By John Cackowski
State Director

This past weekend the  World Wood Bat Classic took place in Jupiter Florida, and the Mizzuno Fall Classic took place in Arizona. Teams from Colorado represented well in these two events.  Here are some team and player highlights that came out of these tournaments.

Mountain West Slammers
Thursday marked the start of the World Wood Bat Championship, a final look of sorts for scouts and college recruiters before the so-called off-season with many marquee games and match-ups. Slammers lost the 1st game to the Dulin Dogers 1-0 behind solid pitching by 2016 RHP and Clemson commit Travis Marr, (Regis Jesuit HS) who was 87-89 mph. 2016 RHP and Arizona commit Nate Sweeney (Cherry Creek HS) came in relief and was solid in flashing a fastball that was between 89-92 mph.  In game Slammers won 10-4 over PG Columbia. 2016 C and  Stanford commit Maverick Handley (Mullen HS) led the game offensively. 2016 Uncommitted OF Bailey Collins (Dakota Ridge HS) and 2018 OF/RHP Tanner O'tremba (Cherry Creek HS) contributed offensively as well.  O'tremba also pitched in this game and was 86-88. In Game 3 Slammers lost to the FTB Mizuno team 5-4. Collins and Marr again paced the offense. 2016 uncommitted LHP Cameron Brown (D'Evelyn HS) was impressive for five innings throwing 86 to 88 mph. Sweeney came in relief again for a solid two innings and again was between 89-92. In game 4 Slammers played the San Diego Padres Scout team and won 3-1. 2016 RHP and North Carolina commit Bo Weiss on the mound and was very impressive in his three inning touching 94 on a few guns giving up one unearned run. To read National Supervisor Nathan Rode's Day 4 Jupiter Notebook on Weiss Click Here.  Cameron Brown pitched again and was  solid for an inning, as did Sweeney who again hit 92 mph in his 3rd game of the tournament. 2016 SS and uncommitted Matt Burkart  (Eaton HS) paced the offense.

Colorado Khaos
Khaos went 4-0 winning their pool in the Mizuno Fall Classic held in Arizona and made the quarterfinals out of 48 teams. In Game 1 2016 RHP Jake Knoll (Chatfield High School) came in relief in the 4th inning striking out 7 batters without giving up a run to help save a victory. In Game 2 2016 RHP and Garden City commit Tanner Johnson (Chatfield High School) got the win and 2016 uncommitted RHP/1B Gavin Gifford (Brighton High School) provided a key 3-run triple in a 5-4 victory against Team Adidas.  2016 Uncommitted RHP Mike Lucero (Chatfield High School) threw a complete game shutout in game 3 against Arizona Warriors winning 11-0. In Game 4 Gifford was the story again as the 6-foot-3, 235 pound RHP threw a complete game shutout against AZ Wildfire. Tanner Johnson helped providing two diving catches in centerfield, and 2016 1B Brayden Petroshus (Chatfield High School) had 2 RBI's. Khaos would lose in the quarter finals 5-1. Khaos would finish the fall 12-1 against out of state competition.

Colorado Lightning
The Lightning would also win their pool in the Mizuno Fall Classic going 3-0 and were the 7th seed out of 48 teams. Lighting had a lot of key performers during the weekend which included: