PHOENIX, AZ - Triple Crown Sports started 2006 off with 52 Arizona teams in six divisions competing in the 14th Annual Super Bowl Championship National Qualifier on January 14th and 15th. Although most teams were from the Phoenix area, some teams came from as far as Lake Havasu City, Yuma, Tucson and Sierra Vista. Warm, dry, sunny weather made for perfect softball conditions; the complete opposite of last year’s rainy winter.

The four-team 10U ‘A’ Division played their pool games on Saturday at Horizon Park in Scottsdale, and then moved to Desert West Sports Complex for the single elimination games on Sunday. Hotshots-Howard, from Gilbert, went 5-0 to take first place. Peoria’s Wacker Softball came in second, E.V. Pride 95 of Mesa was third and fourth place went to Xplosion from Phoenix.

The 12U ‘B’ Division played all their games, pool and elimination, at Desert West Sports Complex on Saturday only. In a field of nine teams, Wacker Softball of Goodyear was undefeated to earn the top spot and Glendale’s Silver Bullets took second place. Third place was a tie between Peoria’s Desert Kaos-Dan and Sugar & Spikes-Chad from Phoenix.

With pool games on Saturday and elimination games on Sunday at Rose Mofford Sports Complex, the 14U ‘A’ Division fielded twelve teams. First place went to Hotshots 93(St. Clair) of Mesa, finishing with a record of 5-1. AZ Intimidators from Peoria came in second, with Mesa’s AZ Desert Heat 91 (Glen) and Desert Wolves (A) of Scottsdale tied for third.

Eight teams in the 16U ‘A’ Division also played at Rose Mofford Sports Complex on Saturday and Sunday. The championship went to AZ Storm (Newman) from Phoenix and Gilbert’s Xtreme Arizona was second. A third-place tie went to Desert Wolves (K) from Scottsdale and Chandler’s Sting.

The 16U ‘B’ Division played at Desert West Sports Complex on Saturday only, with seven teams competing. Mesa’s Shockwave placed first, Laveen Cyclones of Phoenix came in second, with a tie for third between AZ Panthers from Glendale and Chandler’s E.V. Pride.

On Saturday and Sunday, Rose Mofford Sports Complex hosted the 18U ‘A’ competition with twelve teams. Tucson’s Desert Thunder finished undefeated with a record of 7-0 to take the championship. AZ ICE of Phoenix placed second and Scottsdale’s Killer Bees tied for third with Glendale’s Team Arizona.

The ‘B’ tournaments (12U and 16U) were played at Desert West Sports Complex on Saturday. Triple Crown Sports Site Director, Larry Hannum said, "These are pretty much new teams that are just learning. They’ve just started, many of them, and they’re coming together. They’re working to get up to that ‘A’ level. So it’s really pretty good to see sixteen practically brand new teams. I first saw them two or three weeks ago and they’ve improved tremendously just in that time period. Starting to get things under control. They’re starting to play better, starting to hit better, starting to field better, knowing where to throw the ball; those kinds of fundamentals. Really they’ve improved so fast it’s amazing!"

About the growth of Triple Crown Sports and Softball in Arizona, Hannum said, "It’s unbelievable! Everything has expanded tremendously. Normal tournaments are somewhere between 85 and 90 teams. Unbelievable! More and more complexes are being built. Rio Vista is building four new fields; Rose Mofford is building four more. Payson started a brand-new complex, a four-plex with artificial turf. So that’s going to be interesting. Arizona Softball is booming!"