2011 USSSA 'B' World Tournament Recap
2011 USSSA 'B' World Tournament
Kissimmee, Florida
September 16-18
Your 2011 USSSA 'B' World Tournament Champions – Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton out of Cincinnati, Ohio
Highlite video of Blitz and their awards
The 2011 USSSA 'B' World Championship featured 28 teams that for the most part were very equal in their level of play. Any of about 15 teams could have pulled it off and the one that did was Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Blitz was runner up two years ago to Northwest Combat but got it done this year on the power of some hot sticks. Blitz went 5-0 and outscored their opponents 108-47 enroute to the title and faced an unlikely opponent in the championship in 1st Step Softball from Pompano Beach, Florida. 1st Step was a mid season bump from class 'C' to class 'B' and lost to Blitz in the 3rd round of the winner's bracket before winning 5 straight against the "who's who" of the 'B' division.
In the championship game 1st Step jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first on a 3 run homer by veteran Chad Durick. Then Blitz answered with 3 runs in the bottom half on doubles from Jimmy Carter and Jason Roesch and a single by MVP Mike Rogers. Then the Blitz defense led by pitcher Frank Gruber shut down a tired 1st Step team 3 straight innings and Blitz added 4 more in the 2nd inning including a 2 run homer by David Kessler, and 2 more in the 3rd on a 2 run homer by Mike Rogers, before blowing them away with a 13 run 4th. The 13 run 4th was more runs than most teams were scoring in their entire games as the heat, humidity, and wind kept the ball in the park and homerun limits were rarely reached all weekend.
Blitz in the grey takes on 1st Step in the black for the B championship
The tournament began on Friday night with some upsets as local 'C' team Westshore Pizza knocked off Primetime 12-10, A&K Tile impressively beat Pipe 20-12, and Dave's Place knocked off top 4 seed Midwest Swing 9-8.
For the remainder of the tournament there were great matchups all over the park and the low scoring games made for some big situations and fun games.
When the sun went down on Saturday and the ball started to fly again it was Blitz vs Doerflinger in the winner's final as Blitz answered a big 3 run homer in the first inning by Doerflinger's Cal Ford with a grand slam by Mike Rogers in the bottom half. The difference in the game was Doerflinger left too many runners on base and Blitz did not.
Also late Saturday night D2E held off a late inning rally by ChecKing to win 23-22 and 1st Step Softball flip flopped and run ruled Dave's Place to make it to Sunday. On Sunday morning, 1st Step played 2 great games in wins over D2E and Doerflinger to make it to the finals.
B World runner up 1st Step Softball out of Pompano Beach, Florida won 7 games!
Click HERE for all the archived video of the 'B' World Tournament
The fields were well groomed and there were only a few bad hops that I witnessed the whole weekend. For the most part the shortstops and middle infielders were make highlite film type play after play
Umpire Ken is done with the coin toss for the Winner's Bracket Championship game and Terry Walton of Blitz shakes hands with Strojan Kennison of Doerflinger
A quick note to sponsors out there in the upper levels. It is that time of year when the sponsors and pretty much everyone around softball are a little "burnt out" on everything. This is not the time of the year to decide you are done with softball. Why? because there is really only one team in the Conference that wins its last game and that is the Major World Series champ. So everyone leaves feeling down on their team or themselves. So do yourself a favor and give it a couple weeks before thinking of pulling the plug for next year and if you still feel like it a month from now, then I thank you for your years of sponsorship and dedication to this game we love.
