Bad/Salty-Nutz enter tourney winner's circle
By Misty Volaski

"We came here to win," said Robert Morales of the Bad/Salty-Nutz softball team. No truer words were spoken this weekend during the 30th annual Coors/Ojai Labor Day Classic, when Bad/Salty-Nutz took last year's champ, Buddy Burgers, 25-14 for the tournament title.

Much of that win could be attributed to Morales. He was named tournament most valuable player for outstanding play throughout the weekend. He also hit the ball 431 feet Saturday evening during the Slugfest - enough to take first place in the contest.

Saturday morning found Morales and the Nutz automatically advanced to the second round of play. Bad/Salty-Nutz, which played under the name Bad in years past, took third in last year's classic, which was enough to guarantee them a spot in round two.

This year, the crew came back for vengeance against 2002's winner, Buddy Burgers. The two teams came face to face Monday, when they battled for the championship title.

The Nutz also exacted revenge on Alpine (out of Los Angeles), knocking them into third place overall. The win was even more sweet considering that Alpine had won the tournament just two years ago.
Bad/Salty-Nutz, who soared through the winner's bracket all weekend, includes players from Ojai, Oxnard, Fillmore, Orange County, Redlands, Santa Paula and Las Vegas. Salty-Nutz shot down Ojai squad Silver Bullets in their first game and never looked back.

Even though Ojai softball teams don't usually make it very far in the tournament, locals came out in flocks anyway last weekend to compete against teams from all over Southern California.

The Venutra County Blaze, Valley Builders, Blue Crew, Silver Bullets, Brue's Auto Body, Oak View Outlaws, Joe's Quick Stop and the Avenue Boys all took to the field to play some hard-core softball. And though none of the Ojai teams made it even to Sunday's rounds, no one minded very much.

"Most of them don't get very far," said one of the tournament's directors, Sheri Gibson. "But they still like to play in (the tournament)."
In the seniors bracket (for players ages 50 and over), the Coasters from Santa Barbara came in first place over Oxnard's Tequila 55. In third were the Lancers out of Tujunga.

"It was a success," said one tournament director, Dan Frazier. "The weather cooperated, it was in the mid 90's the whole weekend. The crowd was great. It was a good time."
© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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