Friday March 29th, 2024
TEXT_SIZE

2015 Columbus B.A.T.S Major tournament preview!

 

 

 

3rd Annual

 

"Columbus B.A.T.S" Major

 

Nationwide Conference USSSA!

 

May 8 – 10

 

Tournament Preview

 

 

2015 Columbus Major bracket link

 

 


 

20+ of the top teams in the nation will be in Columbus, Ohio for the next key tournament in the points race that is the Nationwide Conference USSSA!  The Columbus Major is in its second year but already has grown to a status that puts it in the "Big 9" of regular season Conference points paying events.  The others are the Hall of Fame dual which is already over, the Maryland Dual in early June, Chicago in early June, the Smoky and Cincinnati in July, and the "Last Chance" Major in Detroit in August.

Here is the team breakdown:
 – 44 Total Teams
 – 29 Are Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams which means 266 points to the winner of the tournament if my math is correct!
 – The teams are from 20 different states!
 – 6 Major teams (Resmondo, Smash It Sports, Backman, Albicocco, Team Combat, and 4 The Fallen)
 – 11 'A' teams 
 – 7 'B' teams
 – 14 'C' teams

The 4 main fields at the Lou Berliner Park are baseball fields #14-17 and are of varying fence distances.  These fields although they are baseball fields they play more like the Smoky main field at Sandy Springs Park in that they are high school sized baseball fields and not MLB sized baseball fields.  

Injury update:  Travis Clark will pitch for Smash It Sports.  Nic Santana is out with a sprained ankle for Resmondo.  3rd Streets Bobby Noeth is out for 3 months.

Remember to sign up for the pickem!
 

Of course the SoftballCenter.com chat room will also be up and running all weekend.

USSSALive.com will livestream 4 fields F14, F15, F16, F17 all weekend starting at 5 PM eastern time on Friday.

 


 

Anonymous picker is back with this weeks commentary:

The Columbus B.A.T.S. Major will feature 29 of the top Conference USSSA teams from around the country this weekend.  This is the first big tournament since the Hall of Fame Dual, and the points up for grabs may determine who will be going to the Men's Major World Series in September.  Smash It Sports and Resmondo come in as clear favorites, but will we see the kind of upsets we saw in Kissimmee?  Let's get to the picks and find out.
Sometimes in Conference USSSA the draw is everything.  On the top half of the bracket I see Smash It walking through its first 2 games to meet either TG Brand or Precision at 2pm Saturday.  Albicocco and 4 The Fallen should meet at the same time with the winner getting Smash It in the top half final.  I'll take 4 The Fallen to win that game but fall to Smash It Sports in the winner's semi-final.

The bottom half of the bracket features Resmondo, Backman/Shoppe, and Team Combat/Baugh Ford.  Those 3 major teams make the bottom half of the bracket very difficult.  Resmondo should cruise for a couple of games, but Team Racks could give them a run in the 2pm game.  Racks really found its groove at the Hall of Fame 2nd Dual finishing 3rd.  New addition Brett Rettenmeier has fit nicely into the infield and worked his way up to the middle of the batting order.  Ultimately, I have to take Resmondo to get past Racks, but there is upset potential there.  The game to watch at 2pm will be Combat vs. Backman.  Team Combat played great "team softball" in Florida.  Ultimately it was the heat and humidity that did them in during the second tournament.  That won't be a problem here, and I think Coop and Wallace will have this team believing it can and should compete with the other big major teams.  I like Combat to face off with Resmondo for a chance to face Smash It Sports in the Winner's bracket final.  The chalk says take Resmondo, and I'm not the type to go too far out on a limb.  Resmondo has been almost unbeatable on softball fields over the last few years.  I'll take Resmondo here, but I won't be shocked to see a tough Team Combat get through.

Resmondo vs Smash It Sports is what most of the big Conference USSSA events come down to.  This one should be no different.  Smash It has the better overall talent top to bottom, but Resmondo has the "X Factor" in Andy Purcell.  Resmondo also just seems to find ways to win.  I'll take Smash It Sports to win this game and the tournament, but the edge is razor thin.  There should be some great battles Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Anonymous Pickers Final Picks:
1.    Smash It Sports
2.    Resmondo
3.    Combat
4.    Backman/Shoppe

Upset Potential:  Team Racks

A look back at Chattanooga and Phoenix:

Chattanooga:
Prediction – Albicocco, Red's, Broughton, OI
Actual – Albicocco, Red's, OI, Broughton…SOOO CLOSE!

Phoenix:
Prediction – Classic Glass, OC Swats, MAGZ, Salsa
Actual – OC Swats, Peak, CA Grown, Tunie

 


 

Oldscout pollsters going with Smash It Sports 46% to 22%

Note Resmondo has never won Columbus

 


 

Weekend Weather

 


 

340 Greenlawn Ave, Columbus, Ohio – Central 43223

Approximate Field Dimensions
#14 305-330-350-353-296 
#15 307-359-359-356-312 
#16 295-334-355-359-297 
#17 314-358-359-357-313 

#1 307-307-307-307-307 
#4 305-303-300-300-302 
#5 300-300-300-300-300 


 


2014 Winner was Laservision/H. Auto/JJ's/Easton

2014 Columbus Major Tournament Report

Past tournament results

2014 Results
1 NY Laservision/h.auto/jj's/easton
2 FL Resmondo-specialty tank worth
3 AL Baugh doerflinger nat-pawn/easton
4 IN Backman/Shoppe/Louisville slugger

2013 Results
1 NY-M Laservision/Desertfalls/Boombah/Easton
2 TN-M Shoppe / TYJA / Louisville Slugger
3 MI-A Line Drive Sportz/SSS/Miken
4 IA-A GTL Doerflinger R&M/Easton

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.