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The Hubbers beat the Angels 8-1 in the championship game and they deserve it since they had to play three games in a row to win it all.

Aside from this being a poorly run AABC event, I saw for the first time in my life a team (organization) make a mockery of baseball. The Angels had all of the momentum in this tournament being undefeated on the final day of play. There were three teams left in the tournament. The Angels, The Hubbers and The Mustangs. The Mustangs drew a bye so the Angels had to play the Hubbers. If the Angels win they are in the championship game and have to be defeated twice to lose but they would have to play back to back games. The Angels chose to DELIBERATELY lose the game to the Hubbers so that they could earn a bye. They threw a pitcher that tossed BP to the Hubbers. They had right hand hitters go to the plate and bat from the left side. They threw pitches away so that Hubbers runners could advance. They would not run out ground balls. I watched the pitcher for the Angels deliberately throw a pitch ten feet over the head of his catcher so that the Hubbers runner on third base could score and give the Hubbers the eighth run needed for a five inning run rule. The Hubbers won that game 8-0 which gave the Angels their first loss and a bye. This was an absolutely sad display of baseball by this organization and a sad day for the young men that had to be drawn up into this horrible display. The Hubbers went on to defeat the Mustangs 3-2 with three runs in the 7th inning. And then a beautiful thing happened. The Angels strategy backfired and they lost to the Hubbers in the championship game. Serves them right!!! The sad part of this is that there were Angels parents justifying this debacle by saying it was the AABC's fault because of the rules and the bracket. Hopefully most of us teach our kids to compete and give it their all whether it is on the baseball field or in life. Sadly the young men from the Angels learned a hard life lesson yesterday. Never lay down and never give up.

Congratulations to the Hubbers!!!! Good Luck in Farmington.
Last edited by btdad
I have no intention to defend the Angels strategy, but the fact of the matter is that faulty rules by AABC creates this problem.

This is 2 AABC tournaments in a row that I have seen in which the undefeated team is penalized by the tournament rules.

Congrats to the Hubbers who became my rooting favorite after our team was eliminated.

btdad, enjoyed meeting up & talking w/ you (about this same topic) before your 2nd game on Saturday.
To Bighit 15 & all,
A Texas baseball history lesson:

In the empty reaches of New Mexico and Texas, baseball flourished in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1922, a team from Lubbock entered the world of Organized Baseball. Playing in the Class D West Texas League, the Hubbers, (named for the fact that Lubbock was known as the "Hub City" of the South Plains) made their mark. Following the War, the West Texas - New Mexico League was revived in 1946 as a Class C circuit. The Lubbock Hubbers became a farm team of the Detroit Tigers. The Lubbock Hubbers played in the West Texas - New Mexico league until the loop's demise in 1955.

They're back. Great job Hubbers!
Congratulations to the Lubbock Hubbers! Hard not to like that salty group of kids.

As for the rules, all 16 of our teams played by the same rules and in the end still had to score more runs than our opponents. Only one team was able to do it enough times and they are more than deserving to advance. I'm certain the Hubbers will do a great job representing Texas baseball in Farmington.

It should be noted that Lubbock played well even though they were missing one of their best players in Evan Gerald. Evan hurt his back last Sunday in pitching the Hubbers to a win in the AABC State championship game and wasn't able to make the trip to Broken Arrow.
Last edited by Frozen Ropes GM
Congrats to the Hubbers. They're a great team and a good group of guys. It was fun playing against them in the championship game of the Cherry Creek Classic this summer, we barely beat them. They were playing absolutely lights out baseball when I watched them at the regional. BTW, we lost the the Sliders in that game which ended around 4 in the morning.

