Friday March 29th, 2024
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2010 Toys 4 Tots Major Recap

 

2010 Toys 4 Tots

Palm Springs, California

Palm Springs, California…….

Toys for Tots in Palms Springs is THE tournament in the off season for many players across the United States; the second weekend in December is the “chosen weekend” every year.   Players from Major, A, B, C and D teams play on “throw together teams” and see how they compete against the top players in the United States, along with up and coming players with the talent to be included on one of these teams.

Add to the fact, that many players now playing in the upper level or USSSA conference, “earned their spurs” at Toys for Tots in Palm Springs.   Many players have played their first “upper tourney” in Palm Springs.   The weather for the weekend was a “chili” 87 degrees in the daytime, around 60 degrees at night.   This made for balls flying out on the streets (and one golf course) all around the De Muth Complex and Big League Dreams.

In the lowers, Lost Boys out of Socal tied with “Team Twisted” as co-champions, as BLD rules stipulate that Toys for Tots must end prior to the league games scheduled around 5PM on Sunday…thus the co champions.   Lost Boys fell short in their second game, but won 7 in a row to end up as Co Champions, and in the end, were awarded an equipment sponsorship.

In the uppers, the two favorites (Resmondo) arrived under the name of Fence Brokers/GameTimeSupply/Worth and the other favorite was Famous Sports/Johnny Blaze.   But sometimes, the best team does not always win the Toys for Tots, and this is what happened last weekend, in Palm Springs.   LCP/ICC Pitbulls showed power, defense and timely hitting to end up as co champions with Sin City/Specialty Hydroponics.

The most impressive team this reporter saw was LCP/ICC Pitbulls, with a mix of upper level players, and up and coming young guns from Southern California.   Pitbulls had vets Danny Lopez, Cal Ford, upper level stars Chente and Mario Granados, along with  ‘2010’s Combat/Elite Sports players…and they did impress others as well.   Up 35-31 with no home runs to hit vs Sin City/Specialty Hydroponics, in the top of the 4th, the Pitbulls ran 7 runs to make it 42-31, with SC/SH coming to bat with 6 home runs, falling short for a final of 42-36.

Both teams went through the five pool brackets with the Pitbulls vs Fence Brokers/Game Supply/Worth as one of the two “showcase: games; the other being Famous/Johnny Blaze vs Sin City/Specialty Hydroponics.   In the Pitbull/Fencebroker game, the Pitbulls kept on hitting singles putting runners on bases, then hitting timely home runs to beat Fencebrokers by 10;   In the other showcase game, SC/SH were down 8 runs with two outs, man on third in the bottom of 7, and came back to tie the game to send to extra innings.   Famous/Blaze scored none in the top of eight, and Frankie Deaver, the first up for SC/SH in the bottom of the eighth, ended the game with a walk off home run.   As mentioned previously, both teams were named Co Champions due to the Big League Dream schedule.

Pitbulls team average of .740 with timely hits was impressive, as was Sin City/Specialty Hydroponics’ .766 team average.

Some of the players in attendance:  Andy Purcell, Don DeDonatis III,  Scott Streibel, Bryson Baker, Dennis Rulli, Brett Helmer, Sam Lopez, John Gallegos, Robert Sena, Jason Hill, Scott Lydy, Chris Greinert, Oscar Shipley, Dan Bean, and many others….(too many to name at this time.)

Up and coming players who will be on conference teams in ‘2011 : Steve Lopez, Nick Robertson, Aaron Gallawitz, Chris Hansen, Adam Elliott, Alexis Ramirez, Frankie Deaver, and many, many others.

The new equipment “buzz” was on in Palm Springs… Reebok Zig Turfs, Power Balance bracelets, and TPS bats were the buzz this reporter heard all weekend.

All in all, Dennis Rulli did a great job of directing this tournament, which will be bigger in ‘2011, with more manufacturers attending.   For some games, a moment of silence was honored in memory of John Glidewell, who passed away suddenly this past week.  Softball will surely miss “Gentle John” as one of the most revered players in America.   Softball lost an icon, when “Glides” passed.

Bob

Some photos can be viewed at the DSS Bats facebook here


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