Monday March 25th, 2024
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2016 USSSA Houston 10th Annual “Space City” Classic tournament report!

 

 

2016 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

10th Annual "Space City" Classic

 

Houston, TX

 

April 8-10

 

The Scene in White takes on Steel Athletics in the championship!

 

Link to the Softballcenter.com picture album of the Houston Major

 

Link to the Houston Major picture album

 

Houston Major tournament information link

 

2016 Houston Major men's bracket link

 

2016 Houston Major women's bracket link

 

The 2016 USSSA Houston Major featured a record tying 64 teams and once again in the loser's bracket at times became a battle of attrition.  The tournament had near perfect weather throughout the event with some stronger winds coming in Saturday afternoon through the end of the tournament which affected each of the 6 diamonds in different ways.  The first 3 rounds had no upsets of B or higher teams except for Steel Athletics a Conference 'B' team who lost 26-17 to Wiley's Supreme a Florida 'C' team over on Ebbets field.  In the round of 8 in the winner's bracket which played all 4 games simultaneously Above All Landscaping a Conference 'A' team easily routed Olmito Heat a Conference 'B' team 26-9.  The Scene the #1 seed in the tournament had some long offensive innings in a 20 run mercy rule win over HGC 36-16.  AllOut/Miken a Conference 'B' team from Texas run ruled BHR/Coppermine Lodge an 'A' team from Texas 37-21 over on Ebbets.  And over on the Fenway Park replica field Vivid had their hands full with that Wiley's Supreme 'C' team.  Wiley's pulled into position to have a chance to win in the bottom of the 7th when a couple of clutch hits set up a tie game with a runner on third and they won with a bloop single that landed in front of the right fielder and over the Vivid second baseman for a 32-31 win and a final 4 appearance.

In the semifinals of the winner's bracket at 8 PM on Saturday night with the wind blowing in on Crosley field, Wiley's was at it again against New Jersey 'A' team Above All Landscaping.   It was a low scoring game and Wiley's pulled out to a 6 run lead midway through the game and a 19-16 lead in the 6th.  Above All closed the gap on a pair of big homers by Cirillo.   Above All came back to take a lead in the top of the 7th forcing Wiley's to score in the bottom of the 7th which they did on a game tying triple by Ryan Chavis and then won on a bases loaded walk off walk 22-21.  In the other semifinal AllOut came out of the gate against the heavily favored Scene and had a 13-0 lead after a half inning as AllOut second baseman Patrick Rubio crushed a high and deep homer and then in the bottom half of the inning he made a nice diving stop to hold The Scene to 12 runs.  AllOut then pushed their lead to 30-16 after 4.5 innings.  Going into the bottom of the 6th The Scene trailed by 14 runs with 7 of their 12 homers left to hit.  The Scene who had struggled offensively most of the game turned it on in the bottom and tied the game at 30-30.  AllOut which wasn't scoring much after the homers were gone didn't want to see their hard work go to waste and put up a nice 5 spot in the top of the 7th to go up 35-30.  The Scene however still had 4 homers left and set up 4 hitter Keith Laski for a walk off homer, which he hit, and The Scene narrowly escaped with a 36-35 win.

The winner's bracket championship game began immediately after the semifinals as the temperatures cooled off into the 60's and the steady wind blew on Yankee Field from right towards the left field foul pole.  Wiley's looking to upset their 4th Conference team in a row jumped out to a 13-5 lead after 4 complete innings.  The Scene struggled again offensively and it wasn't until their 13 run top of the 6th inning that they finally grabbed a lead 24-19 and their defense held off the upset minded Wiley's 28-20.

In the quagmire they call the Houston Major loser's bracket it was the 6 other Conference teams who slowly and methodically made their way to those dreaded late Saturday games which end in the wee hours of Sunday morning.  Vivid knocked off Old School, and then lost to Olmito Heat 30-22 although the game was not close.  And BHR defeated upstart Fat Pats from Louisiana 21-1 to get to Steel.  Steel who had lost in the middle of the winner's bracket to Wiley's played from 6:30 PM Saturday straight through til after midnight and beat Player Haters 21-2, Carboline/Chargers 24-3, HGC 30-15, BHR (Bear Hollow) 36-12, and then somehow had the energy to run rule Above All 29-14 to make it to Sunday morning.

