- By Ernie Rapiere

April 26th, Bracket play rounds in the 2009 USSSA 11U Florida State Championship got underway today in Osceola County stadium in Kissimmee, Florida.

Early round matchups pitted the Central Florida Bobcats against TEAM Nitro.  On this day, the Bobcats look like a team deserving of their #14 national ranking as they rolled over TEAM Nitro by a 9-1 margin.  This win advances the Bobcats on to face the Tampa Crush.  This Tampa Crush came into this event ranked #21 nationally by TravelBallSelect.  Thus far, they have early wins over the Tampa Titans, a team that had advanced in bracket play by virtue of their 4-3 edge over the 10U Mizunos Glory.  This is the same 10U Mizunos Glory team that had just last week won the 10U Florida State Championship last week.  The Bobcats and the Crush will face off at noon Sunday in the semi-finals.

In the second half of bracket play, the 11U Mizunos Glory fell to the Orange County Outlaws by a score of 12-0. The Outlaws are recognized as “Honorable Mention” by TravelBallSelect.  These Outlaws had earned their wins the hard way, by advancing from the bottom of the bracket, with a statement 13-0 win over the Tampa Makos in late Saturday play. This win enabled them to advance to play the seeded Mizunos Glory this morning.  This impressive win over a very good 11U Mizunos team has clearly put these Outlaws in the spotlight.

News just in, the finals are set.  The Central Florida Bobcats edged past the Tampa Crush 6-5 to earn the right to face TEAM Combat in the finals. 

Also, TEAM Combat stopped the upsurge by the Orange County Outlaws as they knocked out an 8-3 win.  Anthony Castagnaro pitched 4 full innings to earn the win for the Combat.

Stayed tuned for updates on the results of the finals which will start at 2:00PM Sunday.

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