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Spring break! A great time to step back, take a breath, and get ready for the final two months of school.
It is also tournament time for softball and baseball.
Some East Bay Athletic League teams chose to travel to tournaments as a chance to get away. Others hunker down and play locally.
We have two strong tournaments – one baseball and one softball – in the Tri-Valley and both offer great options to watch during the break.
Here are the two local tournaments:
Livermore Stampede
This softball tournament has a rich history and is one of the top tournaments in all Northern California.
And this might be the best field the tournament has had.
“It might be likely,” said tournament director Toff Garcia. “We have five to six teams that are returning a lot of starters. We might have a few good teams that go through the tournament without winning a game.”
It is a 16-team field that starts play Thursday (April 4) at the Ernie Rodrigues Fields in Livermore and is run by Livermore High.
The first two days are pool play that set up the four brackets for Saturday. Play each day starts at 9 a.m. and should wrap between 9-9:30 p.m.
It has been a tournament that is not short on star-power throughout the years. I can remember watching Keilani Ricketts of Mitty and Val Arioto of Foothill play. Both went on to achieve international acclaim after Ricketts starred at Oklahoma and Arioto at Cal.
This year promises more stars. Leading the way is senior Kate Munnerlyn of Saint Francis of Mountain View. Last year on the way to the Lancers being the CIF Northern California runners-up, Munnerlyn threw three no-hitters in the postseason and did not allow an earned run.
Munnerlyn is headed to Texas Tech next year.
But Saint Francis is hardly the only loaded team. In fact, five teams that were in the eight team CIF Northern California Division I playoff field are in the Stampede.
Archbishop Mitty, Whitney, California and San Ramon Valley are all entered. It is an amazing field.
Here are the four pools:
A: Mitty, Livermore, Monte Vista, Sheldon.
B: Amador Valley, Benicia, California, Whitney
C: Carondelet, Freedom, Granada, Saint Francis
D: Casa Grande, College Park, Liberty, San Ramon Valley.
Each team is guaranteed five games in the tournament. Please go to www.lhsstampede.com for more information or tickets for the event.
Service Champions Classic
This tournament is being played at Livermore and Foothill, starting Thursday (April 4) and running through Saturday (April 6).
San Marin (the defending champions), College Park, Livermore and Santa Rosa make up the upper portion of the bracket. Northgate, Redwood, Foothill and Heritage are the four teams in the lower bracket.
The tournament started in 2002 as the Gordie Classic before becoming the TPC Classic in 2015. After two years it switched to the Big O Tires Classic.
Finally in 2022 Service Champions stepped into the title sponsor role and is back for the third year.
“They’ve been great,” Livermore baseball coach and tournament director Dave Perotti said of Service Champions.
For a tournament with East Bay teams and three from the North Bay, it’s a nice tournament.
“For a local tournament, we’ve got a nice little field,” Perotti said.
You can check the “What to Watch” section in this week’s Tri-Valley Preps Playbook section for the full slate of games for both tournaments.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. This column originally appeared in Tri-Valley Preps Playbook, a weekly sports e-newsletter published by Embarcadero Media Foundation.
