AFA Nationals gets the Western Flare
The AFA Western Nationals were held in Salt Lake City, Utah August 7-11. Teams were in attendance from all over the Western States to compete at the Valley Regional Complex. The Event began with a
beautiful Opening ceremony, which welcomed the Girls. The Taylorsville Fire Department was called out cause these Girl's play so Hot, it was smokin! The Firemen brought out the Flag for the National
Anthem, which was performed in Native American Sign Language by the Junior Miss UBIC 1st Attendant Jordanelle Tyler. Then Robb Little Owl Martin performed the Native American Flute for a true taste of
the West. Followed by the Taylorsville Fire Department throwing out prizes and gifts to the Girls and then throwing in the First Ball. Tuff Competition has occurred each day with each division of
Play all of which was photographed by the excellent US Sports Photography.
Finishing First in the 10's sponsored by Goody Hair Products was Utah Viperz, this team fought hard all week to get in the Championships and once there they wanted to insure that the little Hot
Shotz didn’t have the opportunity to shoot them out of play. So they shut it right down with an 11-2 win. In the 12's Maximum Velocity ended up facing the second year Taylorsville All Stars who
as a young 12u team last year had battled their way to the top, but it was Velocity who hit the Max and won the Gold.
The 14u Division truly went to war, Utah Storm, who took fourth, was cut short by the Henderson Indians, who took Third Place. But the fight of the century went down between The Strikers and Chaos. Of
course the joking was that the managers of the Chaos team were going to just blind the Strikers right out with their bright fluorescent yellow shirts but it was No Joke when the Strikers kicked them out
of the undefeated bracket with a 5-1 win. So Chaos battled the Indians to get back into that Championship game to again meet the team that had sent em spiraling down. But Strikers were hungry for this
championship and it was no second place time for them! So the Strikers struck chaos in a whirlwind 7-1 battle to be the 2007 Western Champions.
The 16's Blue Crush from Centerville, Utah knocked California Dreamin into third place with their 9-3 win putting them up against the Utah Xtreme. It was a true battle that went on and on with the
out come of 9-8 in favor of Blue Crush.
In the 18u Division Sponsored by the National Scouting Report, It was the Utah Red Hots that had the Flame. They sent the Hawks flying right off the bat, and then halted the Crush 5-0, and there they went
battled the So Cal Spirits. So Cal Spirits are a spirited little team out of the Chino Hills California area. Last year they battled many teams from all over the West and Canada to claim title to
the 14U 2006 AFA Western Nationals. But this year they decided to move up to the 18u Division, and have done well with the spirited attitude they have. But it was not enough to squelch the flames
of the Red Hots, a hard working team that has been together with a great Coach for many years. Mike Siaperas, had received the AFA Coach of the year award and he sure put that coaching expertise to
work. Red Hots won the Championship with a 7-4 win against the Spirits. And it was Utah Attitude who claimed Third Place, with Crush in Fourth, and Storm in Fifth.
And that as they say was the ball game!
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