Sunday the games started at 8 AM with Steel mustering a run rule win over the LC Watson led Olmito Heat 26-11 and then coming from behind to knock off Wiley's 21-19 in the loser's bracket championship.  But Steel was out of gas and their veteran pitcher Rodney Fail didn't pitch the championship and The Scene drew a bunch of walks and batted for a long time in the first couple of innings and won the Houston Major 35-9.

Random rumblings:  The weather was great.  The wind was a factor.  There were 4 or 5 Conference umpires and bat testing starting on Saturday.  They used the Hycor 52 core bouncy ball but it didn't bounce a lot on the turf and was the perfect ball for the Big League Dreams fields.  There were a whole bunch of great middle infield and center field play by many of the teams and I thought the pitching was pretty good. Stephen Cooper one of the pitchers for Vivid had the best line shot backhand stab.  HGC which is an entertaining 'B' team out of Mississippi had a 27 run first inning vs Goons.  Albicocco had a 20 run 1st inning vs one of the teams early in the tournament.  Mayhem late Friday night was flashing the gloves at middle infield, third base, and right field.  The right fielder for Carboline/Chargers Doug Stroud? had the best diver over by the foul line on Wrigley.  Overall a good weekend.  AllOut and Wiley's were so close to upsetting The Scene you could taste it, but it didn't happen so the Monday morning quarterbacks look at the bracket and think The Scene walked through the tournament which they did but didn't if you know what I mean.

 

 

The Scenes Keith Laski hits a walk off homer to beat AllOut 36-35 in the semifinals

 

Team Breakdown:
64 Teams Overall
7 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
1 TBD (M/AA)
1 'AA' Teams
3 'A' Teams
4 'B' Teams
23 'C' Teams
24 'D' Teams
 8 'E' Teams

Flaco Salazar from Steel takes on Wiley's pitcher Robbie Stinton in the loser's bracket finals

 

Wiley's bats against The Scene pitcher Bill Pinkham

Pano on Sunday morning

Bat testing from Saturday morning on

52 cor Hycor ball was used and performed well

Crosley Field

Sportsmans Park

Crosley has that little hill instead of a warning track plus all the nooks and crannies

Wrigley Field

Ebbets Field Park

 


 

OldScout pollers said Scene would win 56%!

 

Oldscout pollers had Steel at only 9% to get 2nd place

 


 

Video Clips brought to you by:

 

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

AllOuts Patrick Rubio was hitting moonshots when he realized the wind higher up would carry the ball deep

Steel catcher/pitcher/infielder Pedro Hernandez hits a game tying homer.

He hit some long ones with his Boombah bat!

 


 

