Viva Las Vegas !

(Recap report on the 2003 ASA California Las Vegas International Classic II)

By Jim Flanagan
www.fastpitchwest.com

“How I wish that there were more
Than the twenty-four hours in the day
'Cause even if there were forty more
I wouldn't sleep a minute away”
-Elvis Presley, in “Viva Las Vegas”

Elvis was right. Las Vegas is not known as a town to catch up on your sleep. There is so much going on that sleep seems to be the last thing that you find time to do. It’s hard to imagine a fastpitch venue that offers better hotels, dining or entertainment than Las Vegas. The challenge for managers is not so much to get players to make the trip, but to be sure that the players get to their games ready to play.

For Circle Tap, traveling all the way from Wisconsin, that 9:00 a.m. game might have seemed like playing at sunrise. But while acknowledging that they were a little tired from the travel, and, well, perhaps a night on the town, you sure couldn’t tell from their level of play. Player/Sponsor Darren Derrick’s crew was a perfect 6-0 on the weekend, enroute to the championship trophy in the 2nd Annual ASA California International Classic tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, behind the pitching of Dewey Dyck and Rob Scheller, the duo from Saskatoon, who were each 3-0 on the weekend. The team pounded out 47 hits in their six games, for a team batting average of .356, scoring 43 runs on their way to the championship. Todd Malnory led Circle Tap with eight hits, tied for the most in the tournament. Malnory also led the tourney in RBIs with seven. Teammate Brian Neveau knocked in five runs, while three of Chris Delarwelle’s hits were triples, on a surgically repaired knee no less.

Oh, there was that 5 run outburst by the Yucaipa Bombers in the first inning of Circle Tap’s third and final game Saturday, when it looked like they were on the ropes. Maybe the 100 degree heat and those all black uniforms took their toll. Maybe fatigue from the travel. (or Friday night?) Maybe just a great effort by Ralph Trejo’s Bombers. Regardless, Circle Tap recovered in time to net the win, 8-7, winning their pool, and with it, the top seed in Sunday’s elimination bracket. To paraphrase Yucaipa’s Randy Clay, “This is not Spinal Tap.” It’s Circle Tap, and these guys are the real deal. Great pitching or great hitting wins ballgames. Circle Tap has both.

Circle Tap, from Denmark, Wisconsin, entered the tournament as the #8 ranked team in the world in the ISC pre-season rankings, just ahead of Fedlock and the Vancouver Grey Sox, just behind the Owen Sound Selects and Midland Explorers. Some pretty heady company. But with a resurgence of good teams out west, three other teams entered the tournament with Top 25 rankings: Portland DeMarini Merchants (#21), So Cal Bucks (#22) and Team Lyons (#25). Ironically, those three ranked teams fell by the wayside, while Team Rainey and Page Brake advanced through Sunday’s single elimination bracket to face Circle Tap. Beyond Circle Tap’s six straight wins, Team Rainey was the story of the weekend, turning an 0-3 Saturday into a 3-0 Sunday before falling in the finals. Talk about a turnaround.

On their way to the International Classic title, Circle Tap knocked off Castlewood Utah, 7-3, the Yucaipa Bombers twice, 8-7 and 9-2, Page Brake Utah 9-2, and Team Rainey 5-1 and 7-0.

THE TOURNAMENT

The ASA California Las Vegas International Classic is in its second year, taking its show on the road to Las Vegas from last year’s inaugural in Lancaster, California. The tournament was hosted by the folks from the Central California ASA, including Dick Grove, Iren Hodge (“Hodgie”) and Jeff Coleman, player rep for the league and manager of Team Lyons. Webmaster Doug Taylor provided scores, stats and more, as he has for a number of fastpitch sites, including thehodgie.com and Western USA Today, which reported on the tournament, while Maddy Flanagan was on hand to provide photos for the tournament. Dan Scambler was on hand with a JUGS radar gun, charting all of the tournament’s pitchers. Colin McKenzie, with Portland topped out at 80, while Tony Hunhoff, Rob Scheller, Dewey Dyck spent the weekend in the mid to high 70’s, best among the pitchers there.

