Scottsbluff Team 'Elevates' To Win Shaw

Yet again, Mother Nature had her way this past weekend for the Annual Andy Shaw Memorial Softball Tournament.

Rain, wind, sun, more rain and more wind was in the weather for the two day tournament.

Saturday morning got kicked off a little chilly, but the clouds moved east and the sun came out for a few hours, leaving some players with a small but "normal" Andy Shaw Memorial sunburn.

Ten teams capped out the tournament bracket, including teams from Colorado Springs, Cheyenne, Gering, Scottsbluff, Sidney, Kimball and Potter. Each team played three pool-play games Saturday before starting the double elimination tournament that evening.

Sunday, of course, was wet and soggy, muddy and sticky, but games were played. The team to beat was Elevated out of Scottsbluff, looking to defend its winning streak and taking the title three years in a row.

And it did. The neighboring team went undefeated and took home yet another first place award.

"As usual, they were a stand-up group that shows up and plays lights out," said the tournament's Kevin Wynne.

Coming in second place to the tough Nebraska ball club was T-Lo, a team from Cheyenne.

"A short run on the bottom side of the bracket put them in the championship, where they put up a formidable fight, but fell just short," Wynne said

Along with first and second place, a sportsmanship award always is given to one deserving team. This year's team was the Breaking Balls out of Colorado Springs, Colo.

"It was a unanimous decision to present the sportsmanship award to Breaking Balls," Wynne said. "This group came up from Colorado Springs and seemed to have a blast even though the scoreboard didn't go in their favor. I heard praise all around about the character of this team and the characters on it."