Mike Snyder is very well known in police softball. If you do not know who he is, look for the 6'5 250 pound player that runs like a gazelle and hits like a machine. He has won three World Series titles, a World Series MVP, and a Player of the Year with the SoCal Alliance. Mike is now on his first year with the newly reformed LAPD Blue team and he hopes to help bring them their first title at World Series XIII. Here is Mike's 20 for 20 with our comments in parenthesis: :

In the police softball world, Jeff Blair is one of the co-founders of police softball.com and the SoCal Alliance. He is a member of our Hall of Fame, writes a regular police softball article for Softball Magazine and a former World Series Champion. In the police world, he made his bones as a highly respected gang investigator and he is finishing the last run of his career as a captain in a southern California agency. In the world of prognostication, he is known as the Swami. Every year he will make his World Series predictions and he is way closer to right than wrong. Today he is our 20 for 20 subject.

The West Conference Championship theme was “Back to the Future” as the tournament was held at the Big League Dreams facility in Cathedral City (Palm Springs), Ca. The venue was the site of the first 5 Police Softball World Series tournaments before that event moved to its current location in Las Vegas. This facility is the flagship Big League Dreams park and used to host some of California’s largest police softball tournaments. It has been 7 years since a major police tournament was held here, so Policesoftball.com decided to visit our roots and take a walk back through time.

The official start of the 2016 West Conference season begins with the annual DEA Kickoff in Riverside; CA. Before the softball season kicked off, twenty players participated in a golf tournament. After the scores were counted, Jeremy Hershey (La Lawmen) was the winner of the tournament. For winning the golf tournament, Jeremy received a gun case, donated by www.seahorse.net.

For the two previous years Socal Alliance Shortstop Eric Harryman has received nominations for Player of the Year. This year he received nominations from not only his team, but seven other teams which is a new record for police softball.com. There was no denying him this year as he was handily the West Conference Player of the Year.

20 teams was the scenerio for the opening day of the 2015 NV Police/Fire Games. Brackets were set with heavy hitters DEA, SoCal Alliance, BattleBorn, Sin City Aces and Elite Fire as the favorites. After things unfolded Thursday, each of the top teams took their respected bracket except Alliance. Alliance was short on players for day 1 and came across a well-rounded LA Lawmen team. LA Lawmen was able to take a win from Alliance placing themselves in the top 5 seeding. This would be the first loss for Alliance in 2015.

On June 19th and 20th 2015, 13 teams came together at arguably the best softball park on the West Coast, Golden Eagle Complex in Sparks, Nevada. The round robin play separated the teams into “A” and “B” Flight 2 game elimination brackets. The big surprise was the SF Seals who pushed their way into the “A” Flight with solid hitting, defense and toughness.

The annual Policesoftball.Com West Conference Championships were held the weekend of May 16/17, 2015 at the Chino Hills Big League Dreams facility in Southern California. For the first time ever, the usually dry SoCal area was dealing with a significant rain storm on the days leading up to the event. As a result, the fields were extremely saturated and the event was touch and go even into the Friday evening hours.

THE WEST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP - Mid-May is a busy time for the police softball circuit as two of the biggest tournaments in the nation are held on opposite ends of the country. The Bash at the Beach/East Conference Championship is held in Virginia Beach and on the other coast, the West Conference Championship is held at the Big League Dreams facility in Chino Hills (SoCal). The ECC drew plenty of teams, but the numbers were down significantly in California. The WCC typically draws 24+ teams, but for a variety of reasons only 16 came out to test their skills against some of the toughest competition in the circuit. The event featured 6 Majors teams and 10 Gold teams and they were divided into 6 round robin brackets. Gold teams were spotted 7 runs against the Majors teams which created some interesting results. One of the more exciting matchups was Showtime nipping the LA Lawmen by 1 run. Another tight one was the DEA Combo vs. CenCal Connection game that ended in a draw.

