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By: policesoftball.com
Oct 01, 2008
The SoCal Alliance double dips NY Metro and wins 38-37 in the championship game.
2008-WORLD SERIES IV
The SoCal Alliance becomes the first two time World Series winner by winning ''Back to Back'' titles.
This is the official Policesoftball.Com World Series IV report. The event was once again held at the Big League Dreams facility in Cathedral City, Ca. and it once again featured the 50 best teams in the law enforcement circuit. Every year the event has grown and drawn more national exposure and this year was no different. Easton Sports was the primary sponsor the event and Brett Helmer was on scene to rub elbows with the players and take in the action. Friday saw bracket play action for seeding purposes for the double elimination playoffs. On Friday night the opening ceremony took place and that included the presentation of Colors by the American Legion Honor Guard. The ceremonial first pitch was tossed by a collection of wives who represented all the wives & families who supported the players throughout the season and tolerated us acting like little leaguers for a few weekends this year.
The season end awards were distributed along with Hall of Fame Inductions. This year the Hall welcomed the following players:

Scot Affholter– Michigan Lawmen
John Anderson – Michigan Lawmen
Dave Clark – Columbus, Ohio
Mike Evans – Maryland Lawmen
Don Fradette – Wayne/Oakland
Lenny Glover – Suffolk County, NY
Jerry Harkins – New York Metro
Dan Spinelli – NYPD Blues
Edward Aceves – San Diego Gray
Alvin Beckett – San Diego PD
Sandy Crosthwaite – Los Angeles Sheriff’s Dept.
Terry Lewis – California Quake
Gary Magana – Sacramento PD
Mike Moller – SD Blue/SD Excessive Force
Tim Morris – SoCal Alliance
Frank Pina – Arizona Softball Horrors
Dan Rose – Palm Springs PD
Joe Tucker – RSD Red
Victor Woods – California Quake

Year end award winners were also announced and they included:

Zada Enterprises East Sponsor of the Year: Blackwater Worldwide
Zada Enterprises West Sponsor of the Year: OSS International
East Manager of the Year: Walt Conry NY Metro
West Manager of the Year: Ralph Knecht Sacramento Police Softball
Shevy Wright Sportsman of the Year: Anthony Costanzo Sacramento Razorbacks
East Defensive Player of the Year: Jeff Graus Michigan Lawmen
West Defensive Player of the Year: Nate Baez SoCal Alliance
East Player of the Year: Doug Cullen Jacksonville PSC
West Player of the Year: Mark Tolliver A-1/HardCor
*Cullen and Tolliver were each presented with a new Easton Stealth+ by Brett Helmer courtesy of Easton Sports in association with Policesoftball.com

The traditional East vs. West All-Star Game was played in front of an estimated 800 in attendance. The East took the game and the bragging rights for the third time in four years. The fireworks really began in the Home Run Derby. Chris Jones from the Bluegrass (Kentucky) Lawmen secured the East title and the West came down to a shootout between former derby king George Reyes of RSD Red and 6’10” Jeff VonLutzow from LAPD Blue. The one swing sudden death tie-breaker was won by VonLutzow who hit a towering shot into the desert backdrop behind the replica Wrigley field. In the final match up of East vs. West, Jones gave his best effort but could not overcome the power display put on by the towering VonLutzow. On this evening Jeff Von Lutzow was crowned HR Derby King of police softball. Reality came crashing down on our little corner of the world when VonLutzow squared off against Brett Helmer in a HR hitting exhibition. We won’t get into to details but Helmer proved why he is a professional softball player and the rest of us are driving squad cars for a living.

In the tournament there were more nail biters in the playoffs than in the past three years combined. Check this stat line: 31 games were decided by 2 runs or less and over 40 games decided by three runs or less. One bad hop one way, one base hit the other way and the outcome could have been flip-flopped in the majority of the games played throughout the weekend. The talent level was unprecedented. Here is a blow by blow of what occurred:

Round 1 (2 and 3 seeds)

Sacramento Razorbacks defeated Officers Only/Washington
Central New York defeated Suffolk County NY
Iowa Lawmen defeated Vegas Heat
Shamrock Enforcers/New Jersey defeated Team Texas
A-1 Hard-Cor defeated CHP Choir Boys
Riverside County Red defeated Motor City Blues
Folsom Sac defeated State Razed
Stanislaus County defeated Chicago Metro
Delaware Assn. Police/DAP defeated LAPD Lawmen
LAPD Blue defeated Dirty Jersey Boyz
Virginia Lawmen defeated San Diego Force
Direct Impact defeated Sin City
Concord defeated Illinios Lawmen

