After three weeks of cold, wet weather and having a rained out rainout, the softball gods smiled on Victory Lane and the rescheduled Gold Glove Spectacular, the Meade and the Triple Grand Slam went off as scheduled. In total 183 softball teams some from as far away as Chicago played on three consecutive weekends at Victory Lane.

On February 13th, in the Gold Glove Coed, Mike King and Stormy Weber's AZ Sting won Division I, Dena Gonzales', MWSN was victorious in Division II and Sean Dhaemer's Woo-Pass went 4-0 in Division III.

The rained out Gold Glove Men's Division was not played until February 26 & 27th. In the 40-team contest, AZ Premier coached by Art Gaspar won over Dan and Mona Williams, Hot Boyz in the E Division. In the D Division Luke Falcons coached by Kent Enyeart and Daniel Reese went undefeated with Art Armendariz's, II the Limit team winning in the loser's bracket.

Next up was 15th year of "The Meade" where 41 Men's and 18 Coed teams played to determine the Champions.

The Men's D Championship was an all Tucson affair with A's Softball taking first after Famosa Masonry pushed it to the If game. In the E Division, Benny Murillo's Sanchos team defeated Mark Pachta's AZ Bandits team from Taylor for the title. The in-state only Recreational Division was won by newcomer Team Bohica followed by NSA faithful, Tony Barrella's Yard Dogs of Phoenix team, which has shown a steady improvement since last year.

David DeWitt, who plays for Mike's 12 Pack from Cottonwood, won the "Meade Homerun Challenge" while Napa Baldmado finished second.

The Meade Coed Division played on Sunday only featured AZ Sting winning Division I, Johnny Chingas from Yuma placing 1st in Division II and Woo-Pass taking Division III.

The third weekend in a row, the first leg of the Triple Grand Slam featured the largest field of 72 teams competing to qualify for the Triple Grand Slam Championships on September 24 & 25 at Victory Lane and Rio Vista Parks.

Fortunately for everyone, the weather was beautiful and Victory Lane, the premier park in the Southwest, has never looked better. All the rain has turned the desert green and the weekend was dazzling. Teams from Chicago, New Mexico, Tucson, Yuma, Wilcox, Flagstaff and Wickenburg joined the contest.

When the dust settled Rene Figueroa's Nova's PrimeTime from Tucson won the Winner's Bracket in the D Division with Tony Felix's AZ Sports winning 8 games straight to win the Loser's Bracket. Mark Spangler's 1st Timers team finished a strong third place over Hit or Miss who took fourth.

In the Men's E Division, Clint Badger's Endo Steel team from Mesa took the Winner's Bracket and Team Bohica, coached by Rick Bevington, finished first in the loser's bracket. Tucson's Stick Time finished third and 2nd String/Church Boyz was fourth.

The Coed Division was again dominated by the mighty AZ Sting who finished in first place for the third tournament in a row. AZ Outlawz coached by Rob and Tara Tolliver finished first in Coed II Division while Tony Barrella's AZ Yard Dogs Boys and Girls won the Coed III.

The Triple Grand Slam Women's Division was the first women's tournament played in the 2005 season and also had the most diverse set of teams. The teams hailed from Chicago - Gino Corso's - Out of Control; New Mexico - Shelly Gonzales - Get Dirty; Flagstaff - Rayanna Godinez - Lady Mayhem and Wilcox - Marsha Callahan - Mixed Up. Las Muchachas coached by A.J. Diaz won Division I over Sharon Marine's Apache Scapes team. Adam Foote's No Control team was victorious in Division II defeating AZ Pros 15 - 9 in the Championship game.

Women's Director, Stormy Weber said, "Overall I think this was a good start for the Women's Program with all teams playing at least four games and even contests throughout the day."

So ended three weekends of outstanding play at Victory Lane. Thanks to all the teams that hung in there to play and to Rudy and Bryan Baca and their superb staff who helped get tournaments in when no other park in the Valley was playing softball.

I apologize for time delay in posting these results but a backordered computer part was the culprit. See you in April.