The tournament field consisted of twelve teams, one from Wisconsin, two from Utah, one from Mexico, one from Arizona, one from Oregon, and seven from California. Four of the teams were in the ISC pre-seasons Top 25 rankings. This year’s event was held at the new Doc Romeo complex, about 10 miles north of the Strip in Las Vegas, off the road to Lake Mead. The tournament did have international flavor, including Canadians Scheller and Dyck of Circle Tap, newcomer New Zealander Steve O’Neill of Circle Tap, Panfilo Valdez of Yucaipa, from Mexico, Mexicali’s team from Mexico, and Portland DeMarini’s Argentine players, Santiago Latairie and Andre Gamarci. (Oh, and of course photographer/my wife Maddy, from Havana, Cuba)

SATURDAY POOL PLAY

In pool play Saturday, there were three pools of four teams each, with each team playing three games to determine seeding for Sunday’s single elimination bracket. Circle Tap (3-0), Portland DeMarini (2-1) and Team Lyons (2-1) earned the top seeds from their respective pools. The So Cal Bucks (2-1), Yucaipa Bombers (2-1) and Page Brake (2-1) were runner-ups in their pools. Mexicali, River City Rockers, Castlewood Utah, the Sun Devils and Lunas Towing finished Saturday 1-2, while Team Rainey struggled, and finished 0-3 on the day.

Portland De Marini edged out the Bucks for the top spot in their pool based on a 1-0 head to head win, the game’s only run scored on an inside the park home run which ended in a collision at the plate and the ball jarred loose.

The Yucaipa Bombers won two games Saturday, losing only a one run game to eventual champion Circle Tap. Ralph Trejo’s team jumped on Circle Tap for five runs in the first inning, though Circle Tap’s offense rallied for an 8-7 win. The game proved to be the closest contest of the tournament for Circle Tap as the Bombers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning.

Team Lyons appeared to be closing in on a 3-0 Saturday, until Mexicali rallied to beat Lyons 8-6 in the last game of the day. Lyons held on to the top spot in their pool though, based on a head to head win over Page Brake. As the day ended, only Circle Tap escaped without a loss, and only Team Rainey was without a win. (Who would know they’d meet in the finals?)

SUNDAY SINGLE ELIMINATION BRACKET

FIRST ROUND GAMES

The three pool winners, Circle Tap, Team Lyons and Portland DeMarini drew first round byes, as did the So Cal Bucks, the top seed among the second place pool teams.

In early morning first round games, the Yucaipa Bombers topped the River City Rockers, with Bill Hillhouse shutting out the River City Rockers 3-0, for the Bombers’ third win in four games. Tony Beeson keyed the win for Ralph Trejo’s squad.

Team Rainey, 0-3 Saturday, started Sunday off with a stirring, come-from-behind 5-4 win over the Sun Devils. Outfielder Roy Guinaldo had the game winning hit with two out in the 7th,as Travis Price picked up the win.

Castlewood, Utah, topped Mexicali in a hard fought 2-1 battle, with Steve Black picking up the win.

Page Brake eliminated Lunas Towing, 7-0, with Shad Alvey and Les Rose hitting back to back homers, providing all the cushion that ace Mike Lorange would need.

SECOND ROUND GAMES

In the second round, Page Brake and Portland DeMarini squared off in a rematch of a Red Rock tournament matchup that had proved to be a slugfest. In this one, however, Page Brake’s Mike Lorange was in command all the way, tossing a 3-0 shutout, his second in a row on Sunday. Colin McKenzie, on loan from Victoria, pitched well in the tournament, finishing with a 1.50 ERA in 14 innings, though the Merchants struggled offensively, hitting only .181 as a team and scoring only 7 runs in their four games. Look for them to rebound in next month’s “home” tournament, the Rose Cup.

In another second round game, Castlewood held a 5-3 lead over Team Lyon late in the game, before Lyons rallied for a 6-5 win. Tony Hunhoff pitched well enough to pick up the win, getting key outs when he had to. Lyons’ Charlie Pena, who turned forty on Saturday night, proved he still has it, tripling to the gap in his first game on Sunday.

In what might have been the most exciting game of the tournament, Team Rainey and the So Cal Bucks had a wild one in their second round match-up. Fresh from their come-from-behind win over the Rockers in their 8am game, Rainey fell behind quickly, 6-1, and were facing Mark Bennett. The Bucks looked like a lock to advance, until the fourth inning. Rainey loaded the based and trimmed the lead to 6-3 on a flair single to right field by catcher Tony Acedo. Jesse Duncan then surprised everyone with a bunt back to the pitcher. Mark Bennett picked up the bunt and threw to first, but missed, and two more runs checked in. Suddenly, it was a 6-5 game. Enter Mark Higgins, who got the final two outs of the inning, but not before a passed ball tied the game at 6. The game remained tied at 6 into the 9th inning, when Rainey scored two runs on a wild pitch and passed ball for the 8-6 win. A “big” play took place at the plate earlier in the game when big Jeff Coughran of the Bucks (6’7”) collided with Rainey’s Tony Acedo. Must have looked like a Mac Truck to Tony, but he hung on for the out, keeping Rainey’s comeback alive.

