2009 Windy City Invitational Part 1
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Inwood Sports Complex in Joliet, Illinois
The 2009 Conference tour rolled into the Windy City this past weekend for tournament #11 on the schedule. This tournament was again won by Resmondo-Specialty Tank-Worth who went 6-0 and collected their 5th consecutive tournament championship of 2009. Resmondo has now won 25 straight games! They beat Dan Smith-Menossee-Benfield-Combat in the finals 39-32. Remember it was at the Chicago tournament last year when Dan Smith beat Resmondo to begin to turn their season around. Not so this year as Resmondo has put the whooping on all comer's on the softball fields.
Both GTL Cartel/Stucco/Worth/Elite who finished 3rd and PRI/MFAB/Insanity who finished 4th, made nice long runs through the loser's bracket for their final 4 appearances.
For the first time in awhile there were no first round upsets and really no second round upsets to speak of. A local Illinois "D" team called Squad-14 West went the distance against Long Haul but lost 37-30 in a game where the Hauler's scored 20 in the first inning.
By the 3rd round of the winner's bracket all 8 teams that remained undefeated were Conference teams. Weather conditions were cool and rainy and the tournament was using a new .40 core ZN ball instead of the usual Thunder Advance. The ball seemed to be just as hard as any used this year and homerun management was at a premium. The atmosphere at the tournament and the quality of the teams was first rate. This tournament is beginning to draw almost as good a field of teams as the Dudley and the Smoky.
Resmondo before their 5th consecutive tournament championship
Heads Resmondo wins, tails Dan Smith loses!
Dedonatis guns another down
Hometown EWS/Boombah finished an impressive 7th
Bat testing was going on throughout the weekend
Team Breakdown: There were 18 Conference USSSA teams and 35 teams overall from 10 different states at the Windy City Invitational:
3 Major Teams,
6 Class "A" Teams,
10 Class "B" Teams,
5 Class "C" Teams,
11 Class "D" Teams.
Combat USA came the furthest.
Most of the tournament was played under overcast skies
Inwood Sports Complex notes: The softball complex was nice. The fields were hard but smooth. The wind was not that strong most of the time. Fields were all symmetrical with what appeared to be 300 foot fences. Homerun fences were around 7 feet high.
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 4, 15 after 5.
The DSSBats.com tournament homerun leader was Kevin Filby and Jeff Wallace tied with 11 HR's each!
Team by Team Comments:
1st Place Resmondo-Specialty Tank-Worth (Conf Major, Winter Haven, Florida )
Windy City Record 6-0
Overall Conference Record 36-5
Resmondo glides through another tournament without breaking a sweat. The gist of most of their games is as follows:
1) Opposing team gets a little nervous and Andy's knuckleball dances a little more than they expect and one man per inning makes a weak out.
2) Resmondo comes in, uses walks and gaps in the infield to set the stage for a couple 3-run bombs and lead 9-1.
3) Opposing team still has some life left and decides to buckle down and hit some missles but in a key spot one of the Resmondo player's takes the wind out of their sails with a great defensive play.
4) Resmondo puts up a crooked number in the second.
5) Opponent fearing a run rule starts hitting solo's, teams heads are down, team goes to loser's bracket.
6) DW can't figure out anything new to say about Resmondo he hasn't already said. Purcell makes great pitches, Jr makes great diving stops, Rainwater climbs fence, BJ hits a missile backside, etc etc….
Seriously though, congratulations to Resmondo for a great winning streak. Up to 25 in a row now!
One of the reasons Resmondo is so good is because of their all out hustle all the time
We good, we good
Resmondo finishes off Dan Smith in the finals
Dan Smith finished 2nd, losing both of their games to Resmondo. Smith had control of games against TCP and Blitz which they won, and escaped a tight one against Bud Light 42-35. Then Sunday morning Dan Smith beat a GTL team 27-11 that probably never really got to bed after their late night win over PRI. The Smith team just seems to be a little flat, a little less sharp than they need to be. Or maybe they just long for the large open grass fields of Kissimmee and the Florida heat?
Now take the hats off and scratch your heads
Slow motion of one of the most consistent power swings in softball history. Brett Helmer
Dan Smith left fielder Jason Kendrick picks one off the fence
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