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Added All Tournament Selections —> 2017 USSSA Circle City Classic – Indy Major tournament report!

 

 

 

 

2017 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

"Circle City Classic"

 

Indianapolis/Columbus, IN

 

April 29-30

 

Winner's bracket championship Precision pitching to Worth Astros Rob Roop

 

Link to the SoftballCenter picture album of the Circle City 

 

2017 Circle City bracket link

 

 

Rain hammered the "Circle City Classic" Major in Indianapolis, Indiana as parks all  over the midwest cancelled tournaments.  But Conference director Richard Foltz and UIC Tony Walczak found a way to get the tournament in as they moved the event from the Indy Sports Park an hour away to the Lincoln Park in Columbus, Indiana.  The tournament which was supposed to start at 9 AM Saturday morning ended up starting at 6 PM Saturday evening.  The two fields they were able to get ready made it so that the tournament was reduced from 15 teams to just the 8 Nationwide Conference USSSA teams and they played double elimination.  In the first round TG Brand.Easton a 'TBD' classed team from Michigan came from a double digit deficit to knock off fellow Michigan 'B' team Rebel Sports/Game On/Dirty/Hangrite 31-29.  Worth Astros/K&G/Klutch (IN-AA) who trailed by 3 runs to Insidious (OK-B) going into the 7th inning ended up winning 27-17.  In the lower half of the bracket Precision/3rd Street/G Brand (IL-AA) battled Premier/Easton (OH-B) to a 30-28 win.  And OA Apparel/Broughton/Easton (IL-AA) took what looked like batting practice against HB/Softballfans/Miken (MI-B) and won 45-19.  It became quickly evident that the Conference ZN ball was too much for the 300 foot fields.

In the second round (the semifinals of the winners bracket) both games neared completion when a thunder storm halted play at 10:30 PM and the teams had to wait until Sunday morning at 7 AM to finish.  Worth Astros ened up holding on to a 25-24 win over TG Brand, and Precision run ruled 'AA' rival OA Apparel 39-21.  In the winner's bracket championship Worth Astros got off to a hot start and never looked back in a 29-14 win over Precision.

The loser's bracket was shortened to 5 innings or a 1 hour time limit, whichever came first.  Insidious knocked off Rebel Sports 24-22 and HB Softball sent home Premier 24-21.  In the loser's quarterfinals the hard hitting Insidious team came up empty in a 28-8 loss to OA Apparel, and TG Brand beat HB Softball 23-20.  In the loser's bracket semifinals it was OA Apparel again shutting down their opponents 25-4 in a quick game that sent them to the loser's final against Precision.  Now there definitely seemed to be a true pecking order between the 'AA' teams at this point in the tournament as Astros seemed to be outplaying Precision and Precision seemed to be playing better than OA Apparel.  But OA Apparel in the shortened 1 hour time limit game pulled off the upset over Precision 28-19.  It was then decided that since it was already 1:15 PM and OA players had flights at 4 PM and 5 PM that they would not have time to play two games so "why play 1"?  And OA Apparel forfeited the championship and Worth Astros won the tournament and its 189 Natiowide Conference USSSA points.  Remember the original championship game before the rain was scheduled for 11 AM and the "if" game for 12:30 and the tournament site was moved an hour away from the airport so it all made sense eventhough we definitely wanted to see the games between these two 'AA' powers.

Worth Astros wins a nice little event and the Conference moves to Chattanooga, TN next weekend where 23 Conference teams and 2 Major teams will battle it out in the hard hitting cooler temperatures at the top of the Summit mountain next weekend.

The tournament director, the UIC, and the Lincoln Park field crew, as well as the umpires and teams should be commended for their patience and work getting this one in when pretty much all other tournaments in the state and even surrounding states were cancelled.  The Nationwide Conference USSSA returns to Lincoln Park in Columbus, Indiana in just 2 weeks and the tournament will feature Resmondo and Backman!  Also the livestreaming on USSSALive.com seemed to work without error or freezing of the video and I used the exact same equipment and software to stream as every other tournament this year.

