SPARKS, NV - It was a typical weekend in the beautiful Northern Nevada region of the country. Fantastic weather punctuated by warm afternoons, cool evenings and_Ripstik winning another softball tournament. It’s been another solid year for this seasoned, veteran squad of the weekend tournament circuit.

Ripstik took another ‘C’ division title back to Redding, California as they dominated the eleven-team bracket. Ripstik posted an undefeated 6-0 tournament record and solidified their place as one of the top ‘C’ division men’s teams on the West Coast. Ripstik powered their way through the loaded ‘C’ draw as they took down Lockdown in the championship final by the score of 14-10 The tournaments third place finisher was another heavy hitter in the ‘C’ division, Las Vegas powerhouse Wigged Out.

Ripstik team manager Jason Newham heaped praise on his team members, "The Western Shootout victory was a total team effort, we made big defensive plays and had many important hits at the plate." Newham added, "First baseman Mike Pena (who was named defensive MVP) came up with several big defensive stops including an unassisted double-play to finish off the last game we won on Saturday night of the tournament and our right fielder John Johnson (offensive MVP) gave us big hits all weekend long."

During the course of their title run Ripstik faced off against rival Lockdown twice and prevailed both times. According to Newham, "We’re rivals and it’s an intense rivalry between the two teams. Saturday’s game was a very emotional win for us. Being down six runs going into the bottom of the sixth inning and scoring eight runs to win 24-22, gave us a big push the rest of the way."

The title for Ripstik earned them a berth at the ‘C’ Nationals in Hastings, Nebraska and an award of $2,500 for traveling expenses.

In the ‘D’ division of the Western Shootout, twenty-one qualifiers battled for the coveted first place trophy of this tournament and D-12 from Sparks, NV outclassed the impressive field of teams competing. Second place went to Team Matthews and third place honors were garnered by Team Santa Cruz.