Tran Puts MAPP Marauders on the Auction Block

MAPP says it plans to sell softball team Marauders after 2007 season. Interested parties include Mark Cuban, Johnny Depp.
By Dave Carpenter, Associated Press
July 16, 2007

LOS ANGELES, CA. — MAPP made a stunning pitch to investors at the USC Softball Tournament: The Marauders will be sold by the end of this year.

A formal announcement Monday came as co-owner Binh Tran takes control over the daily operations of the division overseeing the team. (Read related article: Tran Takes Reins) It puts one of the league’s most storied and star-crossed franchises on the block. Tran issued no comment about why he's not interested in keeping the club. The team is one of MAPP’s richest assets.

Bidding for the ballclub, however, is certain to be fiercely competitive. Analysts have estimated the Marauders could fetch $600 million (€449 million) or more.

While the total may not exceed the record $660 million paid for the ICT Avatars in 2002 by a group headed by Randall Hill, analysts and insiders all agreed the price should top those paid since then for the Viterbi Vatos ($450 million), Annenberg All-Stars ($430 million) and Keck XXY’s ($223 million), and agreed to for the Jewels of Denial ($461 million).

"The Marauders are a great franchise. Great history, great tradition," USC softball commissioner Steven Sample told reporters in Los Angeles, where he was attending the Viterbi Vatos match against USC Athletics. "I'm not going to speculate on price."

The Marauders' popularity as an amateur, co-ed, softball franchise and the lure of potentially steering them to their first championship ever has attracted the interest of many potential buyers since a sale became a strong possibility. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, Phoenix sports executive Jerry Colangelo and actor/pirate enthusiast Johnny Depp are among those reported or rumored to have interest, along with numerous Los Angeles business figures.

Cuban, the most prominent and wealthiest of the bunch, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Colangelo, who said in a November interview that he would have "great interest" in the Marauders.

Tran hopes first to erase or at least lessen the Marauders' stigma of losing following 3 consecutive games without a win, all of them under his stewardship.

Tim Speiss, who advises sports team owners for accounting firm Eisner LLP, pegged the Marauders' value based on 2007 revenues at roughly $465 million, but said that's not the only factor in bidding for a sport franchise. "I mean, have you seen their uniforms?! They’re fantastic!”

1-2 punch knocks MAPP out of Tournament

MAPP gets swept up after Formosa's 3-run homer keys come-from-behind win. Rec Sports advances to Final.
Bob Loblaw, Voice Staff Writer
June 14th, 2007

LOS ANGELES, CA. — If the Marauders planned to extend their season beyond the opening round of the tournament, they were going to have to go through Rec Sports, the #1 seeded team. Luckily, the Marauders were not the first team to play Rec Sports, giving them a chance to scout the the regular season champs.

Beginning around 9:00am the Marauders started to assemble at their team's camp on McAlister field. Conditions were bright and sunny, but a thin layer of haze kept temperatures down for the first half of the day.

Team manager Neil Teixeira was joined by Binh Tran, Kevin Chan and Shawn Matsumoto in scouting their opposing teams, Rec Sports and Formosa, as they squared-off against each other in the opening of pool play. That initial game was delayed about 10 minutes as Rec Sports eagerly waited for remainder of their team to show up.

Teixeira commented, "If I was Formosa's manager I would have had [Rec Sports] forfeit right already. At the very least, I would have had them take the field with seven players, as long as they had the minimum three girls, and forced them to play short-handed all game."

Grumbling continued among the Marauders as they saw Rec Sports, the tournament organizers, take advantage of Formosa's ignorance of the rules and add players to their line-up throughout the game as they arrived.

Rachael Caldwell felt cheated by the whole situation saying, "Well, I guess they can do whatever they want to do - it's their tournament. But, if they really wanted to win then their players shouldn't be sleeping in and showing up late. I mean there's no excuse, especially when they get to drive those electric carts all over the field and chauffeur their players around!"

