Diamond Sports Promotions "Top Collegiate Prospect Tourney" in Bloomington-Normal Illinois begins Thursday morning at 8am and concludes with the finals on Sunday

40 teams entered this 4 game guarantee event which will have 98 ball games played over the 4 day period on 5 fields. Illinois State University is building a new stadium and the tourney had to use Lincoln Land College as another site in this years tourney--- Illinois Wesleyan will be the main tourney site this year.

Top Ranked teams entered include: Illinois Sparks, Southern Illinois Bullets, McHenry County Hurricanes, Longshots Baseball, Central Illinois Outlaws, Springfield Statesmen and others from out of state...

Over 75-100 college recruiters are expected in attendance with out of state schools represented from Tenn, Georgia, Mo, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Kentucky already calling to confirm they would be present.

You can get game by game results on the diamond sports website-- www.diamondsportspromotions.com and parings for the tourney is listed there also.

Looks to be a good one-- Just wish the 18s Sparks weren't worn out from their great accomplishment in Georgia---it would have been nice to have them square off against Illinois best teams! Guess they would be rather tired getting home around 3am Tuesday and having to play a 8am game Thursday....

CONGRATS BILL AND KIDS FOR A GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT!

The Sparks 18U pitchers will be throwing for the Sparks 17U team playing this weekend. It would have been great to take that entire team down but they really are coming off a long week and a little time off would serve them well.

Keep an eye on the team from O'Fallon. It's not an all-star team...it's there HIGH SCHOOL TEAM. They just won a 40 team tournament in Louisville a couple of weeks ago...beat the SI Bullets in the tourney as well. The boys can flat out hit the ball and play SOLID defense. Pitching isn't dominant, but very consistent...they know how to get outs. Players from that team to watch: Nick Tindall -Catcher (Laser to second base, hits a ton..currently overlooked somewhat, but you WILL hear about him), Kyle Stanton (strong kid, soft hands at 1B..hit around .480 this past spring as jr...centers the ball as well as anyone..patient at the plate), Nick Johnson OF - good feel for the game, good defensive outfielder..streaky hitter at times, but when he's in the zone..look out!) One of the better pitchers in the 2010 class in Miles Quintal..flat out knows how to get outs...not overpowering, but changes speeds well..hits his corners...good upside!

The ASA Class A State Fastpitch Softball Tournament is being held at one of those sites which is at Normal West High School. Wow you should have seen the storm that hit there yesterday afternoon and then the inches of rain overnight and this morning. It was amazing. I don't know how hard the wind was blowing but I saw several of those tents take flights despite being tied down by concrete anchors. They just snapped those legs like straw.