Meanwhile, the Yucaipa Bombers drew the unenviable task of facing Circle Tap for the second time in the tournament. The Bombers had given Circle Tap all they could handle on Saturday, scoring 5 runs in the first inning of that game before CT rallied for the win. This time, though, it was Circle Tap who scored early and often, and cruised to a 9-2 win behind Rob Scheller, as the heat and the hitters took their toll on the Bombers who were eliminated, having lost only to eventual champion Circle Tap – twice. Circle Tap decided to leave the black uniforms at the hotel on Sunday, donning the cooler whites, better suited for the 100 degree heat.

SEMI-FINALS

The semi-final games were set: Circle Tap against Page Brake, with Rob Scheller against Mike Lorange, and the battle of “the Teams”, Lyons and Rainey, Tony Hunhoff vs. Travis Price.

If the Vegas sports books had put the semis on the board, Circle Tap and Team Lyons might have been the favorites. Both were veteran, ranked teams, Circle Tap the pre-tournament favorite, while Lyons was coming off a runner up performance in Red Rock, finishing second to #1 ranked Broken Bow.

But on this day, youth would be served, as young Travis Price shut Lyons out, 3-0 on a three hitter. Lyons’ Tony Hunhoff was also sharp, holding Team Rainey to four hit, but Rainey scratched out 2 runs on 1 hit and 3 errors in the fateful third inning. Jessie Duncan, Rod Rainey and Chris Hunt all reached on errors, followed by the big blow, a double to right by Jason Aceves. Chris Hunt was cut down at third on the hit for the third out of the inning, but the damage was done. Lyons only real threat was in the 4th inning, when Dino Walter singled, and Jason Porto replaced him at first on a fielder’s choice. With one on and one out, 39 year old Charlie Pena hit a line shot right down the line, which was speared by a diving Chris Hunt, who fell on the bag to double up Porto.

Team Rainey added an insurance run in the seventh when Tony Acedo singled to center, advanced to third on a single to right by Jesse Duncan, and scored on a wild pitch, to put the icing on the cake and send Team Rainey to the championship game. 

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Circle Tap manager Wayne Kruger tapped Dewey Dyck for the championship game, his third game of the tournament, following Rob Scheller’s third win in the semis. Keith Frey got the starting nod from Team Rainey’s Dale Lopes, following Travis Price’s third win in the semi-finals.

The game went 5 innings, with Circle Tap winning easily. Chris Delarwelle came up big, with a first inning RBI triple, and an RBI single in the 5 run 3rd. The game was really decided in the third inning, when Circle Tap scored five runs on four hits, running their lead to 7-0. Scott O’Neale tripled to right with one out, then scored on Chris Delarwelle’s single to left. Brian Neveau walked. Don Garvey flied to left for the second out, but Todd Malnory singled to left, bringing home another run, Bill Miller was hit by a pitch, and shortstop Kevin Reichardt put the punctuation mark on things with a base clearing triple to center. Reichardt was cut down trying for an inside the park job, but the score read 7-0 Circle Tap and Team Rainey never recovered.

Lopes replaced Frey with Travis Price, who did not surrender a hit in 2 innings pitched, but Team Rainey could muster only four hits off Dewey Dyck, two of those by Rod Rainey. Circle Tap committed two errors, but erased three runners on force outs at second, making it hard for Rainey to get much going, especially with Dewey Dyck getting stronger as he went. Dean Kane recorded the final out of the tourney, while playing second base to seal the win for Circle Tap.

ASA’s Dick Grove handed out the championship and runner up trophy and the International Classic II was in the books.

”Oh, there's black jack and poker and the roulette wheel
A fortune won and lost on ev'ry deal
All you need's a strong heart and a nerve of steel”
-Elvis

Oh, and a pitching staff of Rob Scheller and Dewey Dyck and team batting average of .356 doesn’t hurt either.

Viva Las Vegas!

P.S. 

The ASA tournament committee has posted the scores, brackets, and complete stats at their website, Western USA Fastpitch Today at http://www.ccmsasa.org/fastpitch/wusafp.htm Great work by Doug Taylor and company.

The site includes links to hundreds of photos taken by my wife, Maddy Flanagan, which can also be accessed directly at our site, www.fastpitchwest.com. The photos from Sunday include team photos and most all of the pitchers in the tournament. 

Thanks to Dick Grove, Iren Hodge, Doug Taylor, Jeff Coleman and Dan Scambler for their hospitality, along with the rest of the Central Cal ASA crew and umpires.