Round 2 (Winners Bracket)

DEA Combo defeated Ohio Lawmen
Miami Metro Red defeated Sacrament Razorbacks
Cal Quake defeated Central New York
Buckeye Lawmen defeated Iowa
Maryland State Police defeated Shamrock Enforcers
Minnesota defeated A-1/Hard-Cor
Secret Service defeated St. Louis Lawmen
New York Metro defeated Riverside County Red
Aftershock defeated Nitro2Go/Berdoo
Sacramento Police defeated Folsom-Sac
Jacksonville PSC defeated Stanislaus
Bluegrass Lawmen/Kentucky defeated DAP
SoCal Alliance defeated LAPD Blue
NYPD Blues defeated Virginia Lawmen
Michigan Lawmen defeated Direct Impact
SoFlorida Lawmen defeated Concord

Round 3 (Losers Bracket) Losers Finished tied for 33rd place

St. Louis Lawmen eliminated Officers Only/Washington
A-1 Hard-Cor eliminated Suffolk County New York
Shamrock Enforcers eliminated Vegas Heat
Team Texas eliminated Central New York
Sacramento Razorbacks eliminated CHP Choir Boys
Ohio Lawmen eliminated Motor City Blues
State Razed eliminated Direct Impact
Virginia Lawmen eliminated Chicago Metro
LAPD Blue eliminated LAPD Lawmen
Dirty Jersey Boyz eliminated DAP
San Diego Force eliminated Stanislaus
Sin City eliminated Folsom Sac
Nitro2Go/Berdoo eliminated Illinois Lawmen

Round 4 (Losers Bracket) Losers Finished tied for 25th place

St. Louis Lawmen defeated Riverside County Red
A-1 Hard-Cor eliminated Shamrock Enforcers
Iowa eliminated Team Texas
Ohio Lawmen eliminated Sacramento Razorbacks
Concord eliminated State Razed
LAPD Blue eliminated Virginia Lawmen
Dirty Jersey Boyz eliminated San Diego Force
Nitro2Go/Berdoo eliminated Sin City

Round 5 (Winners Bracket)

Miami Metro Red defeated DEA Combo
Cal-Quake defeated Buckeye Lawmen
Minnesota Lawmen defeated Maryland Lawmen
New York Metro defeated US Secret Service
Sacramento Police defeated Aftershock
Jacksonville PSC defeated Bluegrass Lawmen/Kentucky
SoCal Alliance defeated NYPD Blues
Michigan Lawmen defeated SoFlorida Lawmen

Round 6 (Losers Bracket) Losers finished tied for 17th place

St. Louis Lawmen eliminated SoFlorida Lawmen
NYPD Blues eliminated A-1 Hard-Cor
Bluegrass Lawmen/Kentucky eliminated Iowa
Ohio Lawmen eliminated Aftershock
Concord eliminated US Secret Service
Maryland Lawmen eliminated LAPD Blue
Buckeye Lawmen eliminated Dirty Jersey Boyz
Nitro2Go/Berdoo eliminated DEA Combo

Round 7 (Losers Bracket) Losers finished tied for 13th place

St. Louis Lawmen eliminated NYPD Blues
Ohio Lawmen eliminated Bluegrass Lawmen/Kentucky
Maryland Lawmen eliminated Concord
Nitro2Go/Berdoo eliminated Buckeye Lawmen

Round 8 (Winners Bracket)

Miami Metro Red defeated Cal-Quake
New York Metro defeated Minnesota Lawmen
Jacksonville PSC defeated Sacramento Police
SoCal Alliance defeated Michigan Lawmen

Round 9 (Losers Bracket) Losers finshed tied for 9th place

Cal-Quake eliminated St. Louis Lawmen
Ohio Lawmen eliminated Minnesota Lawmen
Maryland Lawmen eliminated Sacramento Police
Michigan Lawmen eliminated Nitro2Go/Berdoo

Round 10 (Losers Bracket) Losers finished tied for 7th place

Ohio Lawmen defeated Cal-Quake
Maryland Lawmen defeated Michigan Lawmen

Round 11 (Winners Bracket)

