If you want to see talent—both at the team and individual player level—then you’ll definitely want to check out the PGF Ultimate Challenge tournament being played Friday through Sunday in Salinas, Calif.

FloSoftball will be streaming all the games Saturday and Sunday including the championship games. Join Now to see all the weekend action!

The stats tell the story of how prestigious this 30-team event is featuring games at the 18U, 16U and 14U age levels… here is who will take the fields this weekend:

• the PGF 18U Premier National Champion OC Batbusters Haning/Stith
• the PGF 18U Premier runners-up, the So Cal A’s-Richardson
• five more teams that finished in the top 25 at PGF 18U Nationals
• one of those, the NW Bullets, which also won the TC/USA 18U Nationals
• the PGF 14U Premier National Champion OC Batbusters-Campbell/Stith team
• the PGF 14U Platinum title winners, the Cal Nuggets Gold
• The 2014 PGF 16U National Champion So Cal A's-McNee/Myers
• the FloSoftball 2016 Hot 100 No. 1 player, pitcher Mariah Lopez (Batbusters, Oklahoma commit)
• two more players in the 2016 Hot 100 senior class Top 10: catcher Dejah Mulipola (Batbusters, Arizona commit) and infielder Mackenzie Boesel (A’s, South Carolina verbal)
• five of the Top 20 in the 2016 Hot 100

The PGF Ultimate Challenge is a PGF-sanctioned tournament being run by the Salinas Storm and is a first-year event that was the brainstorm of long-time coach Bill Sparrey, an assistant on the So Cal A’s-Richardson team that has won four of the six PGF 18U Premier Nationals.

The format is a three game guarantee with two Pool Play games on Saturday and Single Elimination starting on Saturday evening. The Salinas Sports Complex has six fields with six games being played Friday and 30 pool play games starting 8 am Saturday morning.

“In the fall, teams typically play five showcase games and I’ve been thinking for a while that it’s getting old,” he explains of the genesis of the event.

“I thought it would be beneficial and different to have an elimination tournament where you could put a little extra into it. The idea was to pick a location where you could get top teams from Northern California and Southern California and a few elite teams out of state.”

For the teams, there is a nice prize too: all age group champions will have their entry fee paid for to the 2016 PGF National Championship if the team qualifies, has a returning berth or receives invite.

“Also, for the college coaches, it was important to put together a strong field and include young teams too so you’d have 18U, 16U and 14U teams.”

“Finally, I decided to pick a location where the coaches wouldn’t have to leave one site to go to another and it had to be centrally located so it was convenient for everyone. Salinas is great because you can get a good mixture of teams down South and up here in the North and the facilities are great and hosted the very successful 2005 ASA Nationals.”

Sparrey says his idea came to fruition in April—just six months ago—with the help of Armando Barragan, the facility director at the Salinas Sports Complex, and Warren Wayland, the founder of the Salinas Storm organization and a major influencer in youth sports in the city of Salinas.

"It really is exciting to have many of the top teams in the nation come here," says Wayland. "We had the Nationals here in 2005, the Olympic team put on an exhibition in 2008 and along with those, this is next biggest event we've had her. We're cooking a BBQ dinner for the coaches on Friday night and will have a hospitality tent all weekend so we're trying to be at our best too."

“It’s been a lot of work," adds Sparrey, " but we have had a great time putting the tournament together and we’re going to show the teams that come a great time too.”

To enhance the experience, the PGF Ultimate Challenge organizers are providing day vendors for the attendees and free food for the college coaches who are coming. Also, the championship games are set for noon “so the teams from down South and further away, like the NW Bullets, have time to travel and get home at a decent hour.”

A lot of thought went into the 30 teams who would compete, too, with 10 playing in each of the three age divisions.

“I tried find the strongest teams by age group and tried to make half and half with So Cal and NorCal representation with a flavor of everything, the championship winners along with up-and-coming teams.”

“We were happy to get the Batbusters with all three teams of their top teams to play 18, 16 and 14 and two of their three teams were National Champions. We got Bret Denio's two oldest teams for Explosion--they’re always a strong program--as well as the So Cal Choppers led by long-time father and son coaching duo Gary and Dean Faucett as well as other strong talent from down South.”

