2013 Nationwide Conference USSSA Championship tournament report!
2013 Nationwide Conference
USSSA Championships!
Kissimmee, FL
Aug 30 – Sept 1
Resmondo's Jimmy Salas in the championship game!
Link to the Nationwide Conference Championships Picture Album
USSSA Conference Championships tournament info and bracket link
Major World Series Qualifying tournament info and bracket link
The 2013 Nationwide Conference Championships was won by Resmondo-Specialty Tank/Worth. Resmondo went 4-0 to win the tournament and beat Laservision/Desert Falls/Boombah/Easton 26-9 in the winner's bracket championship on Saturday afternoon and 21-15 on ESPN in the championship on Sunday. Resmondo was paced by MVP SS Don Dedonatis Jr. and Defensive MVP Greg Connell. Resmondo won 3 of their games by the run rule and scored 20 or more in all 4 contests. Their defense held their 4 opponents to just 36 total runs or 9.0 runs per game. WOW!
The Nationwide Conference Championships began on Friday night with the top 16 teams in the nation playing in a "Big East" basketball style bracket where seeds 9-16 played in the first round. The winner's moved on to the second round against seeds 5-8. The loser's of the first two rounds dropped into a bracket of their own which is called the "Open" bracket. The winners moved on to play the top 4 seeded teams for the Nationwide Conference Championship!
The second round on Friday night is where things got interesting as all 4 of the lower seeded teams beat each of the 5 through 8 seeds! Albicocco beat Red's Astros 22-7 after putting up 15 runs in the first inning. Taylormade upset Demarini 19-17. Chaps/Buzini beat Line Drive 16-15. And Pure Romance shocked GTL Doerflinger R&M 21-17!
In the third round the only upset was Taylormade who won their third game of the night 30-23 over a stunned Nordkap team. Resmondo, Laservision, and Shoppe all advanced to the semi-finals on Saturday.
The Major "pecking" order played out again as Resmondo beat Laservision twice and Laservision beat Shoppe twice during the weekend.
In the "Open" bracket which was filled with 'A' teams that had been upset by lower seeded teams, Demarini/Dirty went undefeated in the bracket to win it, beating GTL on Sunday by a run even though Demarini was missing 4 starters and actually had manager George Quinones playing and he helped contribute to the win. Line Drive Sportz was third and Red's Astros was fourth.
All of the games in the Nationwide Conference Championships and the "Open" bracket were played at the Osceola County Stadium "back" fields. They are all large baseball fields and used the Dudley ZN Stadium ball. The weather was hot and humid with temperatures in the 90's and the Stadium itself was unavailable because the infield is in the middle of a re-construction.
The games were competitive as there were only 8 run rule games out of the 36 played, and 16 of the games were decided by 3 runs or less!
Over at the Fortune Road Softball Complex there was a third tournament. This one was called the "Major World Series Conference Qualifier" where Nationwide Conference teams seeded 18-32 were invited to play for a berth to the Major. 7 teams accepted the invite and it was played out in a 3 game guarantee format. Team Adiktiv/Dynasty/D2E/LS/TYJA defeated 3rd Street/Louisville Slugger 15-14 in the "if" game of the championship after 3rd Street had forced the second game by beating Adiktiv 13-12. Team Adiktiv went 3-1 in the tournament including a 31-8 win over ASPNation.com where Adiktiv scored an amazing 24 runs in one inning! 3rd Street took a much more difficult route to the championship as they lost their opener to B&B/Sears 16-12 on Friday night, then won 5 straight in the loser's bracket. B&B/Sears with a few of their recent pickups was third, and Xtreme/Miken was fourth.
The catch of the weekend was made by Brian Logan the center fielder for Taylormade who made a fast diving catch in center field in the gap on Baugh Fords Matt Bunn to preserve Taylormades big win over Baugh in the first round. The best infield play was turned in by JD Genter at third base for GTL when he made a nice pick on a hard shot with his backhand and started at 5-10-3 double play to end the game against Line Drive Sportz in the loser's bracket final of the "Open" bracket.
Resmondo teammates congratulate Dennis Rulli as he scored on Greg Connell's homer
USSSA was unable to play in the Osceola County Stadium (spring training home of the Houston Astros as the infield gets re-done
A "mini" version of what the new Osceola County Stadium scoreboard will look like!