Big League Dreams Las Vegas played host to the Police Softball World Series which drew 71 law enforcement teams, with 1000+ players from over 30 states. The word “World” in World Series was appropriate in that, there were three Canadian teams participating; Toronto Police Softball, Prince Albert Police and the Regina Cyclones. Early arrivals were treated to a catered player’s reception at the Golden Nugget Hotel hosted by Hall of Famer Terry Dugan and his new Virginia based Lockdown Sports Gear company. Easton Sports with Brett Helmer and Miken with Denny Crine supplied all the bats for the tournament. The provided bat format has become very popular as there was no specter of juiced bats looming over the teams. It was a level playing field for all the competitors as games would be won and lost based only on talent and execution.

The best of the best in the West Coast traveled to West Covina Big League Dreams to open up the 2013 Police Softball season. If the annual DEA Kickoff was any indication of the Police Softball season, every tournament will be a competitive shootout and anyones to win. After Round Robin play Lockdown, Cal Showtime, SoCal Alliance, Sin City, Hardcore and DEA Combo all won their brackets much like the pre-season rankings predicted. Going to the Gold division were SoCal Riot and NoCal Shockers and both teams were favorite to run through double elimination play and meet up in the Championship.

The 8th Annual Police Softball World Series was hosted once again by www.policesoftball.com at the Big League Dreams facility in Las Vegas, Nevada the second weekend of October. The tournament has grown every year as it started with 32 teams in 2005 and swelled to 73 teams this year. Unfortunately, the open division is capped and for the first time ever teams were turned away for failing to qualify before the deadline. Every year the tournament follows a theme based on the numerical year since the advent. Being the 8th year, the theme was the “Dead Man’s Hand” Aces & Eights. The biggest change this year was the switch to a provided bat tournament. Title sponsor Easton Sports and Brett Helmer supplied the new line of Easton’s and Miken’s Denny Crine outfitted the fields with their latest bats. For many it was the first time they ever played in a provided bat tournament, and although there was some hesitancy it was refreshing to lift the specter of juiced/shaved/rolled bats and just concentrate on playing softball on an even playing field.

Mike Snyder came on to the PoliceSoftball.com circuit in 2009 and immediately showed the pedigree of a great athlete. At that time he was one of several "Young Guns" featured in Softball Magazine as an up and coming player on the circuit and he has not disappointed.

The 2nd Annual SoCal Lockdown tournament was once again held at the beautiful Santee Sportsplex in San Diego County, California. 2011 West Conference Manager of the Year Brandon St. Aubin and his SoCal Lockdown team played host to the event and there couldn’t have been better softball conditions in Southern California. Although the tournament did not draw a high number of teams, there was no shortage of quality teams as 9 of the West Conference’s top 25 ranked teams participated. Among those were the top 3 ranked teams: 1. SoCal Alliance, 2. Sin City Combo, & 3. DEA Combo so there was plenty of firepower and with a whopping 10 (TEN) home run limit, there were fireworks to go along with that firepower. Other teams in the mix were the host SoCal Lockdown, Team Vargas, Border Patrol Arsenal, SoCal Dawgs, SoCal War Pigs, and Nitro2Go Hitmen

The NorCal Choir Boys played host to their first ever Ba$h for Ca$h tournament in the Sacramento suburb Lincoln, Ca. Tournament director Alan Case had high hopes for a large draw because he was offering the largest cash prize since the advent of the www.policesoftball.com website. The prizes were based on a minimum of 16 teams with payouts of $2500 going to the A-flight champions and $1000 going to the B-flight champions. Unfortunately the lucrative booty could not overcome the growing trend of dwindling tournament numbers. On this weekend, only 10 teams participated which was a sharp decline from previous years. Those who did participate were treated to a jam packed day of softball at the Foskett Regional Park complex.

John Scollo once again hosted his West Palm Beach tournament and once again it did not disappoint. From the pre tourney action at Grease Burgers, Dr. Feelgoods, Roccco's Tacos and the local golf course to the free beers, food and top level competition, this tourney was dialed in from the word go.