The A&K Tile center fielder climbs the fence for a homer by D2E
1st Step right fielder try's to rob a HR
Dave's Place finishes off Midwest Swing in extra innings 9-8
Doc's A Team/Combat pitches to PNH on Saturday morning
Tony Elrod from 1st Step pitches to Anthony Aceves of The Scene
Random video clips from the tournament
Blitz's Richie Jones tries to break up a double play attempt by 1st Step SS Randy Vollmer
'B' World Tournament Awards and Final Standings:
Player Tournament Awards | Players Name | Plays For |
Tournament MVP | Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton | |
Offensive Tournament MVP | 1st Step/ DCS | |
Defensive Tournament MVP | Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton | |
All Tournament Team | Doerflinger/TSC/Pro-Coat/Combat | |
All Tournament Team | Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton | |
All Tournament Team | 1st Step/ DCS | |
All Tournament Team | 1st Step/ DCS | |
All Tournament Team | Down2EarthSports.Com/Worth | |
All Tournament Team | Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton | |
All Tournament Team | Doerflinger/TSC/Pro-Coat/Combat | |
All Tournament Team | Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton | |
All Tournament Team | Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton | |
All Tournament Team | Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton | |
All Tournament Team | Down2EarthSports.Com/Worth | |
All Tournament Team | Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton | |
All Tournament Team | Doerflinger/TSC/Pro-Coat/Combat | |
All Tournament Team | Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton | |
All Tournament Team | 1st Step/ DCS | |
All Tournament Team | 1st Step/ DCS |
Place | State | Team | Team Class | Wins | Loses | Ties | Runs Scored | Runs Allow | Avg Runs | Avg Allow | Avg Diff | Max Runs | |
1 | OHO | SPMensB | 5 | 0 | 0 | 108 | 47 | 21.6 | 9.4 | 12.2 | 31 | 650 | |
2 | FL | 1st Step/ DCS frozen | SPMensB | 7 | 2 | 0 | 153 | 124 | 17 | 13.7 | 3.22 | 26 | 350 |
3 | WA | SPMensB | 3 | 2 | 0 | 57 | 50 | 11.4 | 10 | 1.4 | 14 | 300 | |
4 | GA | down2earthsports.com/worth frozen | SPMensB | 3 | 2 | 0 | 63 | 90 | 12.6 | 18 | -5.4 | 23 | 250 |
5 | CT | SPMensB | 4 | 2 | 0 | 72 | 53 | 12 | 8.83 | 3.16 | 22 | 200 | |
5 | FL | SPMensB | 3 | 2 | 0 | 52 | 62 | 10.4 | 12.4 | -2 | 13 | 200 | |
7 | TXS | SPMensB | 3 | 2 | 0 | 66 | 54 | 13.2 | 10.8 | 2.4 | 18 | 150 | |
7 | AR | SPMensB | 3 | 2 | 0 | 97 | 56 | 19.4 | 11.2 | 8.2 | 33 | 150 | |
9 | NJ | SPMensB | 3 | 2 | 0 | 45 | 53 | 9 | 10.6 | -1.6 | 13 | 110 | |
9 | GA | PrimeTime/Easton frozen | SPMensB | 3 | 2 | 0 | 53 | 33 | 10.6 | 6.6 | 4 | 20 | 110 |
9 | SC | SPMensB | 3 | 2 | 0 | 69 | 71 | 13.8 | 14.2 | -0.3 | 21 | 110 | |
9 | FL | SPMensB | 2 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 45 | 10.2 | 11.2 | -1 | 20 | 110 | |
13 | CAS | Team Demarini frozen | SPMensB | 2 | 2 | 0 | 78 | 63 | 19.5 | 15.7 | 3.75 | 32 | 70 |
13 | FL | PNH Softball frozen | SPMensD | 2 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 31 | 6.75 | 7.75 | -1 | 12 | 140 |
13 | MA | SPMensB | 1 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 33 | 8.66 | 11 | -2.3 | 16 | 70 | |
13 | OHC | SPMensB | 1 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 39 | 9.66 | 13 | -3.3 | 14 | 70 | |
17 | TXS | SPMensB | 1 | 2 | 0 | 30 | 39 | 10 | 13 | -3 | 11 | 40 | |
17 | OHO | SPMensB | 1 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 42 | 11.3 | 14 | -2.6 | 20 | 40 | |
17 | MI | SPMensB | 1 | 2 | 0 | 30 | 30 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 16 | 40 | |
