30th Annual Dudley Budweiser Major tournament preveiw
30th Annual Dudley Budweiser Classic
June 15-17, 2012
Tournament Preview
The 30th Annual Dudley Budweiser tournament kicks off this Friday night at 4:30 PM at the Central Park fields in Brooklyn, Minnesota. This years tournament features 32 teams including 10 teams from the Nationwide Conference USSSA.
Games are played at 3 different parks:
CN and CS are the Central Park fields at the main complex 6301 Shingle Creek Parkway
EN and ES are the fields at Evergreen park 7100 Bryant Ave No. about 1 mile from Central
B1 and B2 are located on Bass Lake Rd and Cty 81 about two miles from central park
30th Annual Dudley Bracket Link
I will have the main two fields set up for broadcast starting between 11 AM and noon on Saturday through the end of the tournament. This is of course weather permitting. There is no scorers tower at the Dudley so rain could limit the broadcast. Sorry if that happens, I'll do the best I can.
This years tournament has 4 Major teams, 2 – A, 9 – B, 10 – C, 7 – D.
For those old school fans that is really 4 Major, 2-AA, 9-A, and 10-B and thats if you only bump teams up one level. Really softball has dropped 1.5 to 2 levels from the old days.
So although the tournament may not be as stacked as Chicago, Nashville, or the Smoky it is still a viable top level tournament with the potential for some heavyweight battles. Quality over quantity. If you are a fan, you can only watch two fields at a time anyways because the most fields at any one park at the Dudley is two.
When people talk about why the other top 'A' teams did not come to the Dudley it is simply a one word answer "cost". The flights to Minneapolis from almost anywhere in the country is $430 – $500 per ticket. Every year I have to have outside sponsorship to be able to go myself. I talked to several top 'A' teams and they said it was either go to the Dudley or go to two other tournaments and with points being as tight as they are, two tournaments beat one anyday.
Outside of potential thunderstorms getting in the way, it should be a great weekend of softball.
Lets get to the picks for the week:
Note: after the 5:45 PM game featuring the "4 The Fallen" military team on the main field (Central North) the team and veterans from all of the recent war's are going to perform a flag ceremony to honor the fallen soldiers and injured soldiers.
In the top half of the bracket I like #1 seed Laservision to walk through local 'C' team Hearthside Homes and Syndicate on Saturday morning. Syndicate has a core of players that finished 2nd at the KC Major in 2011 and are rolling pretty good this year. The big Friday night crowds at the Dudley sometimes have strange effects on a local 'C' team and they can do wonderous things but I don't think it will happen this year. 4 The Fallen and Westshore Pizza should get past their first games and meet in the second round. This will be a great matchup and although my brain says 4 The Fallen will win, I'm going with my gut and taking Westshore Pizza. I think The Fallen are still working out some chemistry issues and searching for a spark.
In the second part of the bracket R&M Metals will have to get by Precision from Chicago. I'll take R&M but Precision is plenty capable of winning this part of the bracket. Team Combat should get a tough second round game from Luther Auto a local but veteran 'B' team although Combat should win.
In the 3rd quarter of the bracket #2 Resmondo should roll through Team CAGear in the second round and P&P 333 should meet Resmondo in the quarter finals.
In the last part of the bracket look for Nordkap/Desert Falls to beat Ts 13 and team Xtreme to beat Team Demarini to go to the quarter finals.
I'll take Laservision over Westshore in the first quarter final. R&M Metals over Team Combat in the second quarter final, Resmondo over P&P in the 3rd quarter final, and Nordkap over Xtreme/Combat as the final quarterfinalist.
My final picks:
1) Resmondo wins with 1 loss and turns the corner on their season.
2) Laservision – doesn't take advantage of the easiest path.
3) Nordkap/Desert Falls – will meet Resmondo for the first time this season
4) R&M Metals – has to play well but no Yerkes could be a bad thing, someone needs to step up
Tied for 5th) Team Combat and Xtreme Combat
