2006 Labor Day Tournament

Whompers Win 2006 Labor Day Tournament

It was a great Labor Day weekend of stickball again. The weather was typical Southern California sunshine and the competition was just as good. After a prayer by Father Mario and the singing of God Bless America by Amber Platy, it was time to play ball.

After Round Robin play on Saturday, the records were tallied and seeds were handed out for Sunday's playoffs. The seedings went as follows with the round robin records in parenthesis:

1. Fish Stixx (3-0)
2. Whompers (2-1)
3. Eclipse (2-1)
4. Young Stars (1-2)
5. Rookies (1-2)
6. St. Sluggers (0-3)

The top 2 seeds avoided the first round of playoffs, which was the play-in round to the double elimination part of the playoffs. The losers of the first round games went home early.

In the first round, the Young Stars were matched up with the Rookies. The Rookies were looking to improve on their 2005 Labor Day debut when they got sent home in the first round by the Whompers. The Rookies took the Young Stars to extra innings and pulled off the upset of the tournament, winning the game 4-3 and sending the Young Stars packing early. In the other first round game, Eclipse handled the Street Sluggers to move on to the second round double elimination.

In the second round games, the Whompers beat Eclipse and the Fish Stixx handled the Rookies. The Whompers and Fish Stixx moved on to the semifinals with the wins and both Eclipse and the Rookies would play in the losers bracket.

Eclipse handled the Rookies pretty easily behind their best hitters, Matt Chapman and Garrett Shriver. The Rookies were eliminated and Eclipse would play the loser of the semifinal game. The semifinal game between the Whompers and the Fish Stixx was a rematch of the round robin game in which the Fish Stixx beat the Whompers. The game was tied 1-1 in the 8th inning when first-time stickball player John Rumsey beat deep man Louis Centanni for a solo HR. The Fish Stixx wouldn't go down quietly and got runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out but a ground ball killed their rally.

The Fish Stixx were sent to the loser's bracket to play Eclipse and it was lose and go home, win and go to the championship game for the teams. Eclipse took care of the Fish Stixx, who had to settle for 3rd place. With the win, Eclipse moved on to play the Whompers and the undefeated Whompers would have to be beat twice to be sent home.

It only took one game to win the championship for the Whompers. Trailing Eclipse 1-0 in the 4th inning, tournament co-MVP Vince Blas led off the inning with a double. The next 3 batters all got hits, including an RBI double by the other co-MVP Mike Parks Jr. The Whompers ended up winning the game 4-1 to claim the 2006 Labor Day Tournament Championship.

A big congratulations goes out to the Fish Stixx and the Rookies for their play over the weekend. The Rookies, led by captain Juan Ramirez, upset the Young Stars in the first round of the playoffs and ended up taking 4th place in the tournament. The Fish Stixx, led by veteran stickball brothers Louis and Joey Centanni, had 4 players who had never played stickball before. They placed 3rd in the tournament.