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2009 Music City Classic Recap Part 1

2009 Conference USSSA
Music City Classic

Recap!

 

Triple Creek Park
Gallatin, Tennessee

May 29-31

 


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Resmondo gets ready to win their 4th consecutive tournament!


The Music City Classic Conference Tournament #8 was played in perfect weather conditions in Gallatin, Tennessee just outside of Nashville.

This tournament was again dominated from start to finish by Resmondo-Specialty Tank-Worth who run ruled all 6 of their opponents and collected their 4th consecutive tournament championship of 2009. Resmondo has now won 19 straight games! Resmondo beat Long Haul in the championship game 33-13 to take home the coveted 1st place guitar trophy.


Anyone know if Travis Resmondo can play guitar?


This year's Music City Classic featured 32 teams and had 16 of the local Tennessee and Georgia "C" teams playing. The first round of the tournament was basically set up so that a local "C" team played an upper level or Conference team in each game. In the beginning it looked as though the Conference teams were going to sweep all of the "C" teams right out of the winner's bracket. Then a walkoff homerun by Michael Wages from Stracener's defeated GTL 24-23 and the upset flood gates opened up. Gutterworks came from 5 down late to knock off a struggling TCP 24-23. A feisty Outkasts team knocked off Conference newcomer Eagle Bonding 23-22. Major League upset Suncoast 17-16 on a walk off single in extra innings with two outs. And those were just the first round. I have to say the format with the 16 "C" teams made for a lot better opening round games than the usual "D" and "E" teams we see on a weekly basis. Congratulations to all the "C" teams that stepped up to play in Tennessee.


Fence Broker's battles Frozen Ropes


Resmondo's BJ Fulk slides into second base and went on to win the MVP


Team Breakdown: There were 14 Conference USSSA teams and 32 teams overall from 14 different states at the Music City Classic:
2 Major Teams,
4 Class "A" Teams,
8 Class "B" Teams,
17 Class "C" Teams,
1 Class "D" Teams.


Wisconsin Worth came the furthest distance and battled to a 2-2 finish


The vast center field bowed out to 375 feet on the main diamond


Triple Creek Park, Gallatin, TN


Triple Creek Park notes: The tournament used 5 fields. Two of the main diamonds were 325 down the lines and bowed out to 375 in center field. Games on the two main diamonds used the ZN ball which was flying. Two of the other diamonds were 315 down the lines and 325 to center field but played much shorter even with the Thunder Advance Conference ball. The fifth diamond was a new field that was under construction and used a temporary snow fence which looked to be about 300 feet all the way around.


Triple Creek during the day


Triple Creek at night


This was the field that was still under construction with the temporary fence


Tournament Rules:
Homerun rules were as follows:
Major vs Major = 16 per game per team.
Major vs non-Major = 12 per game per team.
All other games were 8 per game per team.
Mercy Rules were 30 after 3, 20 after 2, 15 after 5.

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The DSSBats.com tournament homerun leader was Dan Dillingham from Suncoast with 11 HR's (picture from 2008 A Worlds)


Team by Team Comments:

1st Place Resmondo-Specialty Tank-Worth (Conf Major, Winter Haven, Florida )
Music City Record 6-0
Overall Conference Record 30-5

Resmondo walked through the field of teams without blinking. They hit bombs from the top of the order to the bottom. Resmondo is playing near perfect ball and often batted around the order in the first inning. BJ Fulk, Brian Rainwater, and Jeff Wallace were hitting long homer's that made the baseball field look like a little league field. Right now this team is out hustling, out pitching, and defending their opponents as well as mashing it on the offensive side. Opponents often look beaten before the second inning.


Resmondo third baseman Dennis Rulli won the Defensive Player of the tournament


3 more minutes of Resmondo putting a 1st inning whooping on the competition


Resmondo prepares to battle Long Haul


2nd Place Long Haul/Miken/Phonemasters (Conf Major, Albertville, MN )
Music City Record 5-2
Overall Conference Record 17-8

Long Haul lost only two games and both were to Resmondo. The offensive chemistry with the Hauler's just doesn't seem to quite be there and the infield has been inconsistent at times as well. LH was missing a few key player's and Ryan Thiede suffered what appeared to be a leg injury in the winner's semi-final vs Primetime. Of their 8 losses this year only 2 have been to non-Major teams which is a good sign of future success.


Long Haul played shorthanded without Striebel, Hall, and Messina


Long Haul's Ryan Thiede who has had a hot stick went down with a pulled hamstring?


