2015 Chattanooga “Choo Choo” Classic tournament preview!

"Choo Choo Classic"

Nationwide Conference USSSA!

May 2-3

Tournament Preview

presented by

Summit of Softball
8646 Apison Pike Road
Ooltewah, TN

Field Dimensions
Fences are 300 according to director

2015 Chattanooga Major bracket link

Major softball returns to the state of Tennessee with the "Choo Choo" Classic Nationwide Conference USSSA event at the beautiful Summit of Softball park in Chattanooga!  The fences there are on the smaller side but the weather should be perfect for softball.  Albicocco, OI Livingston, Red's Astros, Primetime, and KG Slayer will try to make it to Sunday's final 4.

I (DW) have to attend my twin daughters confirmation at the church this Friday night but I will drive down and try to set up the cameras on all 4 fields that are being used for the Major by the first game at 9 AM.  Please be patient as I hope to arrive on time and we have never livestreamed there before so we don't know how strong the internet it.  Last week in Tulsa the cameras all worked for over 12 hours straight!  

Note the tournament starts Saturday at 9 AM eastern and ends Sunday!

USSSALive.com livestream link!

I will have the chat room up for both the Conference events.

Team Breakdown
 1 Major
 3 'A'
 3 'B'
 5 'C'
 2 'D'
 1 'E'

Weekend Weather

The anonymous picker has been doing a nice job.  Lets see what he says this week:

Fifteen teams will fight it out at the Choo Classic this weekend.  The field features 9 Conference USSSA teams including Albicocco/The Scene as its lone Major team.  As far as smaller events goes this one has a solid conference field, and there could be some great games leading up to the Sunday morning finish.

The top half of the bracket could have a really competitive game right out of the gate with Sportsmanshop taking on Bear Hollow.  I like Bear Hollow to get through, but this is a coin flip to see who gets Albicocco.  I look for OI Livingston to rebound from a disappointing Florida and face off vs Albicocco in the winner's semi-final.  Albicocco should get through the top without too much trouble.  However, we've seen that early in the season there are no guarantees.  

The bottom half is very evenly matched throughout.  Red's Astros is the favorite on the bottom, and I look for Red's to play a tough Broughton team in the bottom half semi-final.  Broughton didn't have the best results in Florida, but the team lost close games to FBI and Precision in the second tournament and lost to Smash It and Racks in the first.  I look for Broughton to pull off the upset and get through to Albicocco.

Albicocco should win this tournament, and I think that they will.  This team was looking for a jump start, and Tyson Steele and Chad Loudon may be just what the doctor ordered.  This team now has 3 pitchers, but could Justin "Mooch" Mucciarelli take more of a backseat and help run the team going forward?  This weekend should tell us all a lot about Albicocco and the direction it is heading.  I'll take Red's to get back through Broughton to finish 2nd, but lose the first championship game.

Anonymous Final Picks:
1. Albicocco
2. Red's Astros
3. Broughton
4. OI Livingston

Upset Potential: Primetime Easton

A look back at the Tulsa Results:
Prediction – Nightmare, Bear Hollow, Steel, Midwest Hearing
Actual – Nightmare, Steel, Precision Recovery, Attaboys
Upset team to watch Dirty Birds went 0-2 then lost the berth game. 

Oldscout Pollers going with Red's Astros!

Don't forget to fill out your 'pickem' for both tournaments