Don Cooper of Combat Sports (left) and Bernie Guenther of USSSA (right) call the final games on ESPN3.com
USSSA went all out with 4 cameras, a bunch of microphones, and the scaffolding to give the viewers the best angles
The 30+ foot high fence on Field #1
Field #2
Video Highlites brought to you by:
Nationwide Conference USSSA Tournament Awards and Final Standings!
Player Tournament Awards | Players Name | Plays For |
Tournament MVP | Don DeDonatis III | Resmondo – Specialty Tank / Worth |
Offensive Tournament MVP | Sam Lopez | LaserVision/DesertFalls/Boombah/Eas |
Defensive Tournament MVP | Greg Connell | Resmondo – Specialty Tank / Worth |
All Tournament Team | Dennis Rulli | Resmondo – Specialty Tank / Worth |
All Tournament Team | Lee Powers | SHOPPE / TYJA / LOUISVILLE SLUGGER |
All Tournament Team | Don DeDonatis III | Resmondo – Specialty Tank / Worth |
All Tournament Team | Kevin Filby | LaserVision/DesertFalls/Boombah/Eas |
All Tournament Team | Greg Connell | Resmondo – Specialty Tank / Worth |
All Tournament Team | Jon Jamison | Pure Romance/Chic's/Insanity/Easton |
All Tournament Team | Kevin Kennington | LaserVision/DesertFalls/Boombah/Eas |
All Tournament Team | Scott Kirby | LaserVision/DesertFalls/Boombah/Eas |
All Tournament Team | Robert Blackburn | SHOPPE / TYJA / LOUISVILLE SLUGGER |
All Tournament Team | BRANDON BELLAMY | Pure Romance/Chic's/Insanity/Easton |
All Tournament Team | Kyle Moyer | LaserVision/DesertFalls/Boombah/Eas |
All Tournament Team | Jimmy Salas | Resmondo – Specialty Tank / Worth |
All Tournament Team | Jonathon Lenz | SHOPPE / TYJA / LOUISVILLE SLUGGER |
All Tournament Team | Howie Krause | Resmondo – Specialty Tank / Worth |
All Tournament Team | Nicolas Santana | Resmondo – Specialty Tank / Worth |
Nationwide Conference USSSA Championship:
1 FL – Resmondo – specialty tank / worth
2 NY – Laservision/desertfalls/boombah/eas
3 TN – Shoppe / tyja / louisville slugger
4 OH – Pure romance/chic's/insanity/easton
5 VA – Taylormade/tm sports/mizuno
5 MN – Nordkap/Suncoast Reebok
7 NY – Albicocco/the scene/easton
7 MS – Chaps/Buzini/BWW/Worth
Open Division Final Standings:
1 FL – Demarini/dirty/xtremeathletics
2 IA – GTL doerflinger r&m/easton
3 MI – Line drive sportz/sss/miken
4 IN – Red's astros/slugger/stucco/dirty
5 WA – Team Combat/lbg/derby boys
5 AL – Baugh ford/mojo/louisville slugger
7 AR – Fence brokers/hubs pub/gts/worth
7 IL – Precision/hang rite athletics
Major World Series Qualifying Tournament:
1 GA – Team Adiktiv/dynasty/d2e/ls/TYJA
2 OH – 3rd street/louisville slugger
3 NC – B&B/sears/bmw insulation/easton
4 MN – XTREME/Miken
5 TX – ASPNation.com/Easton
5 MA – DEI/S&S/Scott's/Easton
7 GA – Head hunters / oi livingston / mwa
Earl "Cheeze" Scarberry got fan of the year award!
Team by team notes brought to you by:
1st Place – Resmond-Specialty Tank/Worth
Conf 'M' from Florida 4-0 Record
Resmondo heads to the Major World Series with a 19 game winning streak. In 13 of the 19 games they held their opponents under 20 runs. Remember back at the start of the season Resmondo scored 25 consecutive wins and their record currently stands as one of the best in the history of softball at 52-5. Resmondo won their 9th tournament of the year out of 11 tournaments played.
Dennis Rulli was named Nationwide Conference USSSA MVP!
Resmondo's Greg Connell hits one out. He got the award for most home runs.
