PALM SPRINGS, CA - The Ca Old A’s and the Old A’s/Miken teams continued their winning ways recently as the two teams again swept through tournament foes to win the April 17-18 Palm Springs Qualifier for the Senior Softball World Series in Palm Springs, California. This was the first major qualifier that both teams competed in together since joining forces and forming the non-profit, Old A’s Softball Club.

The Old A’s/Miken 60’s team started their tournament by shutting out Rustys from Arizona, 14-0. Game two saw Catch 22 hold their own for a while but fall short in a 17-5 Old A’s victory. The final seeding game was against Bickerton Iron Works with the Old A’s prevailing 11-4. Going 3-0 in the seeding bracket gave the Old A’s/Miken team a first round bye in double elimination bracket play on Sunday.

The first game on Sunday morning had the Old A’s/Miken team pitted against the California Crush. The Crush was no match losing to the Old A’s/Miken 13-4. Next came Rustys, who sought revenge from Saturday’s whitewashing. Rustys gave the Old A’s/Miken their stiffest competition of the weekend but fell short losing a close game by the score of 14-10. Second and third place was decided by a Rustys win over Catch 22, but neither would play the Old A’s/Miken team for the championship, so both teams forfeited. This was the fourth tournament victory for the Old A’s/Miken team in as many tournaments.

The Old A’s/Miken victory was powered by the hitting of 3rd baseman Dave Coufal, shortstop Tom Best, first baseman Al Oxley and catcher Tony Miranda. In the five games that the Old A’s/Miken played, the defense came up big as they turned seven double plays.

Most of the scores were down due to the low compression ball being used and the extremely hot (100 degrees) weather. The Old A’s/Miken team outscored their opponents, 69-23, in posting a .640 team batting average.

The Ca Old A’s 55 team took a slightly different route to their tournament title effort. It started with a loss to GSF, 12-9. The loss lit a fire under the Ca Old A’s who came back and beat Master Collison 13-4, then beat the Mustangs, 17-5, and then in a rematch of game two beat the Master Collison team again 12 to 6. The three straight wins gave the CA Old A’s the third seed for Sunday’s Bracket.

In double elimination on Sunday, the Ca Old A’s played GSF and tasted a little revenge winning 9-3. They then beat a tough Tharaldsons team, 20-10, by scoring 10 runs in the top of the eighth inning. In the championship game, the Ca Old A’s were again up against GSF. They jumped on GSF early and beat them 16-9 to win the championship. Mike Rittenhouse at .785 and Doak Whitley at .769 led the Ca Old A’s 55 team in hitting for the tournament.