The prediction was for rain all weekend, there was even a Voodoo raindance performed. The softball gods would have none of this for the Blondies Sin City Madness Police softball Tournament at Las Vegas Big League Dreams. SoCal Alliance coach Ryan Coe said it best during an interview with ESPN Analyst Erin Andrews. Andrews asked Coe, "as the Westcoast #1 team, do you think the weather will become a factor"? Coe's reply said it all about the men who play Police Softball, "I really enjoyed that internet video of you". With that 15 Open Division teams started round robin play.

Generally speaking the policesoftball.com circuit is divided with teams either being classified as East or West based on geography. Typically West teams play in tournaments held in California or Nevada. Meanwhile the East teams play in tournaments ranging from New York to Florida and from Virginia to Ohio. West teams have the luxury to be within driving distance of all the major West tournaments while East teams usually have only one or two major East tournaments within driving distance. The West season kicks off with the annual DEA Kickoff in Chino Hills, Ca. every February. Meanwhile the East season really fires up in April with the Bacon Ball West Palm Beach, Florida event hosted by SoFlorida Lawmen player John Scollo and sponsored by Jack Olsen. Come October teams from all over the country come to Las Vegas for the World Series.

The weekend of February 12/13, 2011 marked the new season for the West teams at the annual DEA Kickoff in Chino Hills, Ca. Typically this event draws all the top teams from the West as many teams are anxious to show off their new uniforms, debut their new players or simply for an opportunity to play ball after a long off-season. This year was no different as 16 of the West top 25 along with the teams currently ranked 1-7 were in attendance. A total of 24 teams were divided into 8 brackets for round robin/seeding purposes. After pool play, teams were seeded 1, 2 or 3 based on their results. The top 2 teams in each bracket advanced to the A-Flight double elimination playoffs while the 3rd seeded team moved on to the B-Flight double elimination playoffs.

The Policesoftball.com/Easton Summer Classic was played on July 31-Aug 1 at the Big League Dreams venue in Mira Loma, Ca. The Inland Empire area of Southern California is usually very hot this time of the year, but as luck would have it, the conditions were fairly mild. This facility boasts 7 softball fields with a variety of dimensions ranging from the monster Pawtucket field (330-340-330) to the cozy Vero Beach (265-270-265). This tournament was one of two California World Series qualifiers which meant team rosters were strictly adhered to. Teams had to win or lose with their roster players and not ringers brought specifically to win a berth. And, once again this was a provided bat tournament courtesy of Easton Sports and Real Skilz president Armando Acosta. Once again, the provided bats meant there would be no allegations of shenanigans and everyone had the proverbial level playing field.

Zephyr Cove, NV.-------- Another tremendous 3 days of Softball up in 7,250 feet altitude with bright sunny skies all weekend. Tempatures averaged 85 degrees. Bracket play began on Friday in both "A" and "B" Flights with Alliance,Stanislaus, Hardcore and Concord winning their respective Brackets in A Flight and Santa Cruz, Butte County, So-Cal Beach Bums and Folsom J-Cats winning their brackets in B Flight. There were a total of 8 one-run games in bracket play. Friday Nite included a homerun derby which had a showdown between Paul Blandford and Chad Johnson of Hardcore for the title of HR King. Paul outlasted Chad in the final round and won the Brett Helmer Easton bat. Mike McMorrow of DEA( Played with LAPD) finished third. The HR derby raised $620 dollars which was donated by the tournament to two different causes, The Stepon Gray Memorial Fund to help new cadets into the Police Academy in Merced.Ca and to our brother in New York,The Bryan Bangs Foundation. Friday nite concluded with 3 more softball games under the lights at Zephyr Cove.

The Sacramento Sheriff Razorbacks and NorCal Choir Boys co-hosted one of the most important tournaments of the year this past weekend. The NorCal Mid-Summer Classic was played out in the Sacramento suburb of Lincoln at the beautiful Foskett Regional Park softball complex and twenty of California’s top teams participated in the event. Several factors elevated the status of this tournament including the following:Six (6) World Series berths would be awarded to the top finishers who had not already qualified.It was the first ever law enforcement manufacturer provided bat challenge. Each field had a variety of bats from the top manufacturers to choose from. Since the bats were the same for everyone, there would be no allegations of altered bats or cheating.

