by westwind » Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:04 am
Well, the results are in so to speak. After the ASA State in Decatur I was looking forward to revisiting our March prognosticating. Some hits, some misses and jeez I still regret that dumb comment I made about the Lady Hitmen.
In the "A" bracket it was
1) Peoria Express
2) QC Firebirds '02
3) Milan Aces
4) BNGSA Angels
5) Mt. Zion Lady Braves (pretty sure that's right)
Saw some great games down there and some 10's that play great ball. Saw some coaches that are laying foundation for really nice teams of the future. One of those I'd give props to is Mattoon Pride. Very nice team, thought they were well coached and a class act. I did not see all the teams play so I'm leaving some out, my apologies to them.
Decent tournament. As always, some umpire teams were really good, and wow, did I see some consistently bad ones. I was not very impressed with the brackets. Bottom half of bracket was loaded with "all the usual suspects" and the top half not so much. The better teams still rose to the top though, no matter what route they had to take.
It was a fun year. DD's year is over, this was our final hurrah with the 11" ball. It was great to visit with parents and coaches from other teams from all over the state and look forward to seeing them all in the coming years. It was great to play teams with different approaches to winning games. In the end, I'm glad we travelled a little and found teams to beat us up earlier in the season. It's no fun to get roughed up but that's how you get better.
Good luck to all who are going to nationals. Represent us well!