2nd Place – Laservision/Desert Falls/Boombah/Easton
Conf 'M' from New York 3-2 Record
Laservision goes into the major at 46-16. They finished 2nd for the 5th time this season and are now 8-1 against Shoppe but only 3-10 against Resmondo including 6 straight losses. Laservision has 2+ weeks to get healthy and re-focused as the only mental edge they have right now is the fact that they are the defending champions. Scott Kirby earned Conference Offensive Player of the Year!
Kyle Moyer
Brett Helmer gets some more interview airtime
3rd Place – Shoppe / TYJA / Louisville Slugger
Conf 'M' from Tennessee 3-2 Record
Shoppe heads to the Major with a 34-16 record. They failed to win a single tournament. They were 2-10 against the Major division in 2013. All that being said, they are stacked with left handers that can use the short porch in right field at Disney, and their right handers are guys like Robert Blackburn, Brett McCollum, and Lee Powers who are great hitters. Shoppe is in the same spot as Laservision was a year ago, they have to put it all together on the last weekend and make softball history! Shoppe is a heavy under dog but one worth rooting for.
Shoppe's David Kessler (left) and Victor Cordova (right)
Shoppe's Robert Blackburn was awarded the Batting Title for 2013
Shoppe pitcher Andy Vitcak
4th Place – Pure Romance/Chic's/Insanity/Easton
Conf 'B' from Ohio 4-2 Record
PRI is 11-6 since the Cincinnati tournament and shocked everyone at the Conference Championships by beating Team Combat, GTL Doerflinger F&M, Chaps/Buzini, and run ruling a hot Taylormade team. They lost to Shoppe twice by 4 runs and 10 runs respectively. PRI has that Line Drive and Classic Glass "look" to them right now and are peaking at the right time, right before 'B' Worlds.
This years team is a nice blend of veterans from the Blitz and Columbus Pipe teams of the past and enough youth to keep them fired up and are led by manager Mike Foulkes who has won the 'B' before with AJS in 2010. Jamison is mashing as usual, guys like Jimmy Carter and Steve Edwards have been huge pickups, and the team is set for a run with a bonus of getting to play in the Major World Series… Stay tuned.
PRI middle infielder Rocky Staton
PRI pitcher Roger Drake
Tied 5th Place – Nordkap/Suncoat Reebok
Conf 'A' from Minnesota 1-2 Record
Nordkap was my longshot pick to win but they were tripped up by Taylormade on Friday night and lost a close one to Shoppe on Saturday.
Matt Crawford bats against KJ
Really?
Tied 5th Place – Taylormade/TM Sports/Mizuno
Conf 'A' from Virginia 3-2 Record
Taylormade may have won their 3 biggest games of the year when they beat Baugh Ford, Demarini/Dirty, and Nordkap back to back to back on Friday night. Then they dropped two straight to Resmondo and PRI on Saturday only scoring a total of 11 runs. A nice showing for a team that hasn't played a lot of ball this year.
Tmade infield
Taylormade pitcher Kevin Johnson was like a ball magnet
Demarini/Dirty/Xtreme Athletics – The "Open" Champs!
Team Adiktiv/Dynasty/D2E/LS/TYJA
Team Adiktiv sponsors and management with the trophy
Greg Millsaps, Jeremy Moody, Donnie Munford
Team Adiktiv celebrates a first inning home run by Ron Pearce in the first championship game
Runner up in the Major Qualifier – 3rd Street/Louisville Slugger
Fortune Road hosted all of the games in the Major World Series Qualifying tournament
We will be back at Fortune Road in two weeks for the USSSA 'B' World Tournament!
More pictures below
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I would like to thank all of my sponsors, USSSA, the SoftballCenter and Oldscout advertisers!
Some of the archived games from the Conference Championships can be found here
USSSA Conference Championships tournament link
USSSA Major World Series Qualifier tournament link
Link to Softballcenter.com pictures of the Major
Send corrections to dw@softballcenter.com
Link to the SoftballCenter.com Youtube channel
Link to the 2013 Tournament Reports
Link to the 2012 Tournament Reports
Nationwide Conference USSSA Points Link
SoftballCenter.com Computer Rankings Link
Some more pictures for you:
The field announcers and scorekeepers that do such a great job every year at the HOF, Conf Champs, and Major World Series!
They had to tough it out this year in the heat because the stadium was unavailable
In other softball news PrimeTime won the prestigious BSC championship this past weekend!
"Softball Guy" of the week
Most people don't realize Miley was wearing a "Dirty" shirt that night
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