By Liz Manring
Herald/Review
BISBEE - Just a few hours after the Copper Kings' game against the Tucson Orioles was called off because of rain, the team announced even more disappointing news.
Bisbee canceled its trip to the Pacific Southwest Baseball Championship Tournament, which begins today at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson and will send its winner to the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan., next week. The No. 1-seeded Copper Kings were set to play Friday against the winner of the KFC-Yard Dawgs game, but because Bisbee is facing a scheduling conflict during the opening games of the World Series, the Copper Kings opted not to play in the league championship tournament.
"I kind of have mixed emotions," Bisbee manager Bill Moore said. "I wanted to go and do everything, but we can't do both. … I'm not saying we would have beaten anyone (in the league tournament), but it wouldn't have been fair if we gave someone a loss and they had a chance to win the thing and go, and it's not fair to keep our kids in limbo."
In the Copper Kings' original schedule, the World Series was set to begin Aug. 8, but it was moved back a week and a half because many teams have players heading back to college for pre-season training. Bisbee will be hosting its "Centennial Plus One" celebration in honor of Warren Ballpark's 101st birthday with a weekend series against the El Paso Sun Kings - the team Bisbee faced in its very first game when the ballpark opened in 1909 - on July 30 and 31, then the Copper Kings are scheduled to conclude the season against the Tucson Toros, a professional baseball team, on Aug. 1.
When Copper Kings co-owner Tom Mosier learned about the conflict between the team's final homestand and the World Series, he tried to make arrangements with the National Baseball Congress for the PSWBL's representative at the World Series to play on Aug. 3 or 4, so the Copper Kings, if they won the league tournament, could load up and head to Kansas right after their game against the Toros.
"Finally they called us back, we reiterated our dilemma, and the guy said, 'Maybe I can scoot you back, but you'd have to face one of the top 16 teams in the country,'" Moore said. "Well, that'd be all right, some good competition. But the last thing we heard was 'I'll call you back (Wednesday) morning. If I don't call you back, it's bad news.'"
When 5:30 p.m. rolled around on Wednesday with no phone call, the Kings decided to opt out of this weekend's tournament. Moore said he's planning on a practice today, pending weather, and Mosier said they're working on getting a couple of teams to Warren Ballpark to play Bisbee on Friday and Saturday nights.
"I understand we've got the civic thing we need to attend to here, and it's been scheduled for a long time," Moore said of the Sun Kings and Toros games. "It's kind of pointless to play in that (league) tournament and maybe eliminate someone who could win if we didn't get in their way. It's kind of a bad thing, but I understand it, and I hope the kids understand it too, and accept it as a good opportunity to play against the Toros and maybe get discovered. That should be a whale of a game against those guys, and I think maybe it'll give us a chance to get our players a little notoriety."
Last season, Casa Grande upset the Garden of Gears in the championship game at Tucson Electric Park and did make the trip to the NBC World Series, where they lost both games by scores of 6-2 and 10-9.
Joe Walter, commissioner of the PSWBL and owner of the Cotton Kings, said he tried to convince Bisbee to play in the tournament anyway.
"They won the league, earned the right for the seed, and it sucks not to have them in the tournament," he said. "They've had a great summer. I think the combination of Tom Mosier and Bill Moore makes a pretty good organization. Bill didn't have much support in the Valley and Tom needed someone good on the field. This is just unfortunate."
The Copper Kings merged with the Mesa Garden of Gears this season, and Mosier said the team well exceeded expectations with a 30-6 record and many expected Bisbee to win the league tournament. While lacking pitching depth, they were carried by strong bats, and Mosier said he sees good things in the future.
"I think we need another year," Mosier said. "We're a little weak on pitching. My plan was, starting the season, to build and go to Wichita next year. If we can get the bats back and get some pitching, we're set to go back there."
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