Power Surge Friendly Last Weekend

[ProfoundIndifference]

Despite the fact that I had way too much to do, I blew off my work and drove down to San Diego for the Power Surge Friendly this last weekend. It ended up being a good day and fairly interesting.

The venue was very nice. After I parked in the dust bowl parking lot at Hickman fields, my day improved. The fields were beautiful and beautifully prepared. It was very nice to see girls pitching from flat mounds and batters that were not standing in trenches. Lately, so many of the fields at friendlies have been terrible. Hickman was superb. It was great to stand in just about the same place and watch three softball games being played by 6 of the top 15 SoCal teams (my estimate – Can’t wait to see OCWM – Rankings)

Results:
2. Cal Cruisers 2-0-1
2. USA Athletics 2-0-1
3. Artesia Punishers 2-1-0
4. SoCal Breakers 1-1-1
5. Power Surge -Black 0-1-2
6. Power Surge - Teal 0-0-3
Note: The top three teams never played each other and the bottom three only played the top three.

Cal Cruisers: Definitely a good team. I didn't really notice a single or even a few stars or studs. They are all just solid and well coached. No one seems amazing but they are a team that knows how to win. While they know how to jump out to an early lead, they also know how to let leads disappear. They were up 7-0 against PS-Black at the start of the last half inning. The game ended a 7-7 tie with the final out being made at the plate in a very close call. They also jumped out in front of the Breakers who chipped away until they caught up. So right now I would say long games are trouble for Cal Cruisers. Fun team, though!

USA Athletics: Very good team that does not give up. They have determined pitching that takes extremely good hitting to get around. Not necessarily the biggest team out there, but they play solid ball and if they don't win tournaments they are always going to be a spoiler threat.

Artesia Punishers: This team has a fair to good defense, but they can hit! They will challenge any defense with hard shots and take advantage of errors to beat good teams. They are another constant spoiler threat.

SoCal Breakers: This team is very good with three solid pitchers and good bats. Their defense is OK, but I noticed that hardly anyone on the team actually had a main position. It may just be a coaching preference to play players all over the place during friendlies but it ended up being the reason for both their tie and their loss. It seemed the errors were not typical errors; they were the kind of errors made by players that are not used to new positions. They hit well, but they did not bring their Monster Mash bats to this friendly.

Power Surge – Black: They don’t seem to be a powerhouse team, but as they showed against the Cal Cruisers, do not take your eye off of them. They will catch you and they can beat you. They seem disciplined and well coached. They will definitely be getting better and better throughout the spring. There was something quite solid about this team.

Power Surge – Teal: It was just not a very good day for these kids. They have a few studs but they just are not strong enough to carry the team. Someone told me that their #1 pitcher is out hurt, so that might make a difference. Still there is just something missing. The girls, despite the losses and to their credit, still seemed to be having fun the whole time.
If the San Diego teams were smart enough to put together one great team, they would be unstoppable. (ie. Tom Dodd’s Thunder teams of the 90’s, Power Surge ’96 in 2009, Power Surge ’99 last year and currently) Still, egos will not let this happen I am willing to bet.

Notable games:
1) Power Surge – Black coming back in the bottom of the 6th to tie Cal Cruisers 7-7
2) Monster Mash face-off between Cal Cruisers and SoCal Breakers. Both pitchers were really getting squeezed so the ball was in play a lot. Cruiser offensive aggression and Breaker’s errors, starting with the error on the first play of the game and ending with the error on the last play of the game, was the difference. Would love to see these two go at it again in the Brenda Marsh Tourney, but for some reason SoCal Breakers are a no show.

Anyway, it was a fun and beautiful day in San Diego and hats off to Power Surge for creating the opportunity.

[JimJones]

My take on things? Kudos to Breakers for playing a friendly the way they were meant to be played. Moving kids around, allowing the girls to play multiple positions and not going out there with a purpose of winning a friendly to impress the crowd. They are 11 and 12 yr olds, move around positions, have some fun and take some good hacks!

Jimmy