Living two hours away from Salinas, Sparrey was also familiar with the best squads from the North.

“We got teams like AASA, the Grapettes and the Breeze up here along with a new team, the West Coast Intensity coached by Dennis Gomes, a long-team coach with the Grapettes.”

“We also are excited about upcoming teams like Universal Sports Academy from Martinez, about two hours away, which has good, young talent and teams like the Firecrackers, Lady Magic, Cal Nuggets and LTG-Henderson at the 14U level and the LTG-Carda 16U team. They are all very competitive."

Overall, the event director says he’s pleased with the roster of teams and the support he’s received from the coaches.

“We’re all good friends,” Sparrey laughs, “but who knows how it will go once we all get out on the field! Still, it should be a good time for everybody with competitive ball.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (all times PST)


• Friday, October 2nd
  
  • Friendly Games – 6:00 pm
  • Coaches Dinner – 7:45 pm
  • Single Elimination Draw – 8:30 pm
• Saturday, October 3rd
  • Pool Play Begins – 8:00am

  • Single Elimination Begins – 6:00 pm
• Sunday, October 4th
  
  • Single Elimination Continues – 8:00 am
  • Finals
  • 18U Championship Game – 12:00 pm

  • 16U Championship Game – 12:00 pm

  • 14U Championship Game – 2:00 pm

PARTICIPATING TEAMS

18U
1. AASA – Merrida
2. CA Grapettes-Krueg
3. CA Breeze-Mashburn
4. Explosion-Denio
5. West Coast Intensity-Gomes
6. OC Batbusters-Stith/Haning
7. Salinas Storm-Heen
8. So Cal A’s-Richardson
9. NW Bullets
10. So Cal Choppers – Fausett

16U
1. So Cal Choppers-Ziese
2. AASA-Macias
3. CA Breeze-Jaquez
4. Explosion-Greg
5. LTG Lions-Carda
6. OC Batbusters-Smith
7. Salinas Storm-Armento
8. CA Grapettes-Renfro
9. So Cal A’s-McNee/Myers
10. Cal Nuggets-Woods

14U
1. Sorcerer
2. CA Breeze-Warren
3. LTG Lions-Henderson
4. OC Batbusters-Campbell/Stith
5. Lady Magic
6. Universal Fastpitch
7. So Cal Choppers-Fausett
8. West Coast Intensity-Hawkins
9. Cal Nuggets
10. Nor Cal Firecrackers-Baisdon

SATURDAY POOL PLAY SCHEDULE (all games streamed)

Games	Time	Field 1 (14U)	Field 2 (18U)	Field 3 (18U)	Field 4 (16U)	Field 5 (16U)	Field 6 (14U)
1	08:00 AM	OC Batbusters vs Nor Cal Firecrackers	CA Grapettes vs NW Bullets	AASA vs Explosion	LTG Lions vs Explosion	CA Breeze vs So Cal Choppers	Sorcerer vs Lady Magic
2	09:45 AM	So Cal Choppers vs CA Breeze	So Cal Choppers vs OC Batbusters	WC Intensity vs So Cal A's	OC Batbusters vs CA Grapettes	AASA vs So Cal A's	LTG Lions vs WC Intensity
3	11:30 AM	OC Batbusters vs Sorcerer	CA Grapettes vs AASA	Explosion vs Salinas Storm	LTG Lions vs CA Breeze	Explosion vs Cal Nuggets	Nor Cal Firecrackers vs Universal Fastpitch
4	01:15 PM	CA Breeze vs Cal Nuggets	So Cal A's vs CA Breeze	NW Bullets vs Salinas Storm	CA Grapettes vs Salinas Storm	So Cal Choppers vs Cal Nuggets	Lady Magic vs Universal Fastpitch
5	03:00 PM	WC Intensity vs Cal Nuggets	WC Intensity vs So Cal Choppers	OC Batbusters vs CA Breeze	So Cal A's vs Salinas Storm	OC Batbusters vs AASA	So Cal Choppers vs LTG Lions