Mother Nature must be confused.

Doesn’t she know that in the West, the fall season is supposed to be sunny and bright for softball tournaments this time of year?

Instead, last weekend there were top fastpitch events in Arizona and Southern California cancelled—or at least significantly impacted, due to significant rainfall.

That was also the cause Sunday morning as the organizers of the 2026 PGF Ultimate Challenge in Salinas, Calif. had to cancel the final day’s game due to rain.

Armando Barragan, the General Manager of the Salinas Sports Complex where the event was being held, sent out this note to the coaches of the 32 teams competing this weekend:

“We received a half inch of rain in a short period of time.  Our staff started taking the water off the infields but the outfields are super wet with puddles.  For the safety of the players, we made the tough decision to cancel.

All remaining 20 teams will receive a refund.  More information will be emailed by Tuesday.

We apologize for the inconvenience.”

It’s a shame because the final games on Sunday promised to feature games between top teams on the West Coast.

In the 18U division, the winners of each pool of four teams dominated not just in wins, but in runs scored versus runs allowed.

Here are those top seeds and how they looked heading into Sunday’s action:

18U Division

• Pool A: Lady Magic – Munoz (3-0… 21 runs scored, 9 allowed)
• Pool B: LTG – Henderson (2-0-1… 17 runs scored, 3 allowed)
• Pool C: NW Bullets – Capos (3-0… 23 runs scored, 1 run allowed)
• Pool D: Warriors – McDonald/Mullins (3-0… 24 runs scored, 7 allowed)

Right behind them were four teams who all finished 2-1 in their respective brackets (listed A-D):

*** BSC Bengals – Briggs, Athletics Mercado – Potter, Suncats – Jimenez and So Cal A’s – Richardson.

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16U Division

In the 16U Division, you also saw the Warriors and NW Bullets org’s produce undefeated teams—here are the top finishes of the four pools listed A through D:

• Pool A: Warriors – McDonald/Mullins (2-0-1… 24 runs scored, 6 allowed)
• Pool B: Athletics Mercado – Hovermale/Tidd (2-0-1… 17 runs scored, 7 runs allowed)
• Pool C: NW Bullets – Dawson/Muir (3-0… 35 runs scored, 8 allowed)
• Pool D: Suncats – Jimenez/Gutierrez (3-0… 16 runs scored, 4 allowed)

As in the 18U Division, there were a quartet in the 16U pools of four that went 2-1 (listed A-D in their respective pools):

*** BSC Bengals – Briggs, LTG – Carda/Pettis, Lady Magic – Munoz and California Grapettes – Lopez

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We’ll have more on the top performers throughout the week, but first we’ll share some off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts…

The Dedicated Dad Award

The Dedicated Dad Award for the weekend goes to Ernie Munoz, the head coach of the Lady Magic 18U – Munoz team that would have had a great chance to win it all (along with, in this one man’s opinion, the NW Bullets and Warriors – McDonald/Mullins teams).

Coach Ernie drove three hours yesterday to go back home to trick or treat with his two sons and was going to return for the final day of playoff action, which didn’t happen, of course.

Here’s how the title-winning coach described the lengths he was willing to go with his kids:

“I got home in time to take the boys trick or treating,” he said earlier today.

“They had a great time and the long drive was worth it. I was on my way back early this morning but got the word that it was cancelled.”

That would have been nine hours driving in less than 24 hours to speed time with his sons–if he had returned today (back and forth is six hours and then another three hours home later today if softball had been played).

That’s dedication!

Was it worth it–or would have been worth it, if had returned to Salinas to play again today?

I wouldn’t have traded the time with my kids for anything.

That’s the beautiful lengths a parent will go for their children and a tip of the hat to Ernie for being willing to do so.

Someday, his sons won’t remember what happened this weekend in softball, but they’ll always remember the lengths their dad went to be with them. Wow…

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Mr. Weiner Gets Halloween Costume Award for the Weekend

*** It was Halloween Day (and Night) and there were several folks who put on costumes—non-players, of course.

My favorite was the one I called “Mister Weiner,” the full body hot dog outfit worn by Lafo Mase, the father of KK Mase, the talented 2028 outfielder for Suncats 18U – Jimenez who is going to Sacramento State.

KK, by the way, had a three-run home Friday night and is a very impressive young player to keep an eye on.

Mr. Weiner, I mean Lafo, had a good line… he said:

“This is the energy I bring and, when you play a tough sport like softball, you got to have somebody part of that—on your team—and that’s me.”

Sir Oscar Meyer… we salute you.

Here’s a cute photo of a little guy in costume too who came up to take a bite out of favorite Fastpitch Frankfurter…

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College Coaches Everywhere

According to Bill Sparrey, who runs the PGF Ultimate Challenge, there were coaches from 40 college at the complex this weekend… here’s the list of some of those we came across (in no particular order):

• Cal Poly
• Santa Clara
• UCLA
• Pacific
• UC Santa Barbera
• Stanford
• Houston
• West Valley College (Calif.)
• Cal State Univ. – Monterey Bay
• San Francisco State
• Washington
• Purdue
• Sacramento State
• Saint Mary’s
• Utah State
• Menlo
• Nevada
• UC Davis

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Wishing a Softball Day a Healthy Heart & Return to the Road Soon

Finally, a poignant note and a request for prayers and/or best wishes for a great softball dad.

Stephen Beals is the father of Lily Beals, a talented outfielder for Lady Magic 16U – Munoz, who had a great weekend… more on that in a second.

Lily had blogged for Line Drive Media several times and is a standout student-athlete as well as a softball player.

Stephen is a very involved and loving father, but he wasn’t at PGF Ultimate Challenge this weekend.  Here’s what he texted me this morning:

“I’m not there. It’s the first game/tournament in her career that I missed. Currently in the cardiac unit at UCSF (Medical Center). Been having heart issues for the past 30 days. Been admitted here going on a week.”

“They think it was a viral injury caused by Covid a while back,” he continues, “but they aren’t sure. It’s cardiomyopathy. If you know anything about that my EF is only 10%. (Note: “EF” stands for “ejection fraction,” which is the percentage of blood that the heart pumps out of its main lower chamber (the left ventricle) with each heartbeat).

“I eat the equivalent of a bag of Skittles each day of oral meds.”

We wish Stephen a quick and healthy recovery so he can get back to watching Lily on the fields again soon.

Yesterday (Saturday), in three games the California high school junior went 5-for-7 for a .714 batting average and had a triple, four runs scored, three RBIs, a 1.000 slugging percentage and a 1.714 OPS.

She also had a sweet double play for her spot in right field where she caught an out and then threw a runner out at third base… check it out on this GameChanger video:

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On the Road Again… Soon

That’s it for now, I’m heading to the airport to catch an earlier flight—instead of getting back home in the Boise, Idaho area at 1:25 am, I’ll be home at 9 pm.

But I’d MUCH rather have spent all day today watching great softball…

And, Mother Nature, cut us a break on the remaining softball tournaments this fall, won’t you please?

That includes the Clearwater Classic, where I plan on being in two weeks… til the next time we see each other on the fields.

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Media