NEWS AND NOTES FROM PRESS ROW
By Loren Kopff
One of the biggest sports clichés is it’s not how you do in the regular season, it’s how you do at the end. That definitely applies to the Frontier Youth Baseball League AAA Division’s Royals team.
The Royals recently wrapped up the regular season in second place out of seven teams but in the double elimination Frontier Tournament, the Royals had to work out of the loser’s bracket to knock off the previously undefeated Pirates 12-7 and 16-6 to win the tournament on June 13.
The Royals began the tournament by knocking off the Cardinals on May 30, the regular season last place team before falling to the Marlins, the third place team, on June 1. In the loser’s bracket, the Royals eliminated the fifth place Braves on June 3, the Cardinals on June 9 and the Marlins on June 11 before facing the Pirates, who finished in fourth place in the regular season. The Royals went through the regular season with a 12-5-1 mark.
The members of the AAA Royals are: Aidan Berdote, Ratik Iyer, Gavin Linnebur Baioa, Carsyn Lourenco, Lance Manvydas, Jarret Nielsen, Royce Roberts, Alec Rocha, Jayden Tani and Nate Tsujioka. The manager is Sean Patrick Roberts and the coaches are Jon Nielsen and Todd Tsujioka.
TRAVEL SOFTBALL
The Artesia Punishers 18 Gold team, having little success in the Premier Girls Fastpitch Southern California Qualifier the weekend on June 19-21, tried again to earn an automatic berth in the PGF Nationals Championships last Saturday in the Las Vegas Qualifier. The Punishers dropped their first game, a 2-1 decision to the (Lubbock, TX) Firecrackers WTX-Clark last Saturday morning.
But the Punishers bounced back to eliminate the (Huntington Beach) Orange County United-Walker 15-1 early last Saturday afternoon and the (West Hills) Case Batbusters 10-2 before losing to the (Downey) Nemesis Elite 8-5 last Saturday night.
A pair of Artesia Punishers 14-Under teams wrapped up pool play action this past Wednesday in the ever-so-popular Colorado Sparkler Juniors Tournament in Colorado. The Punishers team managed by Danny Guerrero blasted the (Phoenix) AZ Hotshots 10-3 this past Tuesday afternoon before falling to the (Temecula) Southern California Athletics TO-Mercado 9-0. This past Wednesday, the Punishers lost to the (Pasadena) Texas Aces Jacoby-Montano 8-6. All three games were played at Erie Community Park in Erie, CO. The team will begin the playoffs today.
The other Punishers team in this age group, managed by Sam Peralta split their four pool play games. The Punishers knocked off the Erie (Colorado) Tigers 9-5 and Las Vegas Venom 3-2 this past Tuesday at Twin Rivers Community Park in Greeley, CO before succumbing to the (Hacienda Heights) Orange County Batbusters/Team Mizuno-Bracamonte 8-0 and the (Nash, TX) American Freedom-Catron 6-4 this past Wednesday at Diamond Valley Sports Complex in Windsor, CO Peralta’s team will also begin the playoff portion of the tournament today.
