Lower seeds rock bracket at 13U Super Series Super 16

By Devin Hasson

The 10 teams in the 13U Super Series Super 16 World Series spent two days playing pool play games to determine seeding. Not only did those seeding results not hold to form, but the exact opposite happened, as the two lowest-seeded teams, the No. 9 East Texas Cats and the No. 10 Dallas Stars, will meet in the championship game on Friday at The Ballfields at Craig Ranch in McKinney. The results from pool play seemed to indicate a level of parity, as no team finished with an undefeated record and six of the 10 teams had identical 2-1 records.
But as surprising, and as close as many of those games were, that trend was taken to the next level on Tuesday.

The two remaining teams were the only ones not to post a victory during pool play as they combined to post a 0-5-1 record. However, they both underwent a complete reversal of fortune once bracket play started. The Dallas Tigers, a highly-regarded team that was on the honorable mention list on the most recent travelballselect.com 13U national poll, was bounced right away with two consecutive losses.

“This is supposed to be the best of the best and this is the most competitive tournament I’ve been in,” Flower Mound coach Keith Jackson said. “I’ve been in tournaments where three or four teams have been phenomenal but in this tournament it seems like every team can beat any other team. I mean, I think the Dallas Tigers are one of the best teams here and they’re out.” The top six teams received first-round byes, meaning both the East Texas Cats and the Dallas Stars had to play early on Tuesday morning, as they each built momentum by recording their first wins of the tournament. That carried over into Tuesday afternoon when the Sulphur Springs-based Cats handed the top-seeded Blue Sox a 12-9 loss, while the Stars took down the No. 2 seed Intocable, 7-3. Next up for East Texas was the Banditos-White, who they were able to edge in a 6-5 win, while the Stars had an equally close game, pulling out a 3-2 victory over the Oklahoma Bearcats.

That set the stage for a clash on Wednesday for a spot in the championship game and it was all Cats, as they rolled to a 12-0 victory. Things did not go well for the top seeds in the tournament. The No. 1 Blue Sox and fifth-seeded Louisiana Giants lost their first two games and the second-seeded Intocable and No. 6 Tulsa Hurricanes were gone after just three games. “I’m surprised. I expected the big dogs like the Tigers and the Hurricanes and the teams that won their state tournaments to be sitting pretty,” Jackson said. “But again, it is all about match-ups and what day you come out ready to play.”

The one higher seed that did make a charge was the No. 3 Oklahoma Bearcats. After falling into the elimination bracket, the Bearcats defeated the Flower Mound Warriors on Thursday to set up a rematch with the Dallas Stars. That contest went back and forth, but in the end, the Stars were able to pull out a one-run win to earn a second chance at the Cats on Friday at 10 a.m. If the Stars win that game and hand East Texas its first loss, there will be a winner-take-all showdown at 12:45 p.m.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form