The reception began on Friday night at Dick’s Last Resort where Jack hosted his annual player’s party. As always the gathering was well attended as player got their fill of food and drink.

The softball action began on Saturday morning as bracket play was used to determine seeding for the double elimination playoffs. The bracket results were as follows:

Division A
South Bay OUTLAWS *3 seed
LV HEAT *3 seed
KANSAS CITY *3 seed
SIN CITY 1 seed
WC PSC 2 seed

Division B
SOCAL ALLIANCE 1 seed
LOCKDOWN 3 seed
AFTERSHOCK 2 seed

Division C
DEA Combo 1 seed
GREAT LAKES 2 seed
SW ELITE 3 seed

Division D
CONCORD 3 seed
QUAKE 1 seed
RED REPUBLIC 2 seed

Division E
LAPD Blue 2 seed
TCB 3 seed
HARDCORE 1 seed
NITRO2Go 3 seed

Bracket Highlights included Great Lakes Lawmen plating 22 runs in the first inning vs. DEA Combo. DEA then made a historic comeback to win the game 30-22 to secure the top seed. The scrappy South Bay Outlaws inked an impressive win over the juggernaut West Coast PSC. Red Republic outlasted Concord in a nail biter.

Immediately following the round robin there was a police softball benchmark event as HardCor shortstop and 2009 WC Defensive Player of the Year Jason Hart married his beautiful bride Kelly on home plate at the replica Angel Stadium (Hart’s hometown is Anaheim).

Next was the home run derby that followed the tough World Series format. There is very little margin for error as the hitters needed to provide power AND clutch up under intense conditions. Two of the final three hitters represented the Kansas City/MidWest Coppers. Both of the Kansas City players were hitting mammoth bombs out of the stadium going into the final round. Although the odds were stacked against him, it was SoCal Alliance young gun Kevin Burger who clutched up in the final round to win the derby. Kevin won a Miken bat courtesy of Noel Roberts and event coordinators.

The intense action began in the playoffs where lower seeded teams had to win their way into the big show. Concord sent Outlaws into the loser bracket 24-12. TCB earned a forfeit victory into the dance while South West Elite won a nail biter 26-25 over Las Vegas Heat. The winners of those games advanced to face #1 seeds.

SoCal defeated Concord, HardCor defeated TCB and Sin City defeated Southwest Elite so if there were to be a Cinderella story from the 3 seeded teams they all now had their work cut out for them needing to win 9 in a row out of the loser bracket.

Other first round action saw West Coast PSC upset the LAPD Blue with an impressive 32-28 victory. The MidWest Coppers home run hitters were kept at bay in their loss to DEA Combo 32-14. In a shocker the OTHER juggernaut Lockdown defeated 2006 World Champion Quake 30-16. Although the Quake now needed to win 9 in a row in Sunday, nobody doubted their ability to accomplish that mission. In an equally big shocker the Red Republic sent the beasts from the east the Great Lakes Lawmen into the loser bracket with a 19-11 victory. The rebuilt, refocused and rededicated Nitro2Go Hitmen defeated West top 10 mainstay Aftershock 18-12.

The winners bracket played out with SoCal defeating West Coast PSC in a match up featuring A LOT of familiar faces. DEA Combo burst the Lockdown bubble in a close game. HardCor did the same to the Red Republic while Sin City posted a solid victory over Nitro2Go. Later, SoCal came out of the gates fast to defeat DEA Combo and Sin City inked an impressive win over HardCor. The undefeated game would pit friendly rivals SoCal Alliance vs. Sin City Combo in yet another late tournament match up.

The losers bracket saw some heated and intense action. Outlaws eliminated TCB while the co-host Las Vegas heat did not pull any punches against the visiting MidWest Coppers. TCB and MidWest finished T-17th.

Great Lakes brought their collective lunch boxes because they knew they had a long day of work ahead of them. They warmed up by eliminating the Outlaws. Aftershock caught fire and plated 24 runs to eliminate SW Elite. Concord posted what many would consider an upset over the perennial top 5 team, LAPD Blue. The Quake cooled off the Las Vegas Heat. Outlaws, Elite, LAPD Blue and Vegas Heat finished T-13th.

The most intense game of the entire tournament was West Coast PSC vs. Great Lakes. It was back and forth all game but in the end Great Lakes continued to march on. Aftershock never stopped hitting an eliminated Lockdown in their second matchup of the tournament. We suspect this will grow into a good rivalry as Lockdown will certainly like to avenge their 2 losses to Aftershock this weekend. The Red Republic continued to roll with an elimination win over Concord. The Quake continued their winning ways by defeating Nitro2Go. Lockdown, West Coast PSC, Concord and Nitro2Go finished T-9th.

Aftershock continued to hit the cover off the ball by scoring 23 against Great Lakes. But, even that was not enough against Great Lakes. The Great Lakes boys marched on by eliminated Aftershock. And their west counterparts Quake did the same to the Red Republic. Red Republic and Aftershock finished T-7th.

In the second most intense game of the tournament it was once again Great Lakes who prevailed. This time they pulled a rabbit out of the hat and eliminated HardCor in extra innings. Despite a valiant effort the Quake could not find that rabbit in the hat as they were eliminated by what many consider to be the best all around DEA Combo team they have ever fielded. The mix of youth and veteran experience along with solid defense, cagey pitching, timely hitting and incredible power make the DEA one of the nation’s top teams. As a testament as to how tough the competition was this past weekend two former World Series Champs, HardCor and Quake finished T-5th.

Great Lakes avenged their crazy round robin loss to DEA Combo in a 33-25 victory. DEA finished 4th.

In the undefeated game it took a bottom of the 7th inning double play from Ryan Coe to Kris Ulibarri to seal the victory for the Alliance over Sin City. The Alliance moved on to the championship game and would need to be double dipped.

After suffering their first loss of the tournament Sin City went right back to work and played wall ball all game against the visibly fatigued Great Lakes Lawmen. Although Great Lakes didn’t pull off the miracle run of 9 wins in a row, they came close and finished with an impressive 3rd place despite losing their first playoff game.

The championship game was a rematch of the undefeated game and even though Sin City jumped out early the Alliance stayed within themselves and played with the confidence that comes with winning big games. When the dust settled the SoCal Alliance was the last team standing. The Alliance players spoke about the respect they had for the Sin City team that seems to always push them to their limits. Sin City notched a solid 2nd place in the event and they were gracious hosts all weekend.

Special recognition to Jack Olson, Vegas Heat and the Sin City Combo for hosting a great weekend of police softball.

Sin City All-Tourney
Keith Habig, Brian Sachs and Jake Grundwald.

Sin City All-Defensive Player
Trevor Neville (note: Trevor is quickly becoming an elite pitcher on a national level)

SoCal Alliance All-Tourney
George Reyes, Alfonso Trujillo and Mike Snyder

SoCal Alliance All-Defensive Player
Tommy Hayes

SoCal Alliance MVP
Nate “Dizzo” Baez