17 | NE | T's 13/Easton frozen | SPMensB | 1 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 33 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 17 | 40 |
17 | FL | Westshore Pizza frozen | SPMensC | 1 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 32 | 8.66 | 10.6 | -2 | 12 | 80 |
17 | FL | SPMensB | 1 | 2 | 0 | 58 | 62 | 19.3 | 20.6 | -1.3 | 27 | 40 | |
17 | IN | SPMensB | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 23 | 9 | 11.5 | -2.5 | 10 | 40 | |
17 | WA | KTI/Cartel/DeMarini frozen | SPMensB | 0 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 20 | 8.5 | 10 | -1.5 | 9 | 40 |
25 | FL | SPMensD | 0 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 53 | 15.5 | 26.5 | -11 | 17 | 40 | |
25 | FL | Team Evo frozen | SPMensD | 0 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 44 | 12.5 | 22 | -9.5 | 21 | 40 |
25 | FL | SPMensB | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 53 | 2.5 | 26.5 | -24 | 4 | 20 | |
25 | FL | SPMensB | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 30 | 8 | 15 | -7 | 8 | 20 |
Tournament MVP – Blitz's CF Mike Rogers
Tournament Defensive MVP – Blitz's P Frank Gruber. Frank made some incredible diving stops from the pitcher's mound and got a piece of a bunch of linedrives as well. Reminiscent of the 1992 ASA 'A' defensive MVP Mickey Vitardi of Medina Body Shop.
The Offensive MVP went to 1st Step Softball CF Steve Allen
All Tournament Team – Blitz's SS Nick Masur
All Tournament Team – Blitz's LF Richie Jones
All Tournament Team – Blitz's 1B Jimmy Carter
All Tournament Team – Blitz's C Jon Jamison
All Tournament Team – Blitz's EH Brad Tabler
All Tournament Team – Blitz's RF David Kessler
All Tournament Team – Blitz's 3B Jason Roesch
All Tournament Team – 1st Step's C Luke Wright
All Tournament Team – 1st Step's 2B Frankie Toress
All Tournament Team – 1st Step's MI Robert Hendren
All Tournament Team – 1st Step's LF Chris Wilson
All Tournament Team – Doerflinger's SS Rafael Robledo Jr
All Tournament Team – Doerflinger's RF Jared Goetz
All Tournament Team – Doerflinger's P Robert Sena
All Tournament Team – Down2Earths P Chad Loudon
All Tournament Team – Down2Earths 2B Shaun Greer
Team by team notes brought to you by:
1st Place Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/MAB/Easton GTGG
Conf 'B' from Cincinnati, OH 5-0 Record
Blitz used great offensive momentum at times to do what the other teams couldn't, and that is to have big innings. The team has a group of players that have been together for a long time and adding Nick Masur at shortstop and David Kessler in right field and putting them at the top of the order helped add depth. The team run ruled most of their opponents on a weekend where teams struggled to get to 10 runs. Hats off to Blitz who most did not figure into the mix, at least not in dominating fashion, although they are always a threat. Blitz played without 2B and lead off hitter Jayson Scott who was welcoming his child into the world. Congratulations Jayson! They also played without veteran glove man Rob Menke who had a family wedding.
And congratulations to the Blitz sponsorship group, its management, and its players for a rock solid performance and first class championship run!
Lineup
SS Nick Masur
RF David Kessler
C Jon Jamison
1B Jimmy Carter
3B Jason Roesch
CF Mike Rogers
EH Brad Tabler
2B Mark Urbain
LF Richie Jones
P Frank Gruber
MI Payne
Highlites of Blitz
Click Wegs or Helmer for Easton equipment
There is pre-game rituals and then there is this?
