Omaha SlumpBuster Session 1 champions head home smiling

While the entertainment factor of the College World Series is always key to youth programs attending the Omaha SlumpBuster (powered by Triple Crown Sports), the hundreds of teams suiting up for competition typically take tournament play very seriously.

So we take a moment here to highlight a few of the title winners from the session that concluded June 15.

The 14u Platinum Division was claimed by Complete Game, based in Aiken, SC. The squad made the most of their 2,300-mile round trip by winning all seven games on its schedule.

On Championship Sunday, Complete Game had all the skills and savvy the moment required, wining a tight 3-2 match up in the semis against USA Prime Prodigy Legends (Lincoln, NE) before prevailing 5-2 against a tough Las Vegas-based squad, the Flyin’ Hawaiians, in the finale.

“All 11 of our players made major contributions. We had 10 different players that pitched at least three innings and our defense for the most part was outstanding,” said head coach Chuck McKnight about his team’s run at the SlumpBuster. “Also, offensively we had quality at bats all throughout the tournament even against really good pitching.  We put a lot of pressure on teams at times bunting and stealing bases.

“We have a lot of team speed and I thought that was a big factor as well. As for the championship game, the Flying Hawaiians were really good. We had a lot of hard-hit balls that they made great plays on early in the game, and then finally in the sixth inning those balls started finding holes. We had six hits in that inning, all with two outs.”

The Salt Lake Stars came from Utah to claim the14u D1 Gold title, using a powerful offense to win three games in the bracket (11-1,11-1, 9-7) before relying on great pitching to claim the final, 3-2 over Pure Baseball Titans (Las Vegas, NV).

14u D2 Platinum – Waco Warriors (Woodway, TX)

14u D2 Gold – Saddleback Vigilantes Cardinals (Laguna Niguel, CA)

14uD3 – Houston Warriors Silver (Tomball, TX)

The 13u division had a remarkable 120 teams fighting for the crown – the Platinum title went to Canes Midwest National (Westfield, IN). The Canes started the bracket Saturday with a snug 5-3 victory over Slammers-Warhawks (Parker, CO) and then tore it up offensively, winning their next three games by scores of 10-1, 8-6 and 18-3.

13u D1 Gold – Bombers Baseball Academy (Corte Madera, CA)

13u D2 Platinum – Omaha Tigers Black-Hagen (Bennington, NE)

13u D2 Gold – SoCal Mariachis (Ladera Ranch, CA)

13u D2 Silver – UBA Gladiators Harrington (Council Bluffs, IA)

13u D3 Platinum – Fort Collins Force (Fort Collins, CO)

13u D3 Gold – NJJBA Vipers (Arvada, CO)

13u D3 Silver – Slammers-Wheeler (Monument, CO)

At 12u, the top of the 63-team pile proved to be the Nebraska Prospects 2031 (Omaha, NE), who were the No. 2 seed of 16 in the bracket and muscled up with a 10-1 victory in the title game.

12u D2 – North Texas Fury Elite West (Wylie, TX)

12u D3 Platinum – Blizzard Elite Baseball (Vadnais Heights, MN)

12u D3 Gold – Nebraska Twisters (Elkhorn, NE)

11u D1 – Texas Cubs-Powers (Robstown, TX)

11u D2 – Total Baseball Vipers Navy (Simi Valley, CA)

11u D3 – Stix Black (Pearl City, IL)

10u D1 – Banditos Hudson (Magnolia, TX)

10u D2 – Bandits (Hudson Oaks, TX)

10u D3 – Prolific Aces (Littleton, CO)

9u D1 – Arizona Elite Baseball Academy (Phoenix, AZ)

9u D2 – Oklahoma Bulls (Tulsa, OK)

“The Slumpbuster was a very well-organized event and we had a blast,” McKnight added. “The last three venues we played at were great. Overall, the umpires were really good as well. I would definitely say this should be a bucket list event for any travel team.”