Hopper and Field of Dreams place fourth at Triple Crown Sports World Series

Saturday, July 25, 2009 11:25 PM PDT

Submitted photo Mariah Dodson of Hopper’s Field of Dream,s prepares to fire a ball across the diamond. The Dreams competed at the Triple Crown Sports World Series this past weekend and came home with a fourth place finish.

Argus Observer Sports Staff

Park City, Utah—With their backs against the wall, David Hopper’s 18U Field of Dreams almost pulled off a championship run.

Almost.

The Dreams won three-straight elimination games and advanced to the Final Four of the Triple Crown Sports World Series, before losing to the eventual champion Grand Junction, Colo. Swat 8-0 in the gold bracket Saturday in Park City, Utah.

The winning streak, helped garner a fourth-place finish for the Dreams, who chalked up fifth-place honors a year ago. Craig Yano’s Field of Dreams picked up seventh-place honors in the 2009 tournament.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hopper said the top finishes by the Dreams sent a message to the softball world.

“Both programs have gifted athletes on their teams,” Hopper said. “Craig Yano’s team could have easily been in the championship. If we could have gotten some breaks, maybe we both could have played in the championship game. I think it says a lot about our programs and the level of softball being played here in the Treasure Valley. Both our teams went out and hit some teams in the mouth. They made their names known.”

On Friday, the Dreams kicked off the first of their three-game streak with a 5-2 victory over the Utah Attitude, out of Salt Lake City.

In the next game, Melissa Blackwell came through with a two-run double, and, Tori Brown, and Marisa Gonzalez picked up RBI singles, and Boo Christman tossed a complete game, two-hitter to lead Hopper’s Dreams to a 4-2 victory over Yano’s Field of Dreams team.

The next round pitted the Dreams against the Scottsdale, Ariz., Falcons where they built up a 7-1 lead and were two outs from a mercy-rule win and hung on for the 7-6 victory.

Gonzalez and Erika Hopper notched two hits apiece for the Dreams, who rattled off seven hits. The Dreams started off strong with four runs in the first, two in the third inning and added a single run in the fourth.

Against the Swat, the Dreams could only muster two hits in their 8-0 loss to the champions.

In the end, Hopper gave his squad credit for battling out against some of the top softball programs in the nation.

“This is the best team I have been around,” Hopper said. “It was 105 degrees on Friday and they went out there focused for all three games and got back into the gold championship bracket. We came up short, but they are all proud of what they accomplished. This team was here to play softball, and they did a great job.”