 Houston Major Awards and Final Standings

Player Tournament Awards Players Name Plays For
Tournament CO-MVP Davis Bilardello The Scene/Adiktiv/Monsta/Klutch
Tournament CO-MVP Brandon Dillon The Scene/Adiktiv/Monsta/Klutch
Offensive Tournament MVP Rodney Fail Steel Athletics/Miken/Powerhouse
Defensive Tournament MVP Keith Laski The Scene/Adiktiv/Monsta/Klutch
All Tournament Team Ryan Hornback OlmitoHeat/DiamondKingz/Miken
All Tournament Team Keith Martin The Scene/Adiktiv/Monsta/Klutch
All Tournament Team Jason Branch The Scene/Adiktiv/Monsta/Klutch
All Tournament Team Cory Newman The Scene/Adiktiv/Monsta/Klutch
All Tournament Team Nery Tijerino Wiley's Supreme
All Tournament Team Steve Whaley The Scene/Adiktiv/Monsta/Klutch
All Tournament Team Toby Letak Steel Athletics/Miken/Powerhouse
All Tournament Team Mike Cervantes The Scene/Adiktiv/Monsta/Klutch
All Tournament Team John Huffman Steel Athletics/Miken/Powerhouse
All Tournament Team Robbie Stinton Wiley's Supreme
All Tournament Team Ricardo Lizcano Wiley's Supreme
All Tournament Team Jacob Runte OlmitoHeat/DiamondKingz/Miken
All Tournament Team William Sandifer OlmitoHeat/DiamondKingz/Miken
All Tournament Team Ethan Guinn Steel Athletics/Miken/Powerhouse
All Tournament Team Steven Malay OlmitoHeat/DiamondKingz/Miken
All Tournament Team Bobby Mitchell Steel Athletics/Miken/Powerhouse
Place State Team Team
Class
Wins Losses Ties Runs
Scored
Runs
Allow
Avg
Runs
Avg
Allow
Avg
Diff
Max
Runs
USSSA
Points
1 NY – Commack the scene/adiktiv/monsta/klutch USSSA-SPMensConfTBD 7 0 0 212 90 30.2 12.8 17.4 36 300
2 TXS – Corpus Christi steel athletics/miken/powerhouse USSSA-Mens-B 9 2 0 266 170 24.1 15.4 8.72 36 325
3 FLS – Haines City Wiley's Supreme USSSA-Mens-C 5 2 0 175 148 25 21.1 3.85 39 200
4 TXS – Olmito olmitoheat/diamondkingz/miken USSSA-Mens-B 6 2 0 192 138 24 17.2 6.75 33 275
5 NJ – Jackson above all landscaping/evo9x/miken USSSA-Mens-A 4 2 0 130 88 21.6 14.6 7 28 155
5 TXS – Houston allout/miken/worth/powerhousesportz USSSA-Mens-A 4 2 0 176 127 29.3 21.1 8.16 37 155
7 TXN – Gladewater bhr/coppermine lodge/asp/worth USSSA-Mens-A 4 2 0 146 96 24.3 16 8.33 37 130
7 TXN – Frisco Vivid USSSA-Mens-AA 4 2 0 154 96 25.6 16 9.66 31 130
9 LA – Lafayette fat pat's/premier athletics USSSA-Mens-C 4 2 0 106 93 17.6 15.5 2.16 27 110
9 TXS – Beaumont BTX/Dirty Vegas USSSA-Mens-C 4 2 0 151 127 25.1 21.1 4 32 110
9 TXS – Spring Old School USSSA-Mens-C 4 2 0 97 92 16.1 15.3 0.83 27 135
9 MS – Brandon HGC/BWW/BUZINI USSSA-Mens-B 3 2 0 111 84 22.2 16.8 5.4 31 110
13 TXN – Arlington The B Team USSSA-Mens-C 4 2 0 151 137 25.1 22.8 2.33 33 70
13 TXS – San Antonio outtacontrol/goldenchick/platinum USSSA-Mens-C 3 2 0 99 91 19.8 18.2 1.6 25 70
13 MS – Jackson CSI / Worth USSSA-Mens-C 3 2 0 123 92 24.6 18.4 6.2 40 70
13 LA – Amite CARBOLINE/LA CHARGERS USSSA-Mens-C 3 2 0 69 62 13.8 12.4 1.4 28 70
17 TXS – Pasadena Live Action USSSA-Mens-E 3 2 0 91 78 18.2 15.6 2.6 33 40
17 TXS – San Antonio untouchables/buzini sports USSSA-Mens-D 3 2 0 101 90 20.2 18 2.2 27 40
17 TXN – Fort Worth Jokers/FTP Empire USSSA-Mens-C 3 2 0 88 74 17.6 14.8 2.8 27 40
17 TXN – Dallas Player Haters USSSA-Mens-C 3 2 0 97 91 19.4 18.2 1.2 35 40
17 TXS – Houston Team Texas USSSA-Mens-C 3 2 0 70 69 14 13.8 0.19 20 65
17 TXS – round rock Call Your Shot USSSA-Mens-C 3 2 0 73 63 14.6 12.6 2 22 40
17 AR – Arkansas mayhem/j&r logistics/miken USSSA-Mens-B 3 2 0 100 75 20 15 5 25 40
17 TXS – Rosenberg rosenberg bulls/double play sports USSSA-Mens-C 2 2 0 51 75 12.7 18.7 -6 21 40
25 TXS – Houston DC/FOH Sports/money Fam USSSA-Mens-C 2 2 0 89 96 22.2 24 -1.7 32 40
25 TXS – Wharton STX Nightmares USSSA-Mens-C 2 2 0 69 61 17.2 15.2 2 21 40