Yet, despite their subdued anger, the Marauders focused on getting to know the Rec Sports hitters and devise a game plan for defending against their potent offense.

After 5 innings of play it was obvious that there weren't many holes in the Rec Sports line-up. In fact, they had solid hitting from both the men and the women and a few power hitters, including a lefty who could potentially clear the fence in right field. As for Formosa, their main flaw was a poor infield, with first base being a real chink in the armor for them. When the game ended in a 8-0 win for Rec Sports, the Marauders knew what they had to do: keep the game close and avoid getting blown out.

As ten o'clock approached, the Marauders took the field as the home team and prepared for Rec Sports' onslaught. Despite giving up 5 runs on 3 errors in the first inning, the defense held together and settled down before the line-up made it all the way 'round again. Teixeira, playing in left field made the last out on a slicing foul ball, giving his teammates a chance to exhale.

But the Marauders were unable to score in the first or second when Teixeira flied out in the first with runners on base and again in the second with Caldwell, who tripled, waiting at third. Still, their defense did manage to keep Rec Sports scoreless for three consecutive innings.

In the bottom of the third inning, Nadia Barosy got the Marauders' only RBI of the game when she brought in Nick Sowers from third on a fielder's choice. With MAPP finally on the board, the players knew they had to keep Rec Sports scoreless in the fourth. They did - and the score was 5-1 going into the top of the fifth inning. The Pewter Pirates were accomplishing what they had set out to do: play tight and stay within striking distance.

Unfortunately, Rec Sports sensed the urgency for scoring and came up with an additional 4 runs in the top of the fifth. The Marauders were now facing an eight run deficit with the bottom of the inning to play. But the Rec Sports defense was too much for the Marauders, who left Tran stranded at first base to end the game.

"It was disappointing, " said Teixeira. "I blame myself for the loss not only because my batting cost us at least two runs, but also because of my poor management. I have no idea why I didn't have Dominic Lau in the game as the designated hitter! I just totally forgot when I made out the line-up card. So stupid!"

Others were a little more optimistic. Sowers tried to pick up the team saying, "I think we played them pretty close. It was just a couple of bad innings. When we play the way we’re supposed to play… I don’t think there’s any team in this league that can beat us,” he said. “It was stupid how close we were to putting 15 runs on the board. Offensively, we beat ourselves."

But the Marauders quickly turned their attention to their next game against Formosa, a primarily Taiwanese team that did not participate in the regular season.

"We really didn't know what to expect from Formosa when we got the schedule originally," said 3rd baseman Binh Tran. "They could have been a sorority for all we knew." What the Marauders did know was that they were not advancing out of pool play and that their game against Formosa would be their last of the season. "This game is for pride, this game is for all of us who played hard during the regular season, " said Teixeira before the scheduled game. "Let's go out and win it!"

The Marauders started out this game on offense and were unable to score a run, going 1-2-3 in the inning. However, the MAPP defense returned the favor in the bottom of the inning keeping Formosa off the base paths.

A two-out rally was cut short in the second inning when Nadia Barosy overran third base on Teixeira's double to left-center and was tagged out by the Formosa third baseman after a short-lived run-down. "To be honest, I made the exact same base running error in the tournament last year," said Teixeira. "You just get a little too pumped up and you forget to stop on the bag."

Luckily, the Marauders did get on the board in the third when they scored 2 runs on five consecutive singles by Linda Taing, Westley Nguyen, Chan, Matsumoto, and Caldwell. The Marauders were rolling to a 2-0 victory and couldn't have been playing better defense.

But there was nothing they could have done in the bottom of the fourth when, with two runners on base, a Formosa batter hit a scorching line-drive that fell in the gap in right-center, clearing the bases for a home run. Chan, who played center field, couldn't have been more correct is his assessment saying, "It was just a really good hit. It fell right between us. That was the only thing we allowed all day and it beat us."

