Steel Gold Wins ASA Sixteen Inch Qualifier

7th Annual Claude Rhodes Tournament At Washington Park On April 22nd

By Tony Ward

2006 Claude Rhodes Champions - Steel Gold - Photo by Tony Ward

CHICAGO: The 7th Annual Claude Rhodes Tournament spearheaded by Tony Ward was held at Washington Park on Saturday, April 22, 2006. The tournament added another championship to The 2005 Class A National Champions, Steel Gold. Steel Gold defeated the Raiders in the 9th inning by a score of 13-12.
The road to the championship started with the Raiders winning their opening game stomping the Outlaws with a score of 14-4. The Raiders then went on to defeat the Woodpeckers with a score of 12-8. Their winning streak continued as they pounded the Young Guns team with a whopping score of 14-5 to advance to the championship game against Steel Gold.
Steel Gold made their way to the championship by pummeling Pound 4 Pound in their opening game with a score of 14-3. Their next game was won by stomping Rolling Dice 14-4 with the pitching style of Greg "Gap" McGinnis. By defeating Rolling Dice, Steel Gold progressed to take on Butter and won the game 10-4. Finding themselves in yet another championship game, Steel Gold went on to defeat the Raiders in a game that started out with the Raiders leading 9-2 in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd inning, Steel Gold found their niche (with key players like Rod Parker, Teddy Lowery, Cartrez Patton and Randy Nelson) and scored 4 runs. The streak continued in the 4th inning when Steel Gold scored 6 more runs with the help of Gary "Bay" Johns, Donald "Woo" Toney, Jermaine Butler, Mark Woods and Winston Vance. The final score of this game with Steel Gold winning the championship was 13-12.
The MVP of the championship game was Donald "Woo" Toney. There was cash awarded to the top two teams, a consolation cash prize awarded to Dogg Pound, team trophy and a Major Bid (which was passed down to the Raiders due to Steel Gold already receiving the Major Bid by way of the 2005 National win).
In addition, there were All-Tournament Selection awards given to 11 players: Renard Johnson (Young Guns), John Robinson (Butter), Jeff "Rookie" Prause (Butter), Dan Carmody (Raiders), Dave Odell (Raiders), Nick Potter (Raiders), Teddy Lowery (Steel Gold), Gary Johns (Steel Gold), Donald Toney (Steel Gold), Jermaine Butler (Steel Gold) and Rod Parker (Steel Gold).