First, as always, I want to thank all of the players who represented Heavy Metal Softball this weekend for their effort, help, and cooperation in making our third tournament of the year a somewhat successful effort -- in the sense that we were very competitive against some roughly comparable teams.  Here are some final tournament statistics for those who actually visit our website and are truly interested in such things.  I would like to state here again that unlike previous seasons a couple of years ago -- when I published an extensive summary of each tournament regardless of the outcome -- I will only do so if we achieve playoff status or have a winning record, with just a bare-bones tournament rundown for those events of little distinction.  So, without further adieu, I present some facts from this particular contest:

21st Annual Bud Light Cinco de Mayo Spectacular Summary --

Tournament Record:  1-3 (tough losses!)
                                1st game:  Lost 9-14 vs. It's All Good
                                2nd game:  Lost 6-13 vs. Hitmen
                                3rd game:  Lost 6-8 vs. Los Primos
                                4th game:  Won 15-11 vs. Team Wasted  

Team Statistics (alphabetically):

Vern Amaro -- 6 for 13; .462 BA; 18 points.
Rich Avery -- 4 for 13; .308 BA; 9 points.
Wes Avery -- 8 for 13; .615 BA; 36 points.
Lucio Cobos -- 7 for 10; .700 BA; 19 points.
Lee Garcia -- 5 for 14; .357 BA; 13 points.
Sean Loy -- 2 for 6; .333 BA; 6 points.
Mike Lujan -- 9 for 14; .643 BA; 32 points.
John Rodriguez -- 4 for 12; .333 BA; 12 points.
Steve Stafford -- 5 for 10; .500 BA; 31 points.
Mike Vanaalst -- 2 for 8; .250 BA; 26 points. 

Team Batting Average:  .430 (58 for 135; we averaged 9.0 runs/game for the whole tournament.  We need to definitely improve our team batting average, as this current one won't win games, much less tournaments....)

Tournament MVP:  Wes Avery (36 points -- Sizzlin' Stick award!)

Manager's Award:  I would like to take this time now to recognize a few other players who shined just as brightly this weekend with their contributions to the team:  Mike Lujan, Steve Stafford, and Lucio "Bubba" Cobos. Their stats above speak for themselves, but their consistency throughout the tournament is what I noticed most and appreciated greatly -- here's a "hats-off" to all three of you!  

2009 Season Statistics (alphabetically; all players):

Donny Aguiar -- 12 for 21; .571 BA; 47 points (2 tournaments)
Vern Amaro -- 15 for 34; .441 BA; 47 points (3 tournaments)
Rich Avery -- 11 for 37; .297 BA; 50 points (3 tournaments)
Wes Avery -- 22 for 39; .564 BA; 73 points (3 tournaments)
Lucio Cobos -- 21 for 30; .700 BA; 68 points (3 tournaments)
Lee Garcia -- 9 for 23; .391 BA; 23 points (2 tournaments)
Gene Hitt -- 2 for 9; .222 BA; 8 points (1 tournament)
Brian Hollingshead -- 5 for 21; .238 BA; 13 points (2 tournaments)
Paul Lawrence -- 4 for 18; .222 BA; 25 points (2 tournaments)
Mike Lujan -- 19 for 39; .487 BA; 58 points (3 tournaments)
Lencho Martinez -- 3 for 8; .375 BA; 13 points (1 tournament)
John Rodriguez -- 4 for 12; .333 BA; 12 points (1 tournament)
Devin Stafford -- 1 for 10; .100 BA; 10 points (1 tournament)
Steve Stafford -- 16 for 33; .485 BA; 71 points (3 tournaments)
Mike Vanaalst -- 10 for 20; .500 BA; 59 points (2 tournaments) 

Year-End Award Progress:  Lucio "Bubba" Cobos still leads the race for the Batting Champions: Metal Men perpetual award bat, based on his three-tournament batting average of .700 -- but Donny Aguiar is close behind during this 2009 tournament tour with a two-tournament batting average of .571 (Wes Avery is third with a three-tournament batting average of .564). Please remember -- just in case everyone forgets -- a player must have played in a minimum of 5 tournaments to earn this recognition, which is something to think about when I ask everyone next time if they want to play some more ball in an upcoming tournament....

And, once again, that's all, folks!!!