So, having put all their effort into making up the one run as quickly as possible, the Marauders were eliminated when August Cockroft sent a hard-hit ball into deep left only to fly out. "The game just flew by," he said. "I had no idea that we were in the bottom of the fifth. It seems like we only played for 30 minutes."

Still, the Marauders were proud of how hard they had played and how much they had improved over the season. As they sat together enjoying lunch they discussed their desires to continue playing next season and reflected on how much fun they had throughout the previous 6 weeks. They also concentrated on weaknesses and began developing a strategy to improve themselves.

From the look and sound of things, the MAPP Marauders are going to be back with a vengeance next year!

Tournament Photo Galleries:
Gallery 1 (photo credits Dominic Lau and Ray Madani)
Gallery 2 (photo credit Jackie Williams)

Regular Season Awards and Stats

Marauders honor several players for performance during the regular season. Final statistics for the season released.
Al Koholik, Voice Sports Information

With the regular-season at a close, the MAPP Marauders took time on Friday to announce their end-of-year awards.

Here is each award winner listed by category, followed by a compilation of the regular-season statistics. The stats, which the awards were based on, have been compiled from all regular-season games, excluding the scrimmage played in place of the CAPS forfeiture.

Muscle Milk® Home Run King (Most Home Runs):
Jairo Delgado (2)

Louisville® Silver Slugger (Slugging Percentage, min. 7 at-bats):
August Cockroft (1.700) & Allison Adamovic (.875)

B.A.L.C.O.® Batting Champ (Batting Percentage, min. 7 at-bats):
Neil Teixeira (.889) & Meghan McKenna (.571)

Taco Bell® Runs Production (Most Runs and RBI)
Jared Laux (7) & Patty Trinidad (4)

MAPP Marauders Cumulative Stats from Regular Season

Last Name	Batt.%	Slug.%	At-Bats	Hits	1B	2B	3B	HRs	K	RBI	Runs
Adamovic	0.500	0.875	8	4	2	1	1	0	1	2	1
Andre	0.667	0.667	6	4	4	0	0	0	0	1	0
Barosy	0.364	0.364	11	4	4	0	0	0	2	0	1
Burnop	0.833	0.833	6	5	5	0	0	0	1	1	0
Caldwell	0.182	0.273	11	2	1	1	0	0	0	1	1
Chan	0.750	0.750	8	6	6	0	0	0	0	2	1
Cockroft	0.800	1.700	10	8	3	2	2	1	0	3	3
Delgado	0.600	1.800	5	3	1	0	0	2	2	3	2
Gebelein	0.556	0.667	9	5	4	1	0	0	0	2	1
Kaur	0.000	0.000	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Laux	0.615	1.308	13	8	5	1	2	1	0	3	4
Matsumoto	0.429	0.429	7	3	3	0	0	0	2	0	1
McKenna	0.571	0.571	7	4	4	0	0	0	0	1	0
Nguyen	0.500	1.000	4	2	1	0	1	0	0	1	1
Paoli	0.500	1.000	4	2	1	0	1	0	0	2	1
Pease	0.000	0.000	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Quon	0.000	0.000	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Taing	0.429	0.429	7	3	3	0	0	0	2	0	1
Teixeira	0.889	1.111	9	8	6	2	0	0	0	0	4
Trinidad	0.364	0.636	11	4	2	1	1	0	1	3	1

Tournament Schedule Announced

Record 12 teams will participate in the IM Summer Softball Tournament. Marauders to face Rec Sports in first round.
Al Koholik, Voice Sports Information

With a record amount of teams, USC Recreational Sports is expecting a great turnout for the IM Summer Softball tournament. 12 teams are signed up and ready to play. There are 4 pools of 3 teams and each team will play each other. The winner of each pool will move on to a single elimination playoff.

The games will be 5 innings or 40 minutes, which ever comes first. Playoffs will be 7 innings or 55 minutes. If there is a tie in the league, this will be the tiebreaker:

1. Record
2. Head to Head
3. Runs allowed
4. Runs scored

The tournament begins promptly at 9:00am on Saturday, July 14th. All games are to be played on McAlister Field (USC Women's Soccer Field), which is located on 30th St. and Hoover Blvd.

