Orlando Edge, Tampa Panthers take Gasparilla titles

More than 70 teams from throughout the United States converged upon Tampa Bay's three major softball complexes for the 17th Annual Gasparilla Softball Tournament Presidents' Day Weekend.

The three complexes spanned Tampa and St. Petersburgâ┚¬â€and all were needed to accommodate the large number of teams.

â┚¬Å”The way Tampa is set up, there isn't one complex large enough to accommodate all three divisions at once,â┚¬Â said Suncoast Softball League commissioner Allen Reynolds. â┚¬Å”So with 71 teams, you have close to 900 players and you're trying to put them all in one area. It's tricky.â┚¬Â

Reynolds said that several teams and players said they would have preferred to see all of the divisions playâ┚¬â€but that they understood it was logistically impossible.

â┚¬Å”The only way that would work is if we had half the teams,â┚¬Â he said. â┚¬Å”And we don't want to cut back. We're growing every year.â┚¬Â

Orlando and Tampa teams secured first place trophies in two divisions and placed in the top three in the third division.

The Orlando Edge won the B-Division, which was held at the Greco Complex in Tampa, and the Birmingham Southern Strokes took second. Orlando's Broadway Crush secured a third-place win.

In the C-Divisionâ┚¬â€the tournament's largest with 36 teams competing at the Ed Radice complex in Tampaâ┚¬â€the Philadelphia TOC Triple Play earned the first place trophy while Tampa's Riptide took second. The Orlando Scrappers finished third.

And in the D-Division, where 26 teams battled for the title at the Woodlawn Fields in St. Petersburg, the Tampa Panthers claimed the title after beating second-place Colorado Exile XXX. Fort Lauderdale's Bill's Filling Station Bombers took home the third place trophy in that division.

â┚¬Å”The tournament went really well,â┚¬Â said Reynolds, who added that there were no team protests throughout the two-day tournament. â┚¬Å”We were lucky with injuries as well, overall.â┚¬Â

There was one major injury, Reynolds said, saying that a player from Philadelphia broke an ankle and required emergency surgery. In all, Reynolds was only aware of three injuries throughout the weekend.

â┚¬Å”We had a safe year, overall,â┚¬Â he said. â┚¬Å”From what I understand that Philadelphia player is doing better and will hopefully come back to see us next year.â┚¬Â

For more information on the Gasparilla Tournament or on Suncoast Softball League, visit SuncoastSoftball.org.