Blackhawk Athletic Club Wins Byron Fest Women's Class C

Eight Teams Partake At Byron Sports Complex On July 8th & 9th

BYRON: Blackhawk Athletic Club from Rockford ran the table on their seven opponents to win the eight team USSSA Women's Class C Great Lakes National Tournament Qualifier played at the annual Byron Fest in Byron on July 8th & 9th. The champions earned a berth to play at the 2006 USSSA Great Lakes Women's Class C National Tournament to be held in Rockford over Labor Day Weekend. Northern Diamonds / Worth Tanel (4-2) from McHenry finished in second place with Absolute (2-2) from Decatur finishing in third place and Rosati's Of Wheaton ((2-2) from Wheaton taking home fourth place from this tournament.
The Blackhawk Athletic Club opened play with a first round game against the Clubbers from Fond u Lac, WI and posted an impressive 22-10 win up onto the bracket board to advance in the tournament. In their second game on Saturday it was Blackhawk Athletic Club and Souse's Lounge from Rockford playing head to head with the Blackhawk Athletic Club ladies winning 15-9 to move them into Sunday morning winner's bracket championship game. Souse's Lounge had defeated G.A.M.O.T.O. from St Charles 15-8 in the first round of tournament play to advance into this game against Blackhawk Athletic Club.
On Sunday Blackhawk Athletic Club and Absolute tied up with one another with the Rockford ladies winning big 20-2 to claim the title to the winner's bracket and earn their spot in the tournaments championship game to be played later in the day. Absolute made it to the winner's bracket finals by opening tournament play with a 7-5 win over the Northern Diamonds / Worth Tanel in the first round of play before stopping Rosati's Of Wheaton 10-4 in their second game on Saturday to earn their spot in Sunday's undefeated game against Blackhawk Athletic Club.
The Rockford ladies now got to sit back and watch as the loser's bracket needed to be played out before they would find out which of the remaining teams would be their challenger in the championship game. That team turned out to be the Northern Diamonds / Worth Tanel with the Blackhawk Athletic Club edging the McHenry ladies 8-7 in the title game to complete their undefeated run to the title at the 2006 Byron Fest Women's Class C USSSA Qualifying tournament.
Northern Diamonds / Worth Tanel took the long and hard path to the championship game they dropped their opener to Absolute 7-5 before starting the long road back to the title game from the loser's bracket. Northern Diamonds / Worth Tanel sent Rainbow Separation from Belvidere home first after beating them 18-14 to advance in the bracket on Saturday. On Sunday morning it was Northern Diamonds / Worth Tanel over Souse's lounge by the final score of 12-3 as the Northern Diamonds / Worth Tanel continued to advance in the bracket. Rosati's Of Wheaton were shown the door next as the Mc Henry ladies posted a narrow 6-5 win onto the bracket board to advance into the loser's bracket championship game where the team that had beaten them the day before was their next opponent. Northern Diamonds / Worth Tanel took some sweet revenge over Absolute winning 15-10 to earn the right to play of the 2006 Byron Fest championship of the Women's Class C Tournament while getting the pleasure of seeing the team that beat them the day before leave to pack their cars for the trip back home. Now playing unbeaten Blackhawk athletic Club in the championship game the ladies from Northern Diamonds / Worth Tanel came up a little short losing 8-7 to the undefeated champions to finish in second place at this tournament.