25 TXS – Houston Goons/LDC USSSA-Mens-C 2 2 0 70 60 17.5 15 2.5 27 40
25 TXS – Edinburg Team MTS/Freaks USSSA-Mens-C 2 2 0 66 56 16.5 14 2.5 21 65
25 TXS – Lake Jackson Texas Terror USSSA-Mens-D 2 2 0 56 94 14 23.5 -9.5 44 40
25 TXS – La Porte C.P.S. USSSA-Mens-D 2 2 0 53 50 13.2 12.5 0.75 18 40
25 TXS – Beaumont oilers softball club/allstate USSSA-Mens-D 2 2 0 68 63 17 15.7 1.25 23 40
25 LA – Shreveport the bearded builders militia USSSA-Mens-D 2 2 0 67 94 16.7 23.5 -6.7 24 40
33 TXS – Galveston smoking aces reloaded/izzy sports USSSA-Mens-E 1 2 0 22 45 7.33 15 -7.6 17 65
33 TXS – Dickinson D12 USSSA-Mens-C 1 2 0 63 53 21 17.6 3.33 29 40
33 TXN – Grand Prairie Brian's Custom Detailing USSSA-Mens-C 1 2 0 32 51 10.6 17 -6.3 18 40
33 TXS – Houston baseball washouts/power plmg USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 49 61 16.3 20.3 -4 22 40
33 TXS – Houston Maniacs/Most Hated USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 45 71 15 23.6 -8.6 21 40
33 TXS – League City Hi 5 USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 55 49 18.3 16.3 2 28 40
33 TXS – La Marque 3 Plz USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 50 62 16.6 20.6 -4 26 40
33 TXS – Houston Advocare/Proway Exteriors USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 34 49 11.3 16.3 -5 17 40
33 LA – Ticfaw The Company USSSA-Mens-C 1 2 0 29 50 9.66 16.6 -7 16 40
33 TXS – Houston Chop City USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 37 74 12.3 24.6 -12. 26 40
33 TXS – Pharr carolina homes llc/probuild USSSA-Mens-C 1 2 0 50 55 16.6 18.3 -1.6 21 40
33 TXS – Pearland Scared Hitless USSSA-Mens-E 1 2 0 44 56 14.6 18.6 -4 28 40
33 TXS – Houston Sour Apple Repair USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 31 42 10.3 14 -3.6 14 40
33 TXS – Rockport OptiMax FinShark S&S USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 18 46 6 15.3 -9.3 10 40
33 FLP – Pensacola Sandlot USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 36 36 12 12 0 19 40
33 TXS – Houston Hooliganz USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 55 76 18.3 25.3 -7 24 40
49 TXS – La Feria STX Untouchables USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 14 42 7 21 -14 14 40
49 TXN – Carrollton NTX Rumors USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 15 23 7.5 11.5 -4 11 40
49 TXS – Texas City they gone! – suspended 4/8 USSSA-Mens-E 0 2 0 0 14 0 7 -7 0 0
49 LA – Lafayette l2 logistics/red-eye sports USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 13 47 6.5 23.5 -17 7 40
49 TXS – Houston Team ILL USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 18 47 9 23.5 -14. 10 40
49 TXS – Houston Team THC USSSA-Mens-E 0 2 0 5 44 2.5 22 -19. 3 40
49 TXS – Weslaco team convictz – suspended 4/9 USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 0 14 0 7 -7 0 40
49 TXW – odessa Kairos Empire USSSA-Mens-E 0 2 0 4 39 2 19.5 -17. 2 40
49 TXS – Houston Men Of Mayhem USSSA-Mens-E 0 2 0 24 57 12 28.5 -16. 18 65
49 TXN – Waco Powerhouse USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 8 32 4 16 -12 8 40
49 TXS – Houston Chuggers USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 16 36 8 18 -10 14 40
49 TXS – Katy STX Disciples/Team Tayden USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 23 38 11.5 19 -7.5 14 40
49 TXS – Houston Crush City USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 10 45 5 22.5 -17. 8 40
49 TXS – Houston HardFeathers USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 7 39 3.5 19.5 -16 4 40
49 TXS – Lake Jackson 3rd Coast Warriors USSSA-Mens-E 0 2 0 8 54 4 27 -23 6 40
49 TXS – Houston Vendetta USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 27 42 13.5 21 -7.5 23 40