New York Metro defeated Miami Metro Red
SoCal Alliance defeated Jacksonville PSC

Round 12 (Losers Bracket) Losers finished tied for 5th place

Jacksonville PSC eliminated Ohio Lawmen
Maryland Lawmen eliminated Miami Metro Red

Round 13 (Winners Bracket undefeated game)

New York Metro defeated SoCal Alliance

Round 14 (Losers Bracket) Loser finshed 4th place

Jacksonville PSC eliminated Maryland Lawmen

Round 15 (Losers Bracket) Loser finished 3rd place

SoCal Alliance eliminated Jacksonville PSC

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (SoCal Alliance must win or be eliminated)

SoCal Alliance defeated New York Metro

CHAMPIONSHIP “IF” GAME (Winner is World Series Champion)

SoCal Alliance defeated New York Metro 38-37 in 8 innings to win back to back World Series championships.

Summary of the “IF” Game:
The game got pushed back 2 hours due to several extra inning games earlier in the day. It was cooling off and the balls were jumping. Approximately 200 spectators stuck around or came back to the fields to catch the action. Although the game was in the heart of Southern California it seemed like the Alliance was actually playing against the Yankees in the Bronx. It seemed that 99% of the fans were cheering rather vigorously for the New York boys. This could have something to do with the fact that most were Eastern teams who were waiting on flights while West teams were driving home. The game was being announced by Bring Ur Real Skilz president Armando Acosta and Brett Helmer from Easton Sports.

The atmosphere was absolutely electric! The DJ system was blaring and when New York Metro was coming to bat they played New York New York by Sinatra. When the SoCal crew was coming up it was California Love by 2Pac Shakur. It was a culture clash and could not have been more theatric or symbolic. The theme of the weekend was East vs. West. This game featured the two teams that were among the top ranked in each division and both had banner years. And what could be more fitting than a New York vs. SoCal final game? These teams have had a history of trading off wins and losses the past five years. It was our police softball version of the Yankees vs. Dodgers.

It was a see-saw battle all game with the lead switching nearly every inning but New York Metro had the hammer. In the bottom of the7th inning there were 2 outs and the winning run on second base. Flip McGovern smoked a line drive to left field for a clean single. Left fielder and eventual All-Defensive player Pete Semelsberger came up throwing and nailed the runner at the plate for the final out to force extra innings. There was a slight delay when a group of overzealous fans decided to take a shirtless lap around the bases but that seemed to even add more energy to the game. In the top of the 8th things started off promising for the Alliance as they plated a run and loaded the bases with only one out. It got ugly quick when the next two batters hit home runs for outs since their six HR limit had been reached much earlier in the game. We won’t name any names as to who those hitters were because the details are unnecessary (wink). Metro came to bat in the bottom of the 8th needing only one run to tie but the ball was flying that night and a couple carried right over the wall. Metro did not mark and the game was history. The Alliance players went beserk as they were crowned World Series Champions for the second straight year. Although only one team won, both were champions! Every player on both teams gave every ounce of energy in their bodies and NOBODY left anything on the field. Many in the crowd and in both dugouts commented that it was the best softball game they had ever witnessed or experienced. Both teams deserved to win that game!

MVP
Ryan Coe -SoCal Alliance

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
Danny Wells - SoCal Alliance
Kris Ulibarri - SoCal Alliance
Dick Malek - NY Metro
Shawn McDonald - NY Metro
Jason Newlin - Jax. PSC
Brad Gidcumb - Jax. PSC
Tom Bloom - Maryland State Police
Dave Feltman - Maryland State Police

GOLD GLOVES
Pete Semelsberger - SoCal Alliance
Brian McDermott - NY Metro
Bubba Baldwin - Jax. PSC

In the Small Market World Series the USBP Elite team posted a perfect 4-0 record to earn berth to the 2009 big show.

Policesoftball.com would like to thank the following sponsors for making the event a success: EASTON SPORTS, SOFTBALL MAGAZINE, STRAUB DISTRIBUTING, BLACKWATER WORLDWIDE, DUDLEY, BIG LEAGUE DREAMS. Special individual recognition to Brett Helmer & Armando Acosta. Extra special thanks and love to all the wives/girlfriends and significant others who worked the event and supported all the players throughout the year.

The 2008 World Series will be hard to top but rest assured that the Policesoftball.Com will do our best to make 2009 even better! To all of our brothers/sisters involved in law enforcement softball, enjoy the off-season and we look forward to seeing you all next year!



POLICESOFTBALL.COM WORLD SERIES XIX
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