Tournament updates from lower 48

Several teams traveled out of state this month to participate in various tournaments, here's a quick rundown of the teams we know of as well as a recap of Platinum Jaxx experience in Reno:

Northland Tile went to the 2008 Women's West Class D
In Lawton, OK. They finished 6th out of 19 teams from TX,KS,OK,CA,IA,MN,NM,SD

The Tribe and Vito's/Guido's went to the 2008 Hooters ASA Men's Class C Western Tourney
In Lancaster, Ca. 17 teams from CA, WA, NV, HI. OR, WY, MT and AK. The competition was tough and both teams went 0-2.

Platinum Jaxx went to the Balloon Race Men’s D Tourney
Sept.7-8, 2008 in Reno, Nevada. States represented– AK, WA, CA, NV, OR. They finished second, here is a look at their experience:
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Most of us traveled down to Reno and arrived Thursday. We saw the sites and messed around for the next couple of days trying to acclimate to the temperature change. Not a cloud in the sky until Monday when we left. Most of the days we played it was 93-95 degrees. Pretty nice to warm up with. It was just hard staying out there the whole day because our first day we played in Sparks at a brand new all turf park which was 20 minutes away. Then on Sunday we were moved to Reno Sports Complex which was about 10 minutes away but we couldn’t leave because of the times of the tournament games on Sunday.

On Saturday we went 3-0 playing some teams from Washington and the Reno Area. We were pretty excited coming out with those wins.

On Sunday it was going to be tough. We played the team that crushed us by 18 or so last year and ended up beating them 16-13. Two of the games for the Sunday were won in the bottom half of the eighth inning by one run. We were pretty jacked up. In order to get into the championship game we had to play the Local Boyz from San Jose, CA. We remembered seeing them last year also in the tournament. We ended up crushing them 27-15 which put us in the championship game out of the winner’s bracket. So, we waited a game while the loser bracket finished. We were waiting for a team called Turbulence from Reno. They must have played 8-10 games that day. We played the first game and lost 20-18. We made some errors and they took them. So, we went to the “IF” game and once again, our legs were tiring, the heat was playing with us and we made errors that they capitalized on. They beat us 22-18. We were leading by 3 in the top half the last inning but they base hit us and we didn’t answer when we had the hammer.

Overall, it was a great trip and an eye opener again for the lower 48 teams in that tournament that Alaskans can play ball!

Matt Sugita from Platinum Jaxx
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