 

The Scenes RF Davis Bilardello and LF Brandon Dillon were co-MVP's

Veteran Steels pitcher Rodney Fail was Offensive MVP in his hometown (probably could have been Defensive MVP too)

The Scenes Keith Laski was Defensive MVP and made some incredible leaping catches

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:

 

1st Place The Scene/Albicocco/Adiktiv/Monsta/Klutch

Conf TBD from NY  7-1 Record

7-0 Champs

The Scene took care of business as expected winning all 7 games.  5 of them in dominating fashion and 2 (AllOut and Wiley's) they had to show some grit and come from behind to save themselves from having to play all night in the loser's bracket and all morning Sunday.  Pinkham and Titus split the pitching duties.  Dillon, Newman, and Bilardello were in the outfield.  Costantino, Laski, Whaley, Cervantes, Branch was the infield.  Clark, Martin, and Kirkland shared the catcher and EH positions.  Mangager Jason Kendrick and sponsor Toni Albicocco have themselves a nice team and they are good but they truly are "To Be Determined" now leaning AA at this point but lets wait and see how the HOF and Columbus tournaments go where they will be tested every inning of every game.

Trending Up!

 

Brian Titus and Bill Pinkham split time at pithcher

 

MI Steve Whaley and 2B Mike Cervantes are from Texas

 


 

2nd Place Steel Athletics/Miken/Powerhouse

Conf 'B' from TX  9-2 Record

 

Most of the Steel Athletic players probably called off work Monday after playing 11 games but winning 9 makes the pain feel good.  Am I right?  ðŸ™‚   Sponsor/Manager Mark Holsonback had 17 players there as he tried many different lineups and defensive alignments trying to see who is going to fit in.  And everything he did worked.  They beat BHR, Above All, Olmito Heat, and Wileys to make it to the championship.  Rodney did the pitching in place of regular starter Jason Guillory who couldn't make it after Friday night.  Pedro Hernandez, big Nick Shay, and lethal hitter Matthew Vasquez all provided some of the power.  Shortstop Toby Letak led off.  Lefty newcomer Bobby Mitchell was lacing line drives all over the park.  Professional hitter Mark Cridland, a new outfielder Patrick Williams, and veteran middle man Richard Salazar among others all had their moments.  They also have former Midwest Swings Travis Hulber who played SS and LF and Donta Lapoint and former TG outfielder Cole Campbell.  It was their depth that helped them in this marathon event.  Finally they had Wheeler Huff who made All Tournament playing 3rd base and catcher.

Trending Up!

Steel left side in this game was Vasquez, Hulbert, and Salazr.  

They also used Huffman at 3rd and Letak played SS until a pulled hamstring.

