Artie Escobado Tournament kicks off in first year as Connie Mack World Series qualifier
BY CHRIS ABDELMALEK | The Pueblo Chieftain | JUN. 23, 2022
The stakes have never been higher at the Artie Escobado Memorial Tournament, which kicks off June 23 at Runyon Field Sports Complex in Pueblo.
For the first time in its 15-year history, this year’s tournament, commonly known as the ‘Bado, will serve as a regional qualifier for the Connie Mack World Series.
The ‘Bado’s defending champions, the hometown Pueblo Azteca 18-and-under team, will lead a field of 11 squads, some from Colorado and others traveling from as far as Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and California.
The tournament will have two host teams, Pueblo Azteca 18U, which finished second in last week's Tony Andenucio Memorial Baseball Tournament, and Azteca 17U.
Azteca 17U’s first game begins at 5 p.m. Thursday at ‘Nuch Field; they’ll take on the Colton Nighthawks, currently the No. 3 ranked team in the nation.
Azteca 18U will play Bercovich 35 Honors, another California team, at 7:30 p.m. on Hobbs Field.
More information on the tournament, including a full schedule, can be found at runyonfieldsportscomplex.org.
How did the ‘Bado get started?
Back in 2008, Dave Dudley, who was the executive director at Runyon, approached Mike Escobado about hosting a tournament in honor of Mike’s brother Artie, who’d passed away. Both Dudley and Mike played baseball with Artie and felt the tournament would be a fitting way to honor his memory.
Since then, the 'Bado has blossomed into a competitive showcase of young talent, which was cemented this year when it became a Connie Mack qualifier.
Next year’s tournament will still be the Artie Escobado Memorial, but will also be known as the AABC Connie Mack Mountain West Regional World Series Qualifier.
Pueblo was awarded the regional tournament after its previous host was unable to accommodate it due to remodeling. Larry Romero, who works with Runyon, and Mike Escobado reached out to Connie Mack to see what it would take to let Pueblo host.
Remarkably, they said, it wasn’t much: just a good field and guaranteed prize money for the winner were needed.
Getting approval for Runyon Field was the easy part — the Connie Mack home office was already aware of what a great field it is — the tough part was guaranteeing the money. Mike Escobado stepped up and assured them that the money would be there even if he and his family had to put it up themselves.
With Escobado’s word in place, the tournament was awarded to Pueblo.
“One of the things that I really thought about is that it's not only going to be fantastic for the Pueblo baseball community and the southern Colorado baseball community, but for the Pueblo community as a whole, business-wise,” Escobado said.
“They have these teams coming in traveling now and the hotel implications, everything for the Pueblo business community, it's a trickledown effect. The hotels, the restaurants, gas stations, everything … it's really good for the Pueblo community and these teams can see that Pueblo is a really secret community that has a lot to offer.”
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Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at
