FARMINGTON – A field of five teams have signed up to participate in the 2023 Farmington qualifying tournament beginning Wednesday at Ricketts Park. The winner of that double-elimination tournament will earn the right to be the host team for the Connie Mack World Series.
The 505 Panthers will open tournament play on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. when they face the Shiprock Dodgers. Immediately following that game, the Frackers will face off against the Kirtland Broncos.
The NWNM Elite received a first-round bye and will face the winner of the Frackers game against Kirtland on Thursday morning at the Farmington Sports Complex.
The winner of the 505 Panthers game against Shiprock will play on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Ricketts Park.
The five-team tournament will be missing one team from the Connie Mack city league, which wrapped up action last week. The 505 Panthers Black, coached by Jeff Kiraly, will not be a part of the qualifying tournament.
The Frackers and 505 Panthers each finished the city league schedule with identical 9-1 records, each team’s only loss during the campaign coming against the other. On opening day of the Connie Mack city league schedule, the Frackers beat the 505 Panthers 7-5. Less than two weeks later, the 505 Panthers evened the two-game series with an 8-1 win decision.
The Frackers recently wrapped up its city season schedule winning six straight games before hitting the road for a Five Tool-sponsored regional tournament in Albuquerque. The Frackers outscored each of their city league opponents by a combined margin of 71-8, an average score differential of more than 11 to 1 in those six games.
In the Albuquerque event, the second such tournament the Frackers have been a part of this season, the team rolled to victory in each of the first two games. Last Thursday, the Frackers opened bracket play with an 11-2 win over the 42’s LC squad. In the second round, the Frackers outscored the MAC Elite squad by a score of 9-6.
“The team is really coming together at the right time,” said Frackers coach Eli Wyatt. “It’s pretty exciting to see how the pitching is really dialed in and we’re seeing the ball really well at the plate.”
The 505 Panthers, after having won a pair of games in a regional qualifying tournament in Denver, came back strong in its final two games of the city league season.
Coached by John Kuhn, the 505 Panthers rolled over the Kirtland Broncos 9-0 before beating the NWNM Elite by a final of 10-2 in a Wednesday night doubleheader at Ricketts Park.
“Our team is focused and ready,” Kuhn said. “If we play like we can, then I think we’ll be tough to beat.”
The qualifying tournament, according to Connie Mack World Series chairman Mark Varley, will conform to local rules regarding eligibility of players as well as import players, who can live outside that general vicinity.
“The qualifying tournament is confined to teams from within the Four Corners,” Varley said. “And all the teams must adhere to local Connie Mack rules as far as player eligibility.”
The winner of the local qualifying tournament will join the likes of automatic CMWS qualifiers like the defending champion Midland Redskins, the Southern California Renegades, the Dulin Dodgers and the Dallas-based DBat United, as well as regional tournament champions from Oklahoma, Texas, Canada and the Albuquerque Baseball Academy.
A copy of the five-team bracket can be downloaded on the Connie Mack World Series page on social media.
Admission to all local qualifying tournament games is free.
For more information about the Connie Mack World Series, check out the official tournament website at CMWS.org.