Note the pictures didn't come out that great as there was no sun at this event which makes for bad picture taking.

 

Team Breakdown:
8 Teams Overall
8 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
3 'AA' Teams
5 'B' Teams

 

 

This was the championship, a forfeit from OA Apparel and a shaking of the hands

Loser's final – OA Apparel right fielder Brad Lunda hits a single past pitcher Dan Bean of Precision.

 

Night time, overcast skies and no sun make for less than ideal picture taking weather.

Worth Astros pitch to TG Brand.Easton in the semifinals Saturday night

TG Brand takes on OA Apparel in the loser's bracket

Filip Washingtons view in center field at Lincoln Park in Columbus, Indiana

 


 

Oldscout pollers picked correct.

DW had Precision and was wrong.

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

Long bomber of the week was probably John Williams (aka Johndre the Giant) of OA Apparel.

He was making the 300 foot fences look like he was playing on a little league field.

 

 


 

Circle City Major Awards and Final Standings

Player Tournament Awards Players Name Plays For
Tournament MVP Steve Edwards WORTH ASTROS / K&G / KLUTCH
Offensive Tournament MVP Zach Messer OA APPAREL/BROUGHTON/KBI/EASTON
     
Defensive Tournament MVP Ricardo Lizcano WORTH ASTROS / K&G / KLUTCH
Defensive Tournament CO-MVP Jason Wilkins OA APPAREL/BROUGHTON/KBI/EASTON
All Tournament Team Brett McCollum Precision/3rd St./GBrand/Easton
All Tournament Team Tim Bowser OA APPAREL/BROUGHTON/KBI/EASTON
All Tournament Team Dan Bean Precision/3rd St./GBrand/Easton
All Tournament Team Michael Ortiz WORTH ASTROS / K&G / KLUTCH
All Tournament Team Filip Washington OA APPAREL/BROUGHTON/KBI/EASTON
All Tournament Team Josh Riley WORTH ASTROS / K&G / KLUTCH
All Tournament Team Nicholas Manganaro OA APPAREL/BROUGHTON/KBI/EASTON
All Tournament Team Matthew Rear Precision/3rd St./GBrand/Easton
All Tournament Team Joshua Kirsten WORTH ASTROS / K&G / KLUTCH
All Tournament Team William Pinkham WORTH ASTROS / K&G / KLUTCH

 

I will add the all tournament picks when they become available

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:

 

1st Place Worth Astros/K&G/Klutch

Conf 'AA' from IN  4-0 Record

It was tough to get a feel for this tournament with the delays, rain, etc but Worth Astros pulled out those two close early wins over Insidious and TG Brand and then run ruled Precision.  They did what they had to do.  It looked like they had most all of their players and they have now been the highest finishing 'AA' team in all 3 of the tournaments they have played.  Worth Astros continue their season in Chattanooga and then return to Herbs home state of Indiana mothers day weekend for the Major there.  They are on a roll!

They had Roop and Riley at 3rd, Lizcano at SS, Krider MI, Edwards 2B, and Martin at 1B (I think).  And they had Ortiz, Kirsten, and Stephany in the outfield with Mullins mashing behind the plate.

Trending Up!

 

 

MI Krider turns a double play and Kirsten in CF makes a sliding catch

Bill Pinkham, Ricardo Lizcano, and Mike Ortiz in the picture

Lizcano hits a linedrive

Astros chnship selfie

 

Keith Martin and Steve Edwards were two of your three picks you could choose for the Miken/Worth pickem game

 


 

2nd Place OA Apparel/Broughton/KBI/Easton

Conf 'AA' from IL  4-2 Record

 

Wilkins did all the pitching as Cam Byars wasn't there.

OA looked like they were headed for a 3rd place finish but got on a roll in the loser's bracket shutting down some 'B' teams then jumped on their arch rival Precision and ended up in the finals.  Wilkins did a nice job on the mound.  Filip Washington, John Williams, Tim Bowser, