Since the revisions were made to WAKA Kickball Founder’s Cup (a team dropped out). Kickball365′s Founder’s Cup XIII Pool Play 2.0 Redux has been tweaked. The change in brackets have effectively obsoleted our pool play analysis, here’s the short, short version:
Pools of Death
Toughest: Pool N – Balls Deeper, Straight to the Bank, Ramrod. Yikes. Really hard to call. Will BD’s thin roster catch up with them, and will a West Coast team, like last year, spring an upset on the best team in yellow in the country? STB is out to prove it is WKYB’s heir and thensome when it comes to being the desert’s frontrunner. They’ve improved every year in FC and want to start a deeper 2010 run the right way. Ramrod is itching for a quality scalp — again, something the peanut gallery has been demanding from them. They have a real shot at getting two here – provided they maintain mental focus and strike first and often on offense.
Second toughest: Pool J – Relax and Let it Happen, Cobra Kai, A.K.T. Another barnburner. Relax and Cobra Kai might be the match of the morning. Relax plays tough but loose and put up good showings at FC 09 and SFKO 2010 before falling to tourney finalists and semifinalists in those weekends; Cobra Kai has more speed and defense than expected but underwhelmed a little at FC in 2009. And A.K.T. could steal one if the others are off their game.
Pillow Fight City (easiest for the top seed to advance)
Easiest: Pool I – The Situation. Sal’s bunch could kick through their big order 3 times in every one of these games.
Second easiest: Pool A – Meatballs. Expect them to start fast, light up the board in the first inning, completely demoralize the opposition in their half, and conserve energy for single elim.
Third easiest: Pool K – Sofa King Good. Good chance for SKG to build momentum, even as 1 of these 3 contests could be a trap game for them.
Fourth easiest: Pool B – OSC. MMK or the Dandy Lions could surprise with the tops of their order and might manufacture a run. But OSC will most likely get several in their half and spend most of pool play deciding their best performers for single elim.
Must-See KB (games we’d love to see in pool play):
Pool N – Balls Deeper v. Straight to the Bank v. Ramrod (all 3 of ‘em – see above)
Pool J – Relax, Cobra Kai, A.K.T. (all 3 of ‘em – see above)
Pool M – Lock It Up v. Super Skinnies – this will be the 2nd matchup between these franchises this year (and effectively the 3rd in 3 years). Should be another tight contest where momentum and mental focus will again be huge factors.
Pool C – Your Balls Are Foul v. Brew Crew – NorCal v. SoCal grudge match. We’ve heard time and again that the Brewskis are due for some humble pie due to their home-league antics. The spiritual successor to last year’s FC finalists will be whipping up a fresh batch on the basepaths over and over for ‘em.
Pool D – Panik Attack v. The Monster Cartel – if the Monsters thought they were making progress towards challenging the elite in SoCal, this game may bring them back down to earth in a hurry, especially once that Panik infield starts sniping them one after another.
Pool F – JKI v. Hot Box – for Dogtown’s bad boys, a tilt against one of the absolute best defenses anywhere will be a very rude awakening — and more ammo for the East Coast Bias aficionados about which coast’s bullies should rule the day.
Pool G – IB v. Pitch, Please! – could be a trap game for IB (from a runs perspective, more than anything), but it’ll also be a challenge for the Pitches, who will contend for a while in this match but may not have the gusto they had in last year’s solid FC run.
Pool L – Riff Raff v. The Guy Fawkes Conservatory – two defensive-minded teams squaring off here. Can the Pinks break the ice and start fast (in which case, the result is theirs), or can GFC dictate a slower tempo and muster just enough of an offense to keep this close?
As always, we invite you to join the discussion to voice your opinion in our Community.
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