The first leg of WORTH'S Triple Grand Slam went off without a hitch on March 27 & 28 on a picture perfect weekend at the pristine Victory Lane Sports Complex. An 86 team field of Men's, Women's and Coed teams competed for the 28 berths on the road to the Championships which will be held on October 26 & 27.

Teams from Chicago, New Mexico and Maryland came to compete for a chance at the Triple Grand Slam $25,000 award package. Demand to enter the tournament was so great that on the Monday night prior to the contest, there were waiting lists in all divisions.

The first team to uncork the victory champagne was Tanya Banovac's Deprived team. Deprived won the Women's Upper Division with a perfect 5-0 record. Nacho Mama's, coached by Wanda Bruce won the 2nd berth in the Upper Division on their first time out in 2004.

The Gators came from New Mexico to capture the Championships in the Lower Women's Division. The Gators team won a "squeaker" 6 to 4 in the single elimination over Sharon Kagley's Woo Hooh team who also qualified for the Championships. The second place team was Bad Habits coached by Andrea Flores with a 3 - 2 record. Gina Corso's Chicago's Tapped Out team was in every game even though it was their first outing of 2004.

John Miller's Hit or Miss team won the 26 team Men's Upper C/DI division double dipping Murphy's Law coached by Scott Manning. AZ Clash/Rawlings coached by Shane Hesse took third while Team Coalition finished fourth. Other teams that qualified for the Championships were Hitter's Row, Team Booyah, X-Men, Team Korrupt/Miken and Nuff Said.

Pub Run coached by Jon Rafnson and John J Harris' Lake Havasu Grape Apes/Miken/Tanel team shared the Championship honors in the Men's Lower Division. Thomas Leale's, Jaguars team fought it's way to a tough third place finish while Yard Dogs of Phx finished fourth. Finishing in the top eight slots were Long Dongs, Short Bus Crew, AZ Error Crew and Action Pak'd.

The 30 team Coed Division divided into 4 Divisions was played entirely on Sunday which kept all the teams moving to finish in one day. Go Time took the Coed Upper Division over the NSA Western Regional World Championship Perfect Strangers.

Smooth traveled all the way from Maryland to go undefeated in the White Division over Lost Cause. Got Game from Tucson took third and a berth. Virus took the Blue Division over the newly emerging Sandlot team. Yard Dogs Boys and Girls won the final division and the last berth over Laura Zinmaster's Gen X team.

Special thanks to Santisi Bros. and Victory Lane for providing free pizza to all teams and to Kevin Kelly's Chicago Mix and Chicago Stix teams that traveled all the way from Chicago to provide out of state competition for the Arizona teams.

The Triple Grand Slam Series, with a total award package of over $25,000, is a partnership between Worth Sports, Victory Lane, Cleats and Tournament Sports bringing a quality Championship event to the Arizona Sports area. The top 8 teams in each of the Men's Divisions and the top 6 in the Coed and the Women qualify to play in the TRIPLE GRAND SLAM CHAMPIONSHIPS on October 16 & 17. The second leg of the Triple Grand Slam will be held on June 26 & 27 at Victory Lane and Rio Vista parks.

NSA/Tournament Sports and Victory Lane would like to thank all the participating teams for making the Triple Grand Slam I a great tournament event.