2nd Place 1st Step Softball GTGG
'B' from Pompano Beach, FL 7-2 Record
1st Step is the surprise team of the tournament but when you look a little more closely at the team, they are very good. You have some ex-AJS warriors in pitcher Tony Elrod and first baseman Dave Moore. You have veterans of Floridas top levels in Chad Durick, Chris Wilson, Luke Wright and shortstop Randy Vollmer. And you have some great young players like center fielder Steve Allen. The other thing this team did great was glove hard grounders and complete tough throws. This team is easy Conference material and a real threat for any 'B' tournament or even some of the smaller Conference events in 2012.
I said in my preview that the non-conference 'B' teams could not win 5 straight in this tournament. Well, 1st Step won 5 straight (4 of them conference teams) and they won 7 games over all including 6 conference teams. WOW!
Lineup
LF Chris Wilson
CF Steve Allen
EH Chad Durick
C Luke Wright
1B Dave Moore
2B Frankie Toress
RF Cy McCuen
3B Randy Brunette or Josh Welkes
SS Randy Vollmer
MI Robert Hendren
P Tony Elrod
1st Step first baseman Dave Moore, 2B Frankie Toress, and CF Steve Allen
DirtySportswear.com, go ahead…click it!
3rd Place Doerflinger/Pro-coat/Combat
Conf 'B' from Seattle, WA 3-2 Record
Doerflinger used a 2nd seed to knock off 3 non-conference 'B' teams in the first 3 rounds including surprise winner's Wiley's and Dave's Place. Then in the winner's final they left too many runners in scoring position and lost to Blitz. Sunday morning they were outplayed 1st Step DCS eventhough they made some great defensive plays.
Good luck to Doerflinger in the Major where they play GTL in the first round.
Catch of the tournament by Doerflingers Brian Munson
Doerflinger SS Rafael Robledo made a number of great athletic plays
Big homer by Cal Ford
Doerflingers Brian Munson stretches a single into a double
Doerflinger prepares for the winner's bracket championship game vs Blitz
4th Place Down2EarthSports.com/Worth GTGG
Conf 'B' from Baxley, GA 3-2 Record
D2E had some inconsistent defense and offense in their losses to Blitz and 1st Step by run rules. They did have some fun wins over A&K, FBI, and a 23-22 win over ChecKing late Saturday night.
D2E had a great year for a first time Conference team and the fact they did it with new players to the upper level is impressive. D2E gets Sonny's in the Major. Should be a good one.
D2E's Chad Loudon does some sourt of leaping chest pump
D2E's Shaun Greer hits a big homer to sink A&K Tile
Tied 5th Place ChecKing/Worth GTGG
'B' from New Haven, CT 4-2 Record
ChecKing lost to Dave's Place in their opener but very impressively turned their weekend around and won 4 straight including a big win over Texas Miken to make it to a late night final 4 shot with D2E. They were within striking distance of knocking off D2E when they lined out to the pitcher for the last out. Unfortunately with the rosters not being online I can't figure out who the players are that deserve credit. Lets just call this 5th place finish a real team effort. ChecKing was an amazing 51-13 on the year.
Checking Worth's left side
Jimmy Consiglio 11 Coach/Sponsor
Vin Vitali 35 Manager
Norman Abair 5 P
George Legeirse 44 C/DH
Jeff Medeiros 52 1B
Pete Rodriques 15 MI/2B
Tim Arciola 27 MI/SS
Jay Longo 7 MI/SS
Billy Walsh 22 INF/P
Nick Papagoda 8 3B
Justin Valenti 24 OF/DH
Roy Williams 9 OF
John Gagne 21 OF
Barry Diggs 76 OF
Rob Hall 88 OF/DH
Jay Wright 33 C/1B/DH
Tied 5th Place DavesPlace/Sports55/Miken GTGG
'B' from Orlando, FL 3-2 Record
Dave's Place continued their great end of season run. Last weekend they ran the loser's bracket to win the WSL 'C' division. This week they looked like a real threat winning their first 3 games over ChecKing, Midwest Swing, and Texas Miken before dropping a tough one to Doerflinger and were crushed by Florida rival 1st Step. Dave's Place could be a player in the 'B' division for a long time if they want to.