The 4th Annual State Razed Classic was held in the CenCal city of Hanford this past weekend and it drew teams from as far north as Sacramento and as far south as Orange County. The Hanford Sports Complex boasts 5 300’ fenced fields with well manicured playing surfaces. The weather was in the high 70’s, the sky was clear and the winds were mild so it made for a perfect weekend of softball.The top 4 seeds following round robin were: DEA Combo, State Razed, SoCal Alliance and HardCor in that order. The biggest story line of the round robin was a surprising 0-2 performance from a stacked NorCal Choir Boys team but their sluggish start would quickly be forgotten.

This last weekend officially marked the west coast kick off to the police softball season. As usual, the DEA Kick Off maxed out with 30 teams. This year also saw mother nature looming about but she did not hit like the forecasts predicted and all the tourney games got in without any issues. Every team had two round robin games with the top 2 teams in each bracket going to A flight and the bottom team going to B flight. Once the teams were divided, the double elimination playoffs started. When the dust settled in the A flight, four teams were left undefeated. Those teams were the LAPD Blue vs. the California Quake and the SoCal Alliance vs. HardCor.

This year 3N2 has designated certain tournaments to be part of the 3N2 MVP Series. Each MVP of the designated tourneys will be awarded a 3N2 MVP prize package. The latest 3N2 MVP tourney of the year was the Star6 Memorial tournament put on by the Sacramento Sheriffs. In this tourney, George Reyes of the SoCal Alliance was named MVP for his outstanding performance. George hit .775 along with 7 homeruns to lead his team in hitting and power. With George leading the way, his team rolled off 8 straight victories on Sunday to claim the Star6 crown. For his efforts, George will be awarded the following 3n2 MVP prize package:

If someone would have told me the 4th Annual Star6 Memorial Softball Tourney Champion would have to play 13 games in two days in 108 degree weather and nearly 95% humidity, I would have told them there is no way that could happen. But it did!! The SOCAL ALLIANCE, a combo team from several Southern California Law Enforcement agencies did just that. Five games in a row on Saturday, then 8 games in a row on Sunday to win the championship against A-1 Towing Hardcore in double dip fashion.

Throughout the season we will be bringing you “snapshots” of our players thoughts. Up this week on the hotseat is Del Pickney. Del became involved with police softball in 1997 when he ran the Tustin PD “Sticktime” team. Del was hooked on the camaraderie and the competition and along with Jeff Blair, he formed the SoCal Alliance in 2001. When he and Jeff had difficulty finding information on tournaments, they both started policesoftball.com in 2005 as a clearinghouse area for tournament directors to list tournament information. The website became more than just a tourney listing board and evolved into what it is today. In addition to running the Alliance and the ps.com website, Del is tournament director of the World Series. Now on to our snapshot.

This years annual West Palm Beach tournament once again raised the bar and showed why it is one of the best tournaments on the circuit. Jack Olson, John Scollo and all the people who helped deserve a pat on the back for making this a special tournament. Although the rain was threatening the entire weekend, it stayed away at the right times to allow the tournament and associated festivities to mostly go on unabated. For those players in town on Thursday, there was a great time had at Rocco’s Tacos and Dr. Feelgoods. Friday saw the annual golf tournament and players party at the Grease Burger bar.

This years Palm Springs POA tournament was just like years past. It was hot, it was fun, it was competitive and as always, Dan Rose and his crew were there working extremely hard to make sure everyone was taken care of. This year there was a little wrinkle in the tournament in that the new Bacon Ball/Aftershock tournament in Northern California was the same weekend. This took some teams away from Dan’s tournament this year but police softball in the West is so healthy right now, that Dan’s tournament still drew 27 teams while the BB/Aftershock tourney drew 16 teams. Any time 43 LEO teams can all play on the same weekend, things are looking good for LEO ball.

