TEXAS NATIONAL QUALIFIER

[SoftballDad47]

Congrats to SK Velocity for defeating Shock Wave, Magic, TKO, Hawks, Avengers and Kruzers. They fell in the loser's bracket on Saturday morning and fought hard all the way to the championship. Great job in representing Houston & surrounding areas.

[Abracadabra]

Not a surprise to me… Congratulations to the Texas Travelers, sounds like you played the way we are use to seeing you play here in D/FW every weekend. Good luck at nationals this year…

[Fence Coach]

I'm sure the surprises were the teams not competing longer for the berth, not so much the one that won it...

I don't think anyone expected teams that qualified last year, and recently did decent in San Antonio, to go out in 2 or 3 games as some of them did. Velocity had a great run and congrats to them for fighting back, but there were several other teams that would not have surprised anyone by making a similar run. It's a head scratcher that they were gone so early.

At least, that's my interpretation of the sentiment. I doubt it was referencing the Travelers.

[Lefty's Dad]

I'm sure the surprises were the teams not competing longer for the berth, not so much the one that won it...

I don't think anyone expected teams that qualified last year, and recently did decent in San Antonio, to go out in 2 or 3 games as some of them did. Velocity had a great run and congrats to them for fighting back, but there were several other teams that would not have surprised anyone by making a similar run. It's a head scratcher that they were gone so early.

At least, that's my interpretation of the sentiment. I doubt it was referencing the Travelers.

Of course it was, I think 90% of heybucket understood that. Congrats to Travelers for winning the berth.

[wizard]

Congratulations to the Texas Travelers for their bid to the nationals.You playesd hard all weekend and came from behind in several games to win it at the end.Also congrats to Spring Klein very classy team.You fought hard all weekend and made it all the way back to the championship.Good luck to all the teams on their quest for a bid to nationals this year.

[SOFTBALLS]

Wanted to give congrats to the Travelers looks like all the 95 teams made some noise this weekend. Travelers should give thanks to the tournament director for only changing their game time for Friday night. While it was unfair to schedule them in that time slot the tournament director should have made the ajustment for all the out of town teams or just left it the same.
I know the Fusion, Storm and other teams had to make it Friday for their 7pm game.
The tournament was ran ok but the umpires were probably the worst I've seen in a long time.
I don't think they were prepared for the type of pitching that was out there. It just seem like the game was a little faster than they were use to.
Does anybody know how many births the Metro gives out.

[MavFan]

Metro gives out 2 Berths

[3Bsnag]

I thought the tournament was run well- good concessions, pretty clean bathrooms, brackets updated quickly, fields prepped before every game, trash gone fast, and $1 for water.

My only complaint is the 2 umpires that lost the count on our batter in a tight game. When BOTH teams coaches and scorekeepers have the same count, maybe you should listen.

Other than that, we had a great time and enjoyed meeting the parents and coaches from other area's.

Congratulations Travelers!

[fastpitchfan]

Tournament was run pretty efficiantly. Were some very young umpires (female) that were influenced very easily. She was absolutely atrocious. Waited until base coach made the call , then made her call . Watched her do this in numerous games. Is it too much to put a water can in the dugout ? They talk about the well being of the players but can't place water or trash cans in the dugouts. I guess it would have cost them a little for ice. SAD !

[3Bsnag]

Tournament was run pretty efficiantly. Were some very young umpires (female) that were influenced very easily. She was absolutely atrocious. Waited until base coach made the call , then made her call . Watched her do this in numerous games. Is it too much to put a water can in the dugout ? They talk about the well being of the players but can't place water or trash cans in the dugouts. I guess it would have cost them a little for ice. SAD !

We must have been on opposite ends of the complex. I think all of our games were on fields 2 & 3 and we had water and trash cans in our dugouts, with a large trash can right between the fields.

We did have a young male umpire on one of the crews. Our girls enjoyed themselves a little too much checking him out. I miss 12U when I hear those kinds of whispers and giggles.