Dave's Place won best logo award
It is hard to remember player names when USSSA disabled the online rosters?
Tied 7th Place Texas Miken Softball Club GTGG
Conf 'B' from Pearland, TX 3-2 Record
Texas Miken came out of the gate red hot in wins over Doc's A Team and an extra innings thriller over Linedrive to start the tournament but then became inconsistent against Daves Place and ChecKing. A couple of their games were broadcast and are in the archives.
Texas Miken picked up former Gold's Gym and FBI pitcher Perry Hensley
Tied 7th Place Fence Brokers/GameTimeSupply/Worth GTGG
Conf 'B' from Bryant, AR 3-2 Record
FBI competed well against D2E and beat Gas It by the run rule but was a victim of 1st Step and fall short. FBI has the resources and the talent to make a yearly run if they want to.
FBI's Chris Walker had best arm thingy of tournament (available at GameTimeSupply.com)
More Pictures Below
A big thanks to my sponsor's – USSSA, Down2EarthSports.com, GameTimeSupply.com, MojoSportsGear.com, TPS, Easton, DSSBats.com, SoftballToday Magazine, BatReviews.com, BPAthletics, TripleSSSinc.com, QWExpress.com, DirtySportswear.com
I will be at the USSSA Major World Series beginning this Wednesday night September 21st at 5 PM.
Link to the Bracket for the B World
Link to the Major World Series bracket
Link to the ConferenceUSSSA.com
Here are some other pics from the B World
Wiley's knocked off Team Demarini and Gas IT impressively but then only put up 2 runs total in losses to Doerflinger and ChecKing?
Primetime went (3-2) and sent home Linedrive and Pipe in games where both teams scored less than 10 runs
Zamoras/All Out Sports/TPS beat KTI on Friday but then dropped two in a row (1-2)
Zamoras had Will Oneal in LF. I had forgotten how good that guy is
Deluxe Bakery went (3-2)
Latinos de Venezuala a modified pitch team actually from Venezuala joined the 'B' World because they thought 192 teams in the 'E' were too many. After all 'B' only had 28 teams. Westshore let them borrow some bats and a pitching helmet. When the Venezuala team went out on the field to play defense they only went out with 9 guys because they didn't know slowpitch was played with 10 defensive players. Needless to say they lost both games by a combined score of 53-5.
Team Demarini had a nice win over The Scene to finish tied for 13th (2-2)
Gas It gutted out low scoring games against T's 13 and Magic to finish tied for 9th (3-2)
Linedrive had the team to win it but an extra innings loss to Texas Miken in the 2nd round thwarted their plans (1-2)
Magic/National Gold/S&S/TYJA Sports (1-2)
Magics John Hickey hits a grand slam
KTI vets Ryan Barabe (above) and Chris Breer (below) (0-2)
T's 13 (1-2)
Midwest Swing (0-2)
Bulldoze these horrible dugouts at the Fortune Road and cut the infield 15 feet deeper and you have the best complex in Florida
Ric Doerflinger and Don Cooper. Two of the best sponsors from the NW
This is a good idea if you are coming down this week for C or D Worlds
Click picture for Tarantinos website. They are an Italian Restaurant on 192 in Kissimmee. Check them out when you are down here for worlds.
Broadcasting update. SoftballCenter.com has received 36 broadcasting donations. Thank you VERY much for your generosity.
You can learn more about supporting the broadcasts by clicking here.
Broadcast Schedule:
USSSA Major World Series loser bracket games on Friday, September 23rd and Saturday September 24th
ASA 'A' Worlds is now on the schedule. I'll take my broadcast equipment in case they are not doing their own broadcast.
Still discussing the Toys 4 Tots in December
2012 schedule to be determined
Check out our new sponsor's Triple SSS Sportscards by clicking the logo
and QWExpress.com
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