nc, I heard the Oklahoma Elite are usually pretty good. The others I have never heard of. I am with the Columbus Sharks team. We should fair pretty well there, brought on a strong group to enhance what we already had. Finished runner as 12's, fell of to about mid pack as 13's at the previous BITS.

Eric G, my son is still playing with Bases Loaded/Team Alabama. I am not sure we have the pitching depth this year to make it very far. Plus we have to many playing high school sports/football that require four days of workouts. Kids are usually worn out come the weekend. East Cobb has the pitching depth to win it all. The Alabama Storm has gotten better, but they lost to Dulin's last weekend at the Super NIT. Dulin's has 5 kids that played with Team Alabama last year. I have heard the Snappers were very good as was the team from Jacksonville that has played together for years.

My Top 8.
Nor Cal
Nitro Baseball from Cal
East Cobb Astros
Columbus Sharks
Tampa Cannons
Team Mizzuno
South Florida Snappers
Dallas Tigers or Alabama Storm

Mikeau-I like your list though I wouldn't count your team out. How's Matt doing? Tell him we miss him here in Cali!! What a great kid and we love his parents too! It'll be good to see them again.

Mikeau- I'm guessing Dulin's are good this year. Any insight? I don't know about us doing that well this yea. We're small but we're slow so we have that going for us. Which is nice.

ncball,

I feel your pain. We are slow, can't catch and couldn't hit sand if we fell off a camel. Not to mention, we drew Team Mizuno in our pool.

Any info on South Oakland A's or Blue Springs Classics?

This weekend some action/results with some teams coming to BITS. Sharks lost to Indy Bulls, Sharks beat Dublin Green Sox, Sharks split 2 with Indy Irish. Last weekend Sharks lost 2 to Indy Bulls with 5 kids not playing due to school ball/injuries. The Indy Bulls are solid, trust me.

redbird- no clue on those guys. As you know, people from the left coast are geographically-challenged.

Heard today that the Tampa Cannons were not coming and were no longer together.

Is'nt that amazing that teams can just up and split like that, if its true that is!

where is this tournament? who sanctions it? sorry, just curious as it seems like it is a big tournament.

thanks.

This tournament is held in Rockwood, Harriman, and Oak Ridge Tn. about 45 minutes out of Knoxville. I don't believe that it is "sanctioned" by anyone in particular. Over the course of several weekends they have tournaments for different age groups from 11-14 with 14 being the largest (66 teams?). Teams come from all over the country. It really is a lot of fun and there is always some great competition.

Is there a link? Our team likes to make 1 road trip a year and would be interested in checking it out next year.

Thanks.

Be careful in Pool I...Houston Sox Silver potential sleeper....they will swing the bats

banditodad- Why don't the Banditos enter the BITS or Perfect Game WWBA? It seems like the only thing they play that is a big event is the USSSA Elite 24.

Probably just the amount of travel involved...I don't think they are even playing the Elite 24 with the 14u age group this year

banditodad12,

You're right about the Houston Sox Silver. If they are the same, or better, players as the team my son's team faced in Cooperstown 2 years ago, they can definitely "swing the bats"! If I remember correctly, they beat my son's team 11-1 and had 7 homeruns in the game.

Texas Crude...That is the Houston Banditos the second Banditos team....The top team is the Banditos Black which they are going to be changing to a 16u showcase team later in the summer

banditodad- Is it (bandito black) going to be an all 14 year old team? If so, they will beat average, local 15-16 year old teams and absolutely get lit up against a quality 16 year old team in a tournament like the 16 WWBA or USA 16's.

NCBALL. I totally agree with you about the level of play. But, they are going to be working at improving against the better talent in 16u.

Texas Crude-I also agree with some of the statements that you shared, but if you have ever played with him and have been coached by him or Robert, you may be able to better understand him.

Let me say that we did play for him for 5 years and when we left and played on another "select team" my son was well ahead of the others in knowledge of the game. We are now going back to play with a 16u team, as we feel for our situation it is a good option.

As far as his wife goes, she is a very nice and intelligent lady that does all of the off the field work for the program and she does not attend many games anymore.

You are not the only one that is jealous/bandito hater.