Game times for the Marauders are:

9:45am - MAPP Marauders vs. Rec Sports
11:15am - MAPP Marauders vs. Formosa

Regular Season Finale a Heartbreaker

Sprawlers squash Marauders' hopes of a second-place finish. Third baseman Laux to sit-out post-season.
By Bob Loblaw, Voice Staff Writer
July 9, 2007

LOS ANGELES, CA. — The scenario that everyone had on their mind coming into Monday night's game was this: beat the Sprawlers and earn a second-place finish in the divisional rankings.

Unfortunately, that is not the scenario that played out on Dedeaux Field, as the Urban Sprawlers took advantage of some key defensive errors on their way to whipping the Marauders 12-3.

Manager Neil Teixeira said this to his team before the game: "We are currently tied for 3rd place in the division at 2-2 with the Urban Sprawlers. Barring a major upset of the ICT Avatars (4-0), our game tonight will be the fight for 2nd place in the division. If we win (and so does ICT), we'll take 2nd. If we lose (and so does CAPS) we'll be stuck in 4th place. So let's get pumped up to win this game!"

Asked about their performance after the game, the manager said, "We played well enough to win right out of the gate but we got tired and made mental errors later in the game. We're going to have to focus and stay determined in order to do well in the tournament."

However, after the loss some players made it clear that they had no interest in playing anymore. Third baseman Jared Laux will be on personal leave in San Diego for the duration of the post-season. Asked if his decision to miss the tournament was made early on in the year he said, "Actually, I just don't really care. It's not a priority for me anymore. I mean, if losing both games means we get out earlier, then you probably don't want me playing third."

Newcomer Dominic Lau told the paper that he feels the Marauders are better off without Laux. "The guy's a cancer in the locker room. When you talk about guys like T.O., well you can add J. Laux to that list too. It's just disappointing, who knows if he ever cared about the team."

But Laux had something to say about that too. "Hey, I played in almost every game. Sure I made some errors, but I also hit a home run in our last game. I got guys throwing me under the bus, and now I hear they're going to replace me with some guy who's never played at 3rd all season - some guy who said he had to go to 'class' on Monday nights and couldn't play, when everyone knows he didn't have class!"

Apparently, that "guy" that Laux kept referring to was co-owner Binh Tran. Tran has been selected as a back-up to Laux for the tournament and he too had some fuel to add to the fire. "All I have to say is that my situation on Monday nights was made clear to my manager. Whatever Laux 'thinks' I said is his business. I kept everything internal - I kept it inside the club. I didn't go airing my dirty laundry out in front of everyone."

With all these team squabbles, can the Marauders actually pull together and win a couple of games in the tournament? Teixeira thinks so, and he's counting on some big performances from bench players.

Now that the regular season has concluded several MAPP players are available to play in the tournament. The secretive manager didn't want to comment too much on the matter, but assured the Voice that we were bound to see a handful of new faces out on the field, including Lau and Tran.

For now, we'll just have to wait and see how this roller-coaster of a season finishes out.

Stats from Monday, July 9th --- Urban Sprawlers vs. MAPP Marauders

Last Name	Batt. %	Slug. %	At-Bats	Hits	1B	2B	3B	HRs	K	RBI	Runs
Barosy	0.000	0.000	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Caldwell	0.250	0.500	4	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Chan	0.500	0.500	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cockroft	0.500	0.500	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Delgado	1.000	2.500	2	2	1	0	0	1	0	1	1
Gebelein	0.500	1.000	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
Laux	0.667	1.667	3	2	1	0	0	1	0	1	1
Matsumoto	1.000	1.000	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nguyen	0.500	0.500	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Pease	0.000	0.000	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Teixeira	0.500	0.500	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Trinidad	0.000	0.000	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0