This weekend would be a great one to be in the Phoenix area and, no, it has nothing to do with the huge winter storm over the Eastern half of the country that could impact upwards of 230 million people across more than two dozen states under winter storm or ice storm alerts!

The reason to be in Phoenix over the next three days has everything to do with softball—the travel ball variety—and as the name indicates, it’s the “last blast” of club play before high school fastpitch starts soon in all but five states—those being Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.

That’s right—the Arizona Last Blast hits Year 6 and runs Friday, January 23^rd through Sunday, January 25^th –and Line Drive’s Brentt Eads will be on site covering the games, teams and players

Here are some of the notes we think are important to know about this weekend’s outstanding tournament… and we’re happy to report that the odds of having snow THIS weekend at the event are pretty, pretty low!

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A Great Mix of Teams

The well-received event starting six years ago and has grown every year under the successful guidance of Ramsey Harkness, himself a longtime travel ball coach and event director who owns 1Swing Events which produces this event and several others like it.

“I love bringing in teams from all across the country to compete against the best one last time before their high school seasons,” Harkness told Line Drive this week.

“I also love the mix of teams that come out here,” he continues.

“Many make it an annual place on their schedule and always bring in a few new faces each year.”

This is the second year Line Drive Softball will be at the tournament—last year, we loved the quality of talent and produced the 2025 Arizona Last Blast All-Tournament team… don’t be surprised if that media feature repeats again this year.

One big fan of the Last Blast event is Neil Laukat, whose 14U team from Southern California is back again this year.

We asked Neil what he likes about the weekend tourney enough to keep returning.

“Over the last many years, the AZ Last Blast and the AZ Power 48 (held in February during President’s Day weekend in Mesa) have been two of our favorite tournaments for my Wildcats Premier teams to play in.”

“The events typically draw the top talent and teams as they prepare for high school play and the dark period. Typically, this time of year in Arizona the weather is great and the facilities are top notch.”

“This year, coming off winning the AZ Power ower 48 in 2025, we moved to the Blast as it is hosting arguably some of the top teams across the U.S. in this event with prize money on the line.”

“Our sister squad, Wildcats – Holcomb, made the finals last year and our organization has represented well in these events as we look to continue to make in impact in these two Arizona events.”

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The Domination of Athletics – Mercado

An ongoing there to watch this year once againe: f there’s one organization that has been THE powerful force at the popular event it’s the Athletics – Mercado program led by Dave Mercado.

Remarkably, every year of the five that the Last Blast has been held, at least one age division has been won by the Athletics including four of the five years at the 18U age division.

Last year, in fact, the 18U, 16U and 14U divisions were all won by an A’s team—the only one not was the 12U crown captured by the Tennessee Mojo – Ramsey/Holland team.

Here’s the Line Drive recaps from the 2025 title games…

• Event Recap: Finals at the AZ Last Blast Colored Athletics – Mercado Black & White (Jan. 26, 2025)

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Championships Played at a Power 4 Field

Say you’re a young player – be it as young as 12U or ready to graduate in 18U – and you want to get a taste of what it’s like to play on a legit college field.

Be fortunate enough to help your team advance to the AZ Last Blast finals and you’ll get that opportunity. The championship games are played at Alberta B. Farrington Stadium, where the Arizona State Sun Devils compete.

To work up to that amazing experience, though, the teams will compete in several well-maintained fields in Phoenix-area cities such as Mesa, Queen Creek, Peoria, Gilbert and, of course, Phoenix.

• Click HERE to see what age divisions plays where.

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Prize Packages

The competition is great (more on that in a minute), the weather is typically very nice and there’s even some nice incentives for the teams looking to win it all.

The older age divisions, 14s through 18s, are playing for a sweet title reward of $7,500 with the runner-up teams taking home $2,500 and the third place squads getting a free 1Swing Event entry (note that for Last Blast the entry fee is $1,495 so that’s actually a pretty valuable prize to win).

The 12’s, whose entry is only $995, sees the champion take home $2,500, the second-place finisher $1,000 and the third place—like the older age divisions—gets a free 1Swing Event entry in the future.

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Who’s Coming to the Party?

It’s not surprising that the home state would have many teams compete—such as the Arizona Rising, the Arizona Storm, the AZ Cats, Firecrackrs and Hotshots, just to name a few.

And it’s not surprising that you’d bet many teams from California and that includes a wide array of those from NorCal up near the Oregon border as well as those down through Central Cal, So Cal and down to San Diego.

It’s safe to say that the majority of the teams at AZ Last Blast are from either The Grand Canyon State or The Golden State.

But what is surprising is the strong representation from states elsewhere across the country.

Sure, you get more Western states represented such as Washington (for example, the NW Bullets, Washington Ladyhawks and ai Bandits just to name a few), Utah (the Utah Fastpitch Club) and Nevada (the LV Blast, Las Vegas Rising), but you also get a nice cross-mix of teams from a variety of states (and even Canada, with the White Rock Renegades which come from British Columbia).

Here’s some of the ones from states not already mentioned… see if you find others we didn’t catch!

• Colorado (Turnin2)
• Georgia (Georgia Impact)
• Illinois (GenuWin Reign, Chicago Prespects)
• Indiana (Indiana Magic Gold)
• New Jersey (Intensity KOD)
• New Mexico (New Mexico – Zias)
• North Carolina (Lady Dukes)
• Pennsylvania (Newtown Rock Gold)
• Tennessee (Tennessee Mojo)
• Wisconsin (Wisconsin Lightning)

Line Drive is here through the entire duration of the event including the championship on Sunday and will be reporting on top games, action and players all weekend.

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball
Brentt.Eads@LineDriveMedia.com