey rolled into the championship game of the NAFA "AA" World Series in 2002, finishing second in the world, to a tough Sebringville club out of Canada, while Captain Dan's (Quest) went deep into the winner's bracket at the ASA "B" Nationals.

The travel was hard on the clubs, though, requiring many hours on the road to travel to Central and Northern California.  The travel, along with the spark of a dynamite Best of the West Tournament at Soboba in 2002,and work by Robert Hernandez, has resulted in the return of top flite men's fastpitch to Southern California.   Local fastpitch fans will have the opportunity to see these teams again, in two weeks, at Santa Fe Springs, and three more weekends during the 2003.

All six teams, Team Rainey, Captain Dan's, Mexicali, So Cal Bombers, So Cal Bucks, the Blackhawks, and Captain Dan's are rumored to be on the invite list for the 2003 Best of the West tournament, which is slated to return to the Soboba Sports Complex the last weekend in July.

This and That From the First Weekend

Perhaps the game of the weekend was the wild 8-7 win by the So Cal Bucks, over the Blackhawks.  The Blackhawks jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first inning, against Bucks pitcher Mark Higgins.  Higgins settled down after a rocky first - in fact, tossed a one-hitter the rest of the way, as the Bucks battled to get back into the game.  The Blackhawks still held a 3 run lead entering the last inning, but couldn't hold back the strong hitting Bucks.

The Bucks longtime ace, Mark Bennett will be joined on the pitching staff by Mark Higgins, who has pitched for a number of the best teams from Arizona, along with Hank Scheid, who has pitched with the Bucks for a number of years, including an MVPitcher award winning performance in the Bob Rapp Memorial tournament in Hilo, Hawaii a couple of years back.   Many expect to see the Bucks near the top of the standings by season's end.  They struggled a bit in the opening weekend, though, dropping a tough 5-4 game to Captain Dan's in their opener, and losing both games on Sunday, including another one-run loss, this time to the So Cal Bombers, and finishing up the weekend against the unbeaten Team Rainey, losing 4-1 to Tony Hunhoff.  The lone run for the Bucks in that game was a monster home run by newly added Jeff Coughran.

Mexicali played the weekend with only one pitcher, Alejandro Villalobos, and still came away with 3 wins, losing only 2-0 to the top team of the weekend, Team Rainey.  Victor Gorosave's club sports a replica Mexican flag patch on their uniform sleeves, adding a bit of international flavor to the league. (click here to see)  The team can be seen by clicking here:
http://www.fastpitchwest.com/022303/Norwalk_18.JPG

Captain Dan's is back.  Don Didion's club, including shortstop Dwayne Fowler, is back in their old uniforms, after a couple of seasons as "Quest Fastpitch".  Also returning are the Minogue brothers, Frank and Chris, who were away from the game last year.   With the familiar Detroit Tiger "D" on their caps, the Dan played through some hard luck this past weekend.  The father-son combination of  Dennis Webb and Ryan Webb will again comprise the pitching staff.  Despite a 1-4 start, it is doubtful that teams will look past the team, which fared very well over the course of last season in the CCMSA, and played well in the ASA "B" Nationals.  Captain Dans defeated the So Cal Bucks this weekend.

The Blackhawks, as evidenced by their 8-7 game against the Bucks, can put runs on the board with solid hitting, as well as good pitching from Sonny Perkins and the Barker brothers. Keep an eye on  young Harlan Perkins , brother of Sonny.

Ralph Trejo's So Cal Bombers fared well in its first weekend of 2003.  The Bombers finished up their 2002 season with a solid performance behind "the Rocket", Glenn Davis in Best of the West, then won the Fall Classic in Las Vegas.  This past weekend, veterans Lonnie Brooks and David Blackburn (organizer of the Best of the West) teamed up for three wins.   Lonnie's 17 year old son, Bo   was also seen pitching on the sidelines, and is no doubt getting plenty of tutelage from dad.  Hey, how about a double-header match-up between the Blackhawks and the Bombers with Lonnie Brooks and Sonny Perkins in the opener, and the teenagers Brooks and Perkins in game 2?

See below for scores.

Be sure to check the So Cal ASA website for game details.

To view Maddy's Photo Gallery from Sunday at Norwalk,
CLICK CAMERA LOGO BELOW:

SCOREBOARD

RECAP, BY TEAM:

TEAM RAINEY (5-0)

Wins over So Cal Bombers, Mexicali, Blackhawks, So Cal Bucks, and Captain Dans.

MEXICALI (3-2)

Wins over So Cal Bombers, Captain Dan's and Blackhawks.
Losses to Team Rainey and So Cal Bucks.

SO CAL BOMBERS  (3-2)

Wins over Captain Dan's, So Cal Bucks, and Blackhawks.
Losses to Team Rainey and Mexicali

SO CAL BUCKS (2-3)

Wins over Blackhawks and Mexicali.
Losses to Captain Dans, So Cal Bombers and Team Rainey.

BLACKHAWKS (1-4)

Win over Captain Dan's.
Losses to So Cal Bucks, Team Rainey, Mexicali, and So Cal Bombers.

CAPTAIN DAN'S (1-4)

Win over So Cal Bucks.
Losses to Blackhawks, So Cal Bombers, Mexicali and Team Rainey.