Tampa Bay softballers have a lot to be proud of this week as they celebrate the first place win by the Tampa Venom at the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance World Series Aug. 19.
The Venom defeated the Orlando Royalty in the championship game to secure the first-place trophy in the C-division bracket. The Atlanta Menace and the Houston Toros took third and fourth place, respectively.
The trophy didn’t come easy to the Venom, who started the tournament strong but had to fight its way back from the losers’ bracket to secure the championship. The Venom began with a string of wins, defeating the Seattle Seawolves, North Carolina Thunder, Twin Cities Edge, Tulsa Stampede and the Houston Toros.
But the Venom suffered a setback when it faced the Orlando Royalty the first time and found itself in the losers’ bracket. The Venom had to beat the Atlanta Menace to make it back into contention for the championship where the Orlando Royalty was awaiting.
The Venom defeated the Royalty in back-to-back games to secure its win.
Tampa and Orlando teams didn’t fare quite as well in the other divisions of the World Series. In the A-Division, the Atlanta Sluggers took first place over the second place Phoenix Roscoes. Third place went to the Chicago Menace while the Fort Lauderdale Noize took fourth.
In B-Division play, the Long Beach Rounders 2.0 secured a first-place win after beating the second-place San Diego Spikes in the championship game. Third and fourth place when to the Boston Cafe Club Angels and the Portland Brewers, respectively.
No Florida teams placed in the D-Division of the Gay World Series. Instead, the Seattle Inferno took first; the Tulsa Razors took second; the Philadelphia Honey Badgers secured third and the Twin City Titans took fourth.
Finally, in the Masters Division, the team taking home the first place trophy was the Seattle Strokes, who beat the second-place L.A. Gang Grey. The Chicago Sidetrack took third while the Twin Cities Line Drive finished in fourth place.
