Rain adds extra drama to the 2004 ISA Winter Championships

MESQUITE, NV - As teams from California, Utah, and Nevada, prepared to meet in Mesquite for the 2004 ISA Winter Championships, a scary call came over the line Thursday afternoon from the Mesquite Recreation Department. It was the call no tournament director wants to hear: " We're going to have to cancel your tournament because of rain." Tournament director Tami Letterman immediately thought that there was no way to contact all the teams who were already in Mesquite or en route there. The Parks and Recreation Department filled fire hoses with the excess water and squeegeed off the fields, so that the tournament could go off without a hitch.

There were three teams to watch out for during Pool Play, the Lil Rebels (Las Vegas, NV), the Rage (Las Vegas, NV) and Bad to the Bone (Taylorsville, UT). But when it came to the double elimination tournament not all of these teams could keep up. Lil Rebel's, the number one seed from the Blue Pool, began their first tournament game with a bye. Patiently they waited as Magic Blue (Midvale, UT) and Poison (Las Vegas, NV) battled out their first-round game. Poison came up with the win to face Lil Rebels in the next round but lost 10-2.

First Lil Rebels faced Rage (Las Vegas, NV) with a 2-1 win, then LV Blast with another win of 5-2, which sent them to the championship bracket. Here they faced Rage again, who had fought their way back up the ´ bracket after being sent there by Lil Rebels in the first place. Rage fought great but still could not stomp the Lil Rebels spirit. Lil Rebels won the championship 7-0, with Rage taking second and LV Blast in third.

Winners of the Sportsmanship Award were Bat Intentions from California and LV Rebels from Nevada.