 


 

3rd Place Wiley's Supreme

'C'  from FL  5-2 Record

 

Wiley's ruined a lot of teams big dance and busted a few brackets (64 team field reference for you basketball fans).  They won their first 4 games including major upsets of Steel Athletics, Vivid, and Above All Landscaping all on Saturday!  Then they were leading The Scene 13-5 and gave them a scare before losing 28-20 in the winner's bracket final.  But all the hard work gave them at least a 3rd place finish which is where they ended up after a tough 21-19 loss to Steel in the loser's bracket finals on Sunday.  Wiley's is also the team, albeit with a lot of different players back then, that upset GTL (Major), Shoppe (A), and Combat Pharmapar (Major) at the Atlanta Major in 2011 to finish 4th!  Another great run from the team put together by Rick Wiley and JR Nocera.

Wiley's Sunday lineup:
RF Chris
MI Berto
1B Broman
P Robbie Stinton
3B Neiry Trierino
SS Ricardo Lizcano
C Herman Wilkinson
LF Shawn Zipperer
2B Oscar
CF Ryan Chavis

Wiley's Ryan Chavis gets the game tying triple and winning run vs Above All in the semifinals

It is in the highlite clips.

These guys put together a nice team that made a great run in Houston

 


 

4th Place Olmito Heat/DiamondKingz/Miken

Conf 'B' from TX  6-2 Record

 

Olmito Heat is a new Conference team that picked up some quality wins over Vivid 30-22 and AllOut 33-13 after midnight on Saturday in the loser's bracket.  There is something to be said for winning those games when everyone is tired after a long day of playing which started at 8 AM for Olmito on Saturday morning.  Olmito has good team speed and some good defensive range in key spots.  I was impressed by some of the talent and athleticism up the middle especially.  And of course they had LC Watson at pitcher who helped stabilize the defense and lineup.  They are now 6-4 vs 'B' and above teams this year.

Olmito Heat lineup late Saturday:
MI #17 Jacob Runte
LF #35 Everette Williams
SS #2 Steven Malay
 #82 Charlie Lenhard
P #22 LC Watson
2B #9 Sean Weatherford
C #5 Ryan Horback
3B #16 Mike Aguirre
#10 Garvin Mikesh
1B #4 Carlos Gallardo
CF #1 William Sandifer

Trending Up!

Aguirre, Malay, and Runte

Olmitos LC Watson hits a 3 run homer against Vivid at midnight Saturday night.

Olmito left fielder Everett Williams is headed with LC Watson over to OC Swats

 


 

Tied 5th Place Above All Landscaping/Evo9x/Miken

Conf 'A' from NJ  4-2 Record

Above All Landscaping from New Jersey won their first 4 games including quality wins over Fat Pats 20-10 and Olmito Heat 26-9 before Wiley's Supreme tripped them up with that one run loss 22-21.  In the loser's bracket they waited til late in the night to play Steel Athletics who smoked them by 15 runs.  Above All is similar to recent years in their lineup and roster, with new players at 3rd base Sean Ulmer, LF/Utility Chris Wilson who used to play with Demarini/Dirty, Grant Grimmett at 2B who finished the year with Encompass last year, and pitcher Eric Curry who was with CGR.  Tom Paturzo was hitting it like the machine he is, CF Hoynoski and LF Rabon are athletic, and Elrod and Curry handled the pitching duties.  This wasn't the start Above All wanted as I'm sure they had their eyes set towards The Scene at some point, but it is a start nevertheless.

Trending Even

Above All center fielder Jason Hoynowski was this close to keeping the game tied vs Wiley's in the semifinals

Above All middle infielder Willie Allen still closing down middle

 


 

Tied 5th Place AllOut/Miken/Worth/PowerHouseSportz

Conf 'B' from TX  4-2 Record

AllOut is the new 'A' team in Texas.  They scored 29.33 runs per game and picked up a big win over BHR 37-21 and gave The Scene the best game of the tournament when they led 13-0 and 30-16 before dropping a tough 36-35 decision.  AllOut has a core of former Steel players that help the lineup like Taylor Lobb, Ethan Maresh, and the big lefty David Prahm.  The new guys I am starting to learn like Rubio who showed some good power, the tall lefty Kippon Todhunter, and guys from other Texas 'C' teams in the past like in Erik Kanaby and Larry Juarez among others.

