Club Event Recap: First-Ever The B.O.B. Invitational (“Best Of the Best”) in Arizona Gets All “A’s” At the Top

Last weekend at the beautiful Bell Bank Park Sports Complex in Mesa, Arizona, the first-ever The B.O.B. Invitational (produced by Legacy Sports) was held and—with teams coming from nine states including Michigan, Washington and Ohio—one organization from California came in for the sweep, taking home first place trophies (and checks) at the 18U, 16U and 14U age divisions.

The three top spots were captured by the Athletics – Mercado program who came into the Valley and showed why it’s considered one of the top travel organizations in the country. The visitors from the Golden State walked away not only victorious but impressed with the inaugural event and a bit deeper in its bank account as each winning team got $5,000.

All-told, the top teams walked away with checks totaling about $20K.

Ramsey Harkness, the Director of Softball for Legacy Sports USA, says the event meet his expectations and then some.

“The competition between the 48 teams was phenomenal,” he began, “the recruiting was great and I see this growing into one of the premier recruiting events of the fall.”

Harkness says that there’s an event already run by Legacy that is a prototype of what The B.O.B. can become.

“My hope with The B.O.B. was to recreate what we were fortunate enough to put together with the AZ Last Blast in January,” the event director explains. “In its third year, the Last Blast brought together national programs such as Athletics Mercado, Beverly Bandits, Jersey Intensity, SoCal Athletics, Iowa Premier and many others together to compete one last time before they release their teams for the high school season.”

So how did The B.O.B. do in its first year?

Competing in 80-degree Phoenix metro weather, the teams played one hour, 40-minute games and did so in front of many top university coaches in attendance.

College recruiters were on hand watching the action from across the nation and included programs from the Pac-12 (Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Utah), Big Ten (Rutgers), Big 12 (Texas A&M, BYU (in 2023)), Mountain West (Boise State, New Mexico), Conference USA (New Mexico State (in 2023)) and the Western Athletic Conference (Cal Baptist) as well as several in-state schools such as Grand Canyon, Mesa Community College and South Mountain Community College.

Harkness feels the positive feedback for The B.O.B. bodes well for the future of the event.

“Where it is different from other tournaments in the Fall recruiting calendar is we have created a showcase Combo format that teams and college coaches truly love. During pool we had “bat them all” and free defensive subtitions and then for the ultra-competitive bracket play, we shifted to championship style play, NFHS Rules, with the title of The B.O.B and a check up for grabs!”

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball

Here’s a look at the Top 3 finishes in each division including…

The B.O.B/Athletics – Mercado Sweep

18U Top Finishes

• 1^st – Athletics Mercado Smith
• 2^nd – Beverly Bandits Dorsey
• 3^rd – Batbusters Fullerton
• 3^rd – Arizona Storm Telesco

🔥🔥🔥Champions 🔥🔥🔥
Our Athletic Mercado Smith 18u got it done. Girls showed up with Championship mentality and took home the reward!!! Letssss goooo!!! Don’t Suck!!!Family we are…🔥🔥 https://t.co/Kvf8AjfZIl pic.twitter.com/Q8fi7zXfM4

— Athletics Mercado Academy (@MercadoAcademy) October 31, 2022

*****

16U Top Finishes

• 1^st – Athletics Mercado Hovermale
• 2^nd – BSC Bengals Gurule
• 3^rd – Beverly Bandits Freeland
• 3^rd – Firecrackers ELP- Muniz/Gardea

🎉🔥Lets goo CHAMPSSSS 🔥🎉 Our @athleticsmercado_hovermale16u took the prize home and are champs of the B.O.B Invitational in AZ. Atta girls!!! Handling business💪🏼💪🏼. Get you some… Don’t Suck…Family we are!!! https://t.co/EfyMWEx7bt pic.twitter.com/9ynEFk2hxI

— Athletics Mercado Academy (@MercadoAcademy) October 31, 2022

*****

14U Top Finishes

• 1^st – Athletics Mercado Hill 2027
• 2^nd – Arizona Storm 09 Telesco
• 3^rd – MoJo AZ 08 Morales
• 3^rd – Arizona Storm National Kobasew

Getttt ittt!!! CHAMPIONS🔥
Our @athletics_mercado_2027_hill took the prize home at the B.O.B Invitational in AZ!!! Yessss yess yesss!!! Letssss go!!! Way to get it ladies!!! Don’t Suck…Family we are… https://t.co/AwVbidIPZT pic.twitter.com/myAxmPrSYM

— Athletics Mercado Academy (@MercadoAcademy) October 31, 2022

*** Click HERE to see more Legacy events this Fall/Winter at Bell Bank Park ***