Bracket Play Begins!
On our third day of softball (kind of sounds like that Christmas song doesn't it?), we found ourselves back at the Harold D Lutz sports complex. It's a nice facility with about eight softball fields that sits in a small area of Arvada Colorado.
The day before we were at the Youth Memorial sports complex also in Arvada. I mentioned before that games were being played all over the Denver Metro area and that is true. While Arvada sits on the western edge of Denver, there were also games going on in Aurora which sits on the cities eastern edge.
Plus at least a dozen other fields. I think there was something like 600 or so teams registered for the event. It could have been even more than that quite honestly. It felt like everywhere we went in any part of town we were running into young ladies in their softball uniforms.
The day started good on the Friday after the 4th of July with a big win over a team called Unity 9 to 4. The score is actually a bit deceiving. The game was tied 4 to 4 for a couple of innings which forced them into an international tie breaker (runner starts on second base at the top of the at bat). It was a grand slam and another run that pushed them to that 9 runs point.
Unfortunately, because that game ran late, it pushed everything else back. With a win at 4, they were supposed to play again at 8:00 PM. The problem is, the next game went late too, so their game didn't start until well after 8.
Bracket play in this tournament was a double elimination format and unfortunately, the Lasers Scarlet got their first loss in the late game against a team call the Rogues. The parents and coaches were pretty classless during this game.
I don't say that in a salty way either. There were plenty of losses in this tournament that were easy to accept, but not this one.
The game was tied 5 to 5 when we once again went into international tie breaker. As I said before, the coaches, players, and parents from the other team were being pretty classless. They were making comments and ignoring the unspoken etiquette of the game.
Late in the game there was a hit that should have been waved off due to a rule that the official just seemed to ignore. With that hit two runs scored and the game was over. Our team protested, but the official was ready to be home or something because he wouldn't even listen. It was a huge disappointment for the ladies, but they took it probably better than the parents did.
The good news is, I don't think that Rogue team won another game after that. They were eliminated the next day which makes me very happy!
Check back on Monday when I cover our last day of bracket play! Meanwhile, the ladies are back in action already this weekend at one of their last tournaments of the season!
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
