Panthers Shannon Kaufman slides at home. Ed Andersen photo.

Roseville, CA – The ComBat Panthers were this weekend crowned the winners of the 2009 Mizuno All-American Summer Championship following a tough three-day, 11-team competition.

The Southern Californian softball club, based in Newbury Park, California, beat Northern California’s All-American Mizuno-Moore in the first Championship game with a 3-2 score and secured the championship with a 2-1 score in the if-game.

For the winners, the tournament began slowly with 2-1 defeat to #3 seed California Tornadoes. They bounced back however, with a resounding 10-0 win over the Nor Cal Crushers and a squeaker 3-2 win against the Capital City Comets.

The Panthers would turn up the heat however with an impressive four-game streak seeing them score 29 runs with no runs conceded.

By brushing Team Mojo, Redding Rebels, Oregon Reign and USA Elite-Flores aside, the impressive Panthers went on to face Mizuno-Rodriguez in the quarter final, a game they won with a 3-2 score.

The impeccably organized side then beat Nemesis Elite in the semi-final with a 5-3 score to face Mizuno-Moore in the final series.

The tournament, which included a college-preview for competitors on Thursday (August 6, 2009), proved to be a resounding success for event organizer Garry Ybarra.

Ybarra saw an increase in the number of teams attending the three-day tournament, with the total number of teams competing rising from 22 to 36.

“The number of competitors went up in size and we’re really pleased,” says Ybarra. “We also had more than 50 colleges attend our college-preview on Thursday and that went really well.”

Universities from as far as Hawaii attended the event looking for potential recruits.

The 2008 tournament resulted in more than 60 competing athletes being invited to college camps or visits, and about 30 athletes receiving scholarship offers. This year’s tournament was expected to have even greater success.