The left side of the Long Haul defense Genter, McCollum, and Hartwick

3rd Place Jean Shoppe/Chaneys/Easton/Sports55 (Conf A, McKenzie, TN )
Music City Record 5-2
Overall Conference Record 22-7

In the second round Jean Shoppe broke a 15 all tie with Rochester Athletic Club late in the game with a monster inning and won 31-16 then beat a good Gutterworks team before running into the Resmondo machine. Shoppe recovered to hold off Gas-It 37-30 in the early morning Sunday (like 2 AM) and then pounded a tired Suncoast team to finish 3rd. Shoppe is now 16-0 against "B" and under teams so they aren't stumbling. It would be nice to see them compete a little better with the Major teams though.


Shoppe's Chris Montenegro launches a ZN

4th Place Suncoast/RBK (Conf A, Sarasota, FL )
Music City Record 6-2
Overall Conference Record 11-8

Suncoast lost their first round game Saturday morning to Major League 17-16 after their left fielder dropped a ball in the sun sending the game into extra innings. This loss setup a tough loser's bracket game with fellow Conference member Fence Broker's which Suncoast won 22-21. Then the offense kicked into high gear as they rattled off big win's over Straceners, RAC, Logo, DO, and Primetime to score a Sunday finish in 4th place. Nice recovery. Suncoast had the only two 40 run games of the tournament. Center fielder Billy Moore has left the team and Kevin Johnson was doing some of the pitching.


Suncoast's Kevin Bazat made all tournament


You couldn't pay me to stand on 1st when Suncoast's Dale Roe comes up to bat

Tied 5th Place Gas-It Softball (C, Blacksburg, SC )
Music City Record 5-2
Overall Conference Record 7-4

Gas-It made a nice run in this tournament for a "C" team. They had a highlite late night walk off win over Hub's Pub 32-31 to setup a 5th place finish. Lets go ahead and call Gas-It a top 10 "C" team in the nation.


Gas-It showed no fear and received the trophy guitar for highest finishing "C" team


Video of the strangest game winning swing ever!


Gas-It hits a 2 run gate banger to beat Hub's Pub


Tied 5th Place PrimeTime/Easton (A, Newnan, Georgia )
Music City Record 3-2
Overall Conference Record 4-4

Primetime was losing to Ballaholics late in their opening game Friday night before mounting a comeback to win 11-10. Then they pulled off their biggest upset in two years when they beat Bud Light 30-24. Primetime winds up 5th and I was real impressed with their two hitter Earl "Squirrel" Bryant who seemed to hit homer's whenever they needed one. That is some good production out of a shortstop.


Primetime's SS Earl Bryant hit this bomb backside on the big field


I still say the "Church League Spinner" pitch utilized by Primetime is an underused pitch in the Conference


Leadoff man Kenny Owensby sets the table for the Primetime sluggers


Tied 7th Place Detroit's Own/Tireshop (B, Dearborn, MI )
Music City Record 4-2
Overall Conference Record 9-6

Detroit's Own has now played 3 Conference tournaments in as many weeks. They have posted a solid 9-6 record in that span and had quality win's over Eagle Bonding, Wisconsin Worth, and Gutterwork's at the Music City before dropping a tight one to Suncoast 24-23 when a potential game winning single deflected off the pitcher to second base for the final out. I like DO's approach to these games as they seem to stay on an even keel and play fairly loose. DO would be a nice addition to the Conference should they choose to join in 2009.


Detroit's Own lefty Luna


Detroit's Own player hits a triple


Detroit's Own starts their softball player's young


Tied 7th Place Hubs Pub/Combat/Elite (Conf C, Bonne Terre, MO)
Music City Record 3-2
Overall Conference Record 7-6

Hubs Pub took care of businees early with two wins over the local "C" teams then had Long Haul chasing midway through their game before succumbing to a big LH offensive burst. Hubs then upset GTL 27-23 before losing to Major League on a walkoff single. Hubs was smashing it from top to bottom in an order which is led by catcher Charles Key. They also have center fielder Evan Gallmeier who is as good an athlete as there is in the Conference.

Hubs should think about playing "B" Worlds instead of "C". With their top notch homerun management and defense they are better suited to make a short run at the "B" than have to win 8-10 games in "C". Just my opinion.


Hubs Pub's catcher Charles Key hit laser's all over the field


Hubs Pub pitcher Billy Dudek nearly had strike three on this behind the back pitch


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