The way Douglas Tigers coach Bill Whalin sees it, there's no reason his team can't win the United States Amateur Baseball Association World Series title. But he also realizes some coaches from the other nine teams in the 15-and-under tournament are thinking the same thing.
"It's still kind of wide open," Whalin said. "Tri-County and Langley are both really good teams. They're both going to be tough to beat. Langley is a solid team, they just put the ball in play and play good defense. And I still think (Kailua) Hawai'i has a real good shot at it. I don't know what happened to them after they beat us, maybe all the travel caught up to them."
Separation of those teams will begin today.
Douglas, which is the No. 3 seed, opens the double elimination tournament against No. 6 Sonora tonight at 7 at James Lee Memorial Park in Indian Hills. The Tigers went 4-1 in pool play, and one of those wins was a 10-4 defeat of Sonora on Monday.
"I'm very happy with where our team is," Whalin said. "I love our chances. Hopefully as the host team for this tournament we can put on a show for the fans. I know the players want to."
The Carson Crushers, who struggled during pool play, will play No. 9 seed Vacaville today at 11 a.m. at James Lee. Carson went 1-4 in the seeding stage to finish as the No. 8 seed. The winner of Carson-Vacaville game will play top seeded Tri-County today at 4 at Lampe Park in Gardnerville. Tri-County has yet to lose this week, outscoring its five opponents 41-16.
"The pool play is over, now it's time for the tournament," said Carson assistant coach Steve Smallman. "This team has played really well this summer and they have the ability to play better than we did in the pool play. At a tournament over Memorial Day in Reno, we played Vacaville close and beat Douglas. So I think we can surprise some teams."
Despite Kyle Mandoki's grand slam home run, Carson lost to Vacaville 9-5 in the tournament Reno, but beat Douglas 11-2. In other first round games, No. 2 seed Langley will play No. 7 Northwest today at 10 a.m. at James Lee, and No. 4 seed Twin City will play No. 5 seed Kailua. The tournament runs through Sunday. Admission is free to all games.
FINAL POOL PLAY STANDINGS
No. 1Tri-County Hurricanes (Fresno, Calif.)
No. 2Langley Junior Blaze (British Columbia, Canada)
No. 3Douglas (Carson Valley, Nevada)
No. 4Twin City Twins (Fresno)
No. 5Kailua (Kailua, Hawaii)
No. 6Sonora (Jamestown, Calif.)
No. 7Northwest (Kenmore, Wash.)
No. 8Carson Crushers (Carson City)
No. 9Vacacville Blue Jays (Vacaville, Calif.)