Next up on the snapshot hotseat is Nate Baez. Nate has played on the LAPD Teams and currently plays 5 man for the SoCal Alliance. Nate is a very versatile player as he has played OF, middle infield and pitched for the Alliance. In 2008, Nate won the West Coast defensive player of the year award for his stellar defensive play and is truly one of the most exciting players to watch D up. PS.com called Nate out of the blue and told him he was on the hotseat and Nate did not hesitate. Like how he deals with a hard line drive, Nate squared up and took the questions without flinching. So here is a PS.com snapshot into the mind of N8 Dizzo:

This year 3n2 has designated certain tournaments to be part of the 3n2 MVP Series. Each MVP of the designated tourneys will be awarded a 3n2 MVP prize package. The first 3n2 MVP tourney of the year was the DEA Kickoff/Easton Skilz tournament. In this tourney, Matt Boykin of the California Quake was named MVP for his outstanding performance. Matt hit .778 for the tourney and many of his hits came at clutch times for the Quake. Matt played a flawless infield, pitched the bulk of the championship game, and helped silence the SoCal Alliance bats. For his efforts, Matt will be awarded the following 3n2 MVP prize package:

Liberty Park in Sterling Heights Michigan was once again the venue for the annual Wouters/Sawyers Memorial softball tournament. This year, tournament directors Kevin Reese and Andy Wurm were able to sweeten the bounty by securing World Tournament status through USSSA. As tradition dictated, the tournament started off paying tribute to fallen officers Christopher Wouters and Mark Sawyers who had been killed in the line of duty. Once again the families of these officers were recognized and it was a great reminder to all of us the potential sacrifice our profession could ask us to make.

This years West Palm Beach Bacon Ball promised to be a great event. As always, Jack Olson and John Scollo were great hosts. The weather was just about perfect with only one 20 minute rain delay. The nightlife near the host hotel was a lot of fun and the caliber of teams that showed up made it one of the best tournaments of the year. John Scollo had 20 total teams and he did something unusual with the schedule that seemed to work out well for everyone. John took the 12 teams that regularly play on the Police softball circuit and grouped them together for pool play. John then took the 8 other teams and grouped them for pool play. The 12 team group was vying for the #1-12 seeds and the 8 team grouping was vying for the #13-20 seeds. This allowed for some great competition right from the get go and made for some very evenly matched games.

The Inglewood Outlaws will be rolling out in 2008 as known only as the Outlaws. Jimmy Sola from Torrance PD will be the manager helped out by Etahn Siddall (Inglewood PD) and big Gus Rubio. You might know Jimmy from playing SS for the Cal-Quake on occasion including in the 07 World Series. Gus played 3B for the SoCal Alliance in the 05 World series. They will be looking to compete in 8 to 10 tournies and have some old faces and a couple of new ones. If Jimmy gets commitment from the guys he wants they have some solid ball players.

The Policesoftball.com World Series is firmly established as the most anticipated weekend in the cop softball season. The Worlds are played in October and mark the official end of the season by crowning a world champion. This year, 50 teams descended on the Palm Springs, Ca. region for a shot at the crown. It was a three-day event that featured two round robin seeding games followed by a double elimination tournament. The event was sanctioned by USSSA and officially sponsored by Easton Sports.

When PoliceSoftball.com looks at player of the year candidates, we look at players that drive their teams and who have raised their games to new levels. We look at players who can place their team on their back and will their team to win. Last year our West coast player of the year was Jeff Regino of the California Quake. Jeff embodied those traits and set the tone for this award. This year the PoliceSoftball.com recognized these same attributes in Ryan Coe of the SoCal Alliance. Ryan has always been an exceptional player but this year he has raised his game to a new level. Every team has one player you think of when you look at how to beat that team and Ryan Coe has been that player all year for the SoCal Alliance.

Easton Sports has recognized that police softball is a legitimate player in the softball world and they are becoming very active in the police softball circuit. They have given the LAPD Blue and the SoCal Alliance full bat sponsorships for several years now and they give discounted equipment deals to many other teams.

Last year the Nevada Games open softball division was won by the CDC Hard-Cor/Xclerate Fitness. Second and third place went to the Honolulu's Finest and the SoCal Alliance respectively.