Thanks to players and coaches and parents

As most of you now know,  Head Coach Alfred Smith has decided to disband the current 11U Finest team to pursue a longtime desire.  He wishes to start a new team in the fall whose members will all be attending Red Mountain High School in the future. His primary goal is to create a feeder team whose members will be good prospects to play baseball for Red Mountain HS.

Unfortunately, that means that the current team, whose players would be attending many different high schools in different parts of the valley, will be broken up.  I know many of the players were upset to hear this news.  Many of us have been part of each others lives every few days for practice and every tournament weekend for the last few years. The kids know each other like family.  Many of the parents are friends.  I'm sure we will all miss each other.

Thanks to all the players, coaches, and parents.  Great job to all the players, who worked so hard as team-members. You guys learned a lot about baseball and life and did a great job! Personally, I'm proud of all of you and sad to see this happen.  I'm sure we will all see each other again as we link up with new teams.

If any other teams are interested in some really great baseball players, you can email me here and I can foward your information on to available players.

May 15/16 USSSA Best of the West tournament

The USSSA Best of the West tournament was held at Big League Dreams in Gilbert on May 15 and 16.  On Saturday May 15, the Finest had early 7:30am game against the Blue Blaze.  Finest won it, 9-1.  Second games followed immediately against the 10u Blaze. Again, a fairly easy victory...Finest win 11-1.

Sunday's first game was the number 1 seed Finest against the number 4 seed Red Mountain Rangers.  This was a good game...anybody's game, all the way to the end. Finest win it 3-2.  Championship game comes down to the Finest versus the winner of the Blue Blaze and the 10u Blaze. 10u Blaze won against the Blue Blaze.  Championship game against the 10u Blaze was a disappointment for us all.  They win it 4-2.

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Spring Classic Tournament April 24/25

The Spring Classic tournament on April 24 and 25 was played at Rio Vista park in Peoria.  The first game against the Rattlers ended with the Finest on top 8-6.  The second game was against the Dbacks. Finest lose that one 3-6.

Sunday's games started with an easy win early in the morning against the Red Mountain Rangers. Finest 8, Rangers 0.  The second game was against the 10u Stealth. This was a much more difficult win for us.  Their primary pitcher was throwing about 80% curve balls and we had a tough time hitting until he tired.  Once he tired, the Finest started hitting great. Then the Stealth changed the pitcher and we finished them off. Finest 6, Stealth 4.  That win got us into the championship game with the Rattlers again.  No excuses but we seemed really tired in the 3rd game of the day and it was hot.  Lots of mistakes and the Rattlers just seemed to want the win more.  Rattlers 4, Finest 1.

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April 2/3 USSSA Easter Classic

The USSSA Easter Classic games were played at Big League Dreams.  First game against the Red Mountain Rangers ended in a 2-2 tie.  Both the Finest and the Rangers were pitching perfect games until late in the game.  Second game on Friday against the Scottsdale Dirtbags ended in a loss for the Finest 3-6.


Saturday, unfortunately, held only one game for us.  The Scottsdale Silverhawks held us down and won it 5-1.  That eliminated us from the rest of the tournament.


Silverhawks ended up winning one bracket against the Diablos, or 3rd place overall, and the Scottsdale Dirtbags won the other against the Sandlot Allstars to take 1st and 2nd places, respectively.


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Spring Championships Super NIT March 26, 27, 28

Friday, March 26 at Victory Lane, the Finest played at 5:00pm against the Colorado Team Rawlings.  Final score Finest, 5 and Team Rawlings, 3.  Our second game was at 9:00 pm against the AZ Bulldogs.  That game ended with Finest 9, Bulldogs, 2.

Saturday's morning game on field 2 was against the AZ Rattlers.  This one was a nail-biter.  Finest took an early lead and held it until the 5th inning, when the Rattlers scored 4 runs to close the gap by one run.  Final score Finest 6, Rattlers, 5.  The second game of the day was against the number 4 seed, El Paso Dukes.  This was also a very good game.  We had some very good plays, and Justin Jensen pitched the entire game. Final score Finest 2,  Dukes 0.

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Sunday's first game, semifinals was against the blue Blaze.  Finest won 9 to 1.  Next was finals against the Las Vegas Hawks.  Lots of errors on our part contributed to an unfortunate loss.  Final score Finest 3, Hawks 6. Hawks move on to the championship game with the Scottsdale Dirtbags.  Dirtbags win it all, 12-8,

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USSSA Spring Training, March 13/14

Both Saturday and Sunday's games were at Big League Dreams park in Gilbert.  First we played the Bulldogs. Felt like an easy win, Finest 8, Bulldogs 2.  The second game Saturday was against the Rattlers. Lots of mistakes cost us this one, Rattlers 3, Finest 2.

On Sunday, we played the Rattlers again but this time we looked good.  We win 7-3.  Championship game was against the winner of Aztecs vs Bulldogs.  We ate lunch watching the Aztecs and Bulldogs, hoping the Bulldogs could pull out a victory.  No they couldn't so we enter into the best game of the day. The Aztecs took an early lead. We chased 2 runs for a few innings. The Aztecs could taste the win. They got a bit cocky about. In the sixth inning, one Aztec player was heard to say "3 up, 3 down and the championship is ours". (in  young Obi Wan Kenobi voice: "Oh, I don't think so..."  Finest get fired up and slam in 4 runs to take a 3 run lead.  Then Finest take the field for defense one more time.  Who wanted it more?? Ha, ha silly. Finest shut them down and shut them up.  That's the most excited I have seen these boys in a long time.  Congratulations are in order because you worked hard and earned this win.  Great game!

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USSSA Spring Training 1, March 6/7

Saturday, March 6 games at Rio Vista park in Peoria. Our first game was against the Wildfire. I don't believe we ever played them before.  Finest took a large early lead, on the order of 9-0 or so but the Wildfire started hitting and our defense was having trouble knocking the ball down. Final Finest 11, Wildfire 8.

The second game on Saturday was against the AZ Attack. The Finest fairly dominated this game.  Final Finest 11, AZ Attack 0.

We seeded #3 for Sunday's games but they were cancelled due to rain.


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