6-26-05

Best of The West Tournament Recap

                    WP- Travis Banwart          LP-Kevin Boucher

1st Place Santa Barbara Foresters- $10,000

2nd Place Fontanetti's- $7,000

3rd Place Maxim Yankees- $5,000

4th Place SLO Blues- $3,000

5th-8th Place Redding Colt 45's, Salinas Packers, Tinseltown Terror, San Diego Stars- $250

Palo Alto, Ca-    The Santa Barbara Foresters captured the 2005 Best of the West tournament championship 7-3 over Fontanetti's of San Jose.  This was the first year the championship game did not feature the Maxim Yankees, who had taken home the first two tournament titles.  The Foresters have a long and storied history, perennially considered one of the best teams in California, loaded with collegiate players from across the nation.  In the championship game they started Wichita State Freshmen All-American Travis Banwart, Fontanetti's countered with one of their top pitchers, Kevin Boucher. 

    The Foresters jumped out to a 2-0 lead after three and a half innings, but Fontanetti's responded, cutting the lead down to 2-1 after four complete.  The game stayed 2-1 until the top of the 6th, when the Foresters broke things open, scoring 2 runs to give themselves a 4-1 advantage.  Fontanetti's continued to put runners on base, but were unable to capitalize on any of their potential rallies with a big hit.  Much of their lack of success could be contributed to the Foresters pitching staff and defense which was dominate throughout the tournament.  As good as the Foresters pitching was, their offense was even better.  Travis DeBondt, D'Andre Miller and Justin Frash shined at the plate for the Foresters throughout the tournament, all three of them were named to the All-Tournament team for their feats.

    Fontanetti's once again had a chance late in the game, putting runners at 1st and 2nd with no out in the bottom of the 9th.  However, Forester closer Jake Renshaw was able to bare down and retire the 3-4-5 hitters of the Fontanetti lineup in order to end the threat, the game and give the Foresters their first Best of the West Championship. 

    The tournament once again lived up to its name, drawing teams from all over California to compete for more than $25,000 in prize money and the coveted Silver Slugger trophy.  The Final Four teams that traveled to Stanford's Sunken Diamond were the same as last year, even the final match-ups were the same.  The only exception was the teams from last year's third place game now played for the Championship and vice versa. 

    The Maxim Yankees defeated the SLO Blues 5-1 in the third place game at San Jose State's Blethen Field.  The Yankees rode the right arm of Stanford pitcher Erik Davis to the victory, as Davis provided seven strong innings.  This was the first time the Yankees did not participate in the championship game, showing some parity in the tournament. 

    This year's second place finish showed Fontanetti's, a long respected summer team in the Bay Area is ready to shine as one of the best teams in California.  They seem to be following in the Yankees footsteps of a few years ago, as they recruit more and more collegiate players to compete with teams such as the Foresters and the Blues. 

    Some of the tournament highlights on the field were as follows:

• Chris Sherman of the Maxim Yankees threw a compete game one hit shutout against the Redding Colt 45's.  Sherman also struck out 11 batters. 
• Dan Bruckart of the SLO Blues set a Best of the West tournament record striking out 17 San Diego Stars in a complete game effort which the Blues won 5-0.
• Zook Richardson of the Redding Colt 45's threw not one, but two nine inning complete games in the same day.  Richardson started his day by allowing just a single run against the Maxim Yankees, earning the victory.  He then took an 1 and 1/2 hour break before returning to the mound and shutting down the Bay Area Giants, throwing another nine inning complete game. 
• Fontanetti's Reed Dickert threw a complete game, two-hitter against the Maxim Yankees in the NorCal Championship game, allowing a single earned run to pick up the victory. 
• Santa Barbara Forester Justin Frash may have been the hottest hitter in the tournament, going 10-17 against some of the top pitching on the West Coast.
• Brian Colip, playing with the SF Angels went 8-10 during the three games he played.