Brice
The LUBBOCK HUBBERS team members include:
Jason Seefeld (Clovis H.S.),
Josh Wilson (Midland/Texas Tech Univ.),
J.W. Wilson (Midland H.S.),
Miles Morgan (Coronado/TT),
Kurt Pessa (Coronado/Rice University),
Taylor Ashby (Monterey H.S.),
Juan Maldonado (Monterey/Lubbock Christian Univ.),
Brian Cloud (Cooper/TT),
Jacob Cunningham (Cooper H.S.),
Matt Smith (McKinney/TT ),
Chris Hobdy (Monterey H.S.),
Logan Leslie (Lubbock Christian H.S.),
Clayton Cooper (LCHS),
Hector Limon Jr. (Estacado H.S.),
Daren Lawless (Levelland/LCU),
Chad Farr (Levelland/Weatherford JC),
Evan Gerald (Tascosa/Texas A&M),
A.J. Ramos (Estacado H.S.),
Tucker Mattson (Monterey H.S.)
COACHES: Bobb Fannin (LCU)
Justin Hays (Howard Payne)

As listed in the Lubbock newspaper at start of Regional Tournament.
Good luck players & coaches.
BTdad,

You have the facts wrong.

"The Mustangs drew a bye so the Angels had to play the Hubbers. If the Angels win they are in the championship game and have to be defeated twice to lose but they would have to play back to back games."

The Angels had already played one game, prior to facing the Hubbers. If they had beat the Hubbers, they would have only been allowed to play the Mustangs once. The AABC will not allow a team to play 4-games, in one day.

As far as "serving them right", so be it. The bottom line is that the Hubbers won the championship, fair and square. Nothing else matters.

The only way that the Angels could get a bye was by losing to the Hubbers. I won't second guess their staff. They've had a good summer, including the Broken Arrow event.

Here's to the Hubbers.......bring back the trophy to Texas.

By the way, I'll be up in your neck of the woods, as my son is playing in the State Collegiate Tournament, Aug 5-8 @ Reverchon Park, Dallas.

Be good,
David
LeftyDad,

FYI, I spoke with the AABC official and he assured me that the Angels would have still been in the driver's seat and would have to be beaten twice. AABC does not allow a team to play three games in one day yet they allowed it at this event. Because they chose to "throw" the game it ended up being a one game championship anyway. Besides, what's to second guess? Throwing a game in that manner is just WRONG under ANY circumstances. You do not teach young men to be quitters under the guise of strategy. JMO.

Good luck to your son at Reverchon. Take care.
I think "restricting" a regional to a specific geographic location (like Houston for instance) would provide an unfair advantage for some teams. Certainly there are other venues that can support this type of tournament -- even if the event rotates on an annual basis. Dallas could easily support such an event -- as could OK City, Abilene, and a number of other cities in the region.

Why didn't the Angels simply forfeit the game without playing it, rather than make a travesty of the contest? Would AABC allow it?
Last edited by Panther Dad
btdad,
Why wouldn't you make them use up pitching? Good lord, the Angels didn't get a bye, until they lost their first game of the tournament, after starting (5-0), in the winner's bracket.

Why don't you call up any college coach or professional manager, and ask them what they would have done in that situation.

The Angels options were limited to two scenarios.

A. Win against the Hubbers, and play one more game against the Mustangs. That game would have been held immediately after the game against the Hubbers. That would have been the 3rd game in a row. The Angels were told they would be allowed only ONE game, against the Mustangs. If they would have lost that game, the Mustangs would advance to Farmington.

B. Lose against the Hubbers, get to rest the players from the heat, and play one more game against the winner of Hubbers/Mustangs.

Granted, the Hubbers played 3-games in a row, won them all, and took the tourney title. Winning under those conditions is even more amazing, but your shots at the Angels organization are ridiculous. If you knew any of the coaches or their players, you wouldn't be hammering them.

As always, the politically incorrect opinions stated above are mine..... they cost nothing ..... and have even less value.

Be good,
David
Outsider,

Drawing for bye's penalizes the winner's bracket teams....not just the Angels. I have never seen a tournament handled in that manner.

That said, it had nothing to do with the Angels losing and the Hubbers winning. The best team won, and that's a fact. I was simply making a comment, which evidently bothered you. That was not my intent......

Big.....how's junior doing?

Be good,
David
Lefty, AABC doesn't play a "true" double elimination bracket. They never have. Rule 11 in the AABC handbook has all of the information regarding this subject. I don't know if I agree with it or not because it can be a pain, but it's been that way for 30 years or more. If people don't want to play by the rules in place, they can lobby to change them or go pay to play in USSSA world series.

The teams know going in what can happen. Don't complain about it after it happens.

Good luck to all teams in the Mack world Series. From what I've heard the Mack is truly an outstanding tournament and I hope to make it out there one day.

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