2014 ASA ‘A’ National tournament report!

October 1, 2014 by DW —No Comments ↓

Compound Athletics Travis Clark pitches to 4The Fallens Clayton Shaw in the winner's bracket championship game!

2014 ASA 'A' National

Oklahoma City, OK

September 27-28

Link to the Softballcenter.com picture album of the ASA 'A' National

ASA 'A' National tournament info and bracket link

The ASA 'A' Nationals returned to the Oklahoma City Hall Fame softball complex with 12 very good and evenly matched teams. Half of them were regular season teams with 1 or 2 pickups and half were all star type teams which had to conform to the new rule of just 3 RPL (Restricted Player List) players. The games were all either really close or blowouts with seemingly nothing in between. The tournament began early Saturday morning with 4 play in games. SWOK/One Nation a local team upset Delta/Front Row Sports 22-15. Delta was a team made up of Buzini, ASPNation, and Connell and Yates. 4 The Fallen who had a very good all star team and the most consistent offense in the tournament beat T's 13 29-21. T's used their regular team plus picked up Chris Larsen and Geno Buck. Rip City crushed Heartland Investors 27-2. Rip City had picked up Chris Greinert and Tim Bowser. And Compound Athletics, Travis Clarks all star team crushed a wide eyed Armed Forces team 22-9.

The weather was perfect, sunshine and low humidity. The park was under construction but the fields were in good shape and the 10 Home Run limit was used in the 'A' division. The fences on all fields were right around a symmetrical 300 feet. In the second round All American Athletics an all star team put together by Jeremy Guillory which included Nick Santana, Dale Brungardt, and Brian Wegman crushed Rip City 27-6. Compound Athletics and Red's Astros battled for almost 2 hours in a back and forth game with Compound coming out on top 32-25 to advance to the final 4. Sonnys beat SWOK (Southwest Oklahoma) 27-18, and 4 The Fallen used a huge double figure inning early in the game to walk away from favorite Baugh Ford 31-14. In the semi-finals on Saturday night Compound Athletics run ruled All American Athletics 36-21 in a battle of all star teams and 4 The Fallen used a walk off homer by Kevin Filby to send Sonny's to the loser's bracket 32-31. In the winner's bracket championship 4 The Fallen and Compound Athletics battled to basically a tie, 7-7 and 13-13. Then late in the top of the 7th Compound Athletics separated but in the bottom 4 The Fallen came back to load the based down 22-20 with home runs left and flew out rather routinely to right center field twice.

On Sunday morning it was All American Athletics beating Delta/Front Row Sports 33-28. Delta had beaten Red's Astros the night before to make it to Sunday and All American had knocked off Sonnys in the last game of the night Saturday. Then in the loser's bracket finals All Americans bats went silent and 4 The Fallen advanced to the championship easily 19-10. In the first game of the championship 4 The Fallen outplayed Compound Athletics and came away with an impressive 33-30 win and forced the "if" game. But Compound Athletics made a big splash in the top of the 1st inning of the final game with 15 runs in the first. By mid game Compound Athletics middle infielder Mike Umschied already had like 3 homers and 9 RBI. 4 The Fallen never gave up but couldn't keep up in a 39-18 run rule win for Compound Athletics/Bubbas/ASP/Easton.

In the loser's bracket there was one really big upset when Armed Forces knocked out Baugh Ford 26-25 with a great diving catch in center field and a line drive stab at third base preserved their one run win. Also Delta/Front Row Sports after being upset by SWOK made it all the way to the loser's semi-final Sunday morning. And Heartland Investors who lost their first game made it to 5th with no RPL players.

Here is a link to the archived games

4 The Fallen attempts a comeback against Compound Athletics

The Stadium field had no power so no lights for the big games.

Here Delta's outfield of Justin Stuart, Jeremy Yates, and Zane Trammell

Crowds were very small but the biggest were at the women's games

Video Highlites brought to you by:

Including a 2-1-6 double play, lol

To Helmers credit he did bat .800 with a tournament high 35 RBI

ASA 'A' National Final Standings & Awards

Final Standings:
1) Compound Athletics/Bubbas 5-1
2) 4 the Fallen/Miken/Evo 9X 5-2
3) All American Athletics 3-2
4) Delta/Front Row Sports 3-2
5) Heartland Investors 2-2
5) Sonny's 1-2
7) All Armed Forces 1-2
7) Reds Astros/Louisville Slugger 1-2
9) Rip City/DeMarini 1-2
9) Southwest Oklahoma Outlaws 1-2
9) Baugh Ford/Doerflinger/National Pawn/NES/Easton 0-2
9) T's 13/DeMarini 0-2

All American Athletics Nick Santana led the tournament in hitting at over .900!

Batting Champion – Nick Santana (.913)
Home Run Champion – Denny Crine – 11
Tournament MVP – Brad Reckart

First Team All-Americans
Nick Utley – 4 the Fallen
Orlando Castillo – Compound Athletics
Mitch Johnson – All American Athletics
Mike Umscheid – Compound Athletics
Dennis Rulli – Compound Athletics
Nick Santana – All American Athletics
Neil Haglund – Compound Athletics
Nick Sansone – 4 the Fallen
Cory Large – 4 the Fallen
Denny Crine – 4 the Fallen
Kyle Pearson – Front Row Sports
Brett Helmer – Compound Athletics
Kevin Filby – 4 the Fallen
Chris Potts – Front Row Sports
Dale Brungardt – All American Athletics
Travis Clark – Compound Athletics

Team by team notes brought to you by:

1st Place – Compound Athletics/Bubbas/ASP/Easton

'A' from IL 5-1 Record

Compound Athletics wins the 'A' but had to beat 4 The Fallen best 2 of 3 to do it and 2 of those came down to the very end. Brett Helmer who wasn't even supposed to play filled in for the injured Luis Reyna and batted .800 with 9 HR and 35 RBI. Brad Reckart was MVP playing 1st base and scoring at team high 21 runs. Rulli played a good corner, Castillo showed why he may be the best shortstop in the game someday, and the outfield of Stephany, Payne, and Haglund was solid with the bats and the gloves. They also made a nice pickup of Steve Edwards to play 2B and the Wisconsin duo of pitcher Travis Clark and MI Mike Umschied combined for 13 HR and 37 RBI.

This was "Travis Clarks team not Helmers" 🙂

Third best SS in the game? Orlando Castillo (thats Casti-yo for you announcers out there!

Compound Athletics collecing hardware

Illegal use of ledge by Lee Payne

2nd Place – 4 The Fallen/Miken/Evo9x

'A' from AZ 5-2 Record

4 The Fallen put a nice 'A' team together. They had 2 shots at a walk off homer to beat Compound Athletics in the winner's bracket championship and Kevin Filby had hit a walk off just 2 hours before to beat Sonny's to get there. The impressive win was beating Compound Athletics in the first game of the championship when they were tied at 26-26 going into the 7th with both teams out of homers. Fallen scored 7 runs in the top of the 7th without the homers and then held off Compound Athletics to force the "if" game.

Hansen was at SS, Shaw played a nice 2B and did some pitching. Nick Sansone in CF and Denny Crine were the only regular Fallen players. Crine led the tournament in homers with 11.

I was impressed with Fallen 2B Clayton Shaw

4 The Fallens Kevin Filby hit a walk off home to beat Sonny's to advance to the winner's final

If ASA gave out a defensive MVP it could have been Fallen middle infielder Nick Utley

Denny "Grand Slam" Crine led the tourny in homers and had a couple of grand slams!

4 The Fallens CF Nick Sansone has quietly had a monster season

3rd Place – All American Athletics/Demarini

'A' from OR 3-2 Record

Guillory and his management group put together a nice team. Wegman had a sore neck so he underperformed. Nick Santana led the tournament in hitting at .914. Cameron Cox played SS, Flood was in the middle, and 1st baseman Mitch Johnson, Adam Smylie, and veteran Bobby Noeth were all over .700. All American was set for a run at the championship on Sunday morning after beating Delta but the offense disappeared to start the loser's final and never did show up.

I see Santana, Wegman, Brungardt, and Lloyd. Thats more than 3 RPL's, no? 🙂

4th Place – Delta/Front Row Sports

'A' from TX 3-2 Record

Delta was a nice mix of ASPNation, Buzini, and a couple Resmondo players. They were upset by SWOK in their opener then won 3 straight in the loser's bracket to finish 4th. They beat Rip City 32-31 on a walk off single by pitcher LC Watson. They had a marathon win over Red's Astros and they beat Sonnys late Saturday to go to Sunday. Kyle Pearson probably could have been offensive MVP. Third Baseman Chris Potts was .727 with 8 HR and 25 RBI.

Chris Potts

Tied 5th Place – Sonny's

'A' from WY 1-2 Record

Sonnys lost on a walk off homer to 4 The Fallen in the winner's semi final. I don't know how they lost to Delta late Saturday night as I had left for the hotel. Sonny's had 4 pitchers on the staff. Jeremy Davis returned from retirement and played well. And the team fell short of their goals but a very talented team they are having nearly won the Super the night before! Brian Lipman and Bubba Mack were their RPL pickups and they each batted .733.

Sonny's Jeremy Davis returned to upper level play after telling me he was retired! 🙂

Tied 5th Place – Heartland Investors

'A' from ND 2-2 Record

Heartland got smoked by Rip City in their opener 27-2 and then smoked SWOK 22-4 in the loser's bracket. So I really didn't get to see them play much because both games were over before they started. Then they knocked off Armed Forces but All American sent them home 42-12. So pretty much everytime I went to see Heartland play they were either losing too big or winning too big and I never learned much about them.