For the second straight year, the California Rockies captured the Corey Lidle Memorial Tournament championship. For the first time, the tournament was dividied into three divisions: 16U, High School and 18U club. The Rockies captured the very tough 18U club division title by defeating the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Academy 11 - 6 in the championship game. Ov erall, the Rockies were 5 - 0 in the tournament, including a very exciting 11 - 10 victory over the Playa Vista Orioles in the semi-finals.
Overall, the California Rockies had a very successful 2008 summer season, with the Rockies’ Mickey Mantle, Don Mattingly and Connie Mack teams all qualifying to advance to their respective AABC post season tournaments. Here’s a recap of how each team fared in tournament play.
Don Mattingly
As noted above, the Rockies 17U team won the Don Mattingly California State Championship and made it all the way to the championship game of the Don Mattingly World Series. The World Series was played in Albuquerque, NM, and was actually broken down into a sequence of three mini-tournaments. The first was a 2-game pool play tournament, which was played to determine seeding for the next round. The Rockies went undefeated in that round and emerged as the 3rd seed in the 16 team tournament. The next round was a double elimination tournament played at the University of New Mexico, from which the top 5 teams advanced to the championship round. The Rockies went 4 – 0 in this round and were a perfect 6 -0 going into the championship round.
The championship round was played at Isotopes Park, the home of the Florida Marlins AAA affiliate Albuquerque Isotopes. The 5 teams in the round came from 5 different states; Arizona, California, New Mexico, New York and Texas. The Rockies suffered their first loss in the first game of this round, falling 12 – 4 to the Texas McKinney Marshals. They rebounded from that loss to defeat Texas McKinney 10 – 7 in the next game to advance to the championship game. Unfortunately, that’s where the road ended for the Rockies as they then fell 9 – 4 to the Rio Grande Ravens in the championship game.
Mickey Mantle
The Rockies 16U team took 2nd place in the Mickey Mantle California State tournament, which qualified the team to advance to the West Regional Tournament played in Kent, WA. The team won the first two games of that tournament, but then lost the next two games to end their season.
Connie Mack
The Rockies’ 18U team took 2nd place in the Connie Mack California State tournament and also qualified to advance to the West Regional Tournament played at Blair field in Long Beach, CA, and other fields in the area. The Rockies opened that tournament by taking a 2 – 1 lead into the 6th inning of the first game against a very strong Trombley Braves team. Unfortunately, they couldn’t hold the lead and eventually lost the game 11 – 4. They also played tough in the next game, but ultimately lost the game 8 – 7, bringing their season to a close.