A fun team who needs to learn consistency and home run management and although they made a lot of great stops on defense they need to learn how to complete those plays and win a coin toss in the big games.  ðŸ™‚

Trending Even

 

 


 

Other top finishing Conference teams

 


 

Tied 7th Place – BHR/Coppermine Lodge/ASP/Worth

Conf 'A' from TX  4-2 Record

BHR is the Bear Hollow 'A' team that I picked in my pickem game to finish 2nd in this tournament.  They won 3 straight over lower teams by the run rule each time to get to rival 'A' team AllOut.  In that game over on Ebbets field BHR was just out hit by AllOut and lossed 37-21.  In the loser's bracket they sent home Fat Pat's but then got drug by Steel Athletics 36-12.  Danny Evans did most of the pitching along with Bohanon.  Boldt, Vern, Brown, and Bowser played catcher, DH, 1B.  Ferguson was at 3rd, Thornton at SS, Potts MI, Vittitow at 2B, and the outfield I believe was Driskell, Schrage, and not sure who was in right.  How is that for reporting?  Actually I was expecting them to go much further so I didn't watch them that closely early on.

Trending Even

 

Score this on 6-10-4-10 on the bad throw and second baseman throwing the runner out from his glove hand

 

Driskell in LF and Schrage in CF

 


 

Tied 7th Place – Vivid

Conf 'AA' from TX  4-2 Record

Vivid was holding their own until that 1 run loss to Wiley's in their 4th game.  That was one of those games where they made a lot of mistakes but still had a chance to make up for them but didn't.  In the loser's bracket they beat Old School but never really was in the game where they lost to Olmito Heat late Saturday night.  Vivid has a good infield defense with Chris Smith and Jason Williams.  Matt Fox played third base and made a couple great plays.  Veteran Dennis Shrum played 2nd base and Tim Howard played outfield with Zach Keene catching and Stephen Cooper and Jason Bridges doing most of the pitching.  Vivid adds Chris Larsen for the HOF Dual tournament.  It will be interesting to see if this collection of veteran talent can come together and beat any of the top teams?

Trending Even

 

 Vivids shortstop Chris Smith hits a big homer then knocks down a shot by Wiley's in a 1 run game

Former Buzini infielder Jason Williams is back in the Conference with Vivid this year

 


 

Hot Links section brought to you by:

I would like to thank all of my sponsors, USSSA, and the SoftballCenter and Oldscout advertisers!

Send corrections to dw@softballcenter.com

Link to the SoftballCenter.com Youtube channel

Link to all 2009 to 2016 Tournament Reports and Previews

Nationwide Conference USSSA Points Link

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

 

The BTeam beat Oilers Softball Club 24-23 on a wild bloop hit at the end.

Did the HGC center fielder catch it?

Yes

 

Strange picture where the ball seems to stay in the same place for two frames, lol

Did he catch it?

No

Did he catch this?

No

HGC/BWW/Buzini was my pick for highest finishing non conference team but they finished 9th at 3-2

Wiley's right fielder went up that little hill they have at Crosley in place of a warning track and tripped

Fat Pats played well

Carboline

Best uniforms went to Untouchables

Old School always is a threat

I think it was CSI that chartered a bus

Uniform makes his beard look really big from a distance.

A good group of umpires led by Jason Oberlag and Ken Hawk

Big Time Softball magazine publisher Stafford Connor

Thank you to Texas State director Greg Huchingson for his hospitatlity.

Also pictured Louisiana State director Richie Soley and Big Time Softball Magazines Stafford Connor

 

 

 

One response to “2016 USSSA Houston 10th Annual “Space City” Classic tournament report!”

  1. Watched an upset late Friday night says:

    The report says “The first 3 rounds had no upsets of B or higher teams except for Steel Athletics a Conference ‘B’ team who lost 26-17 to Wiley’s Supreme a Florida ‘C’ team over on Ebbets field.” However, I watched OuttaControl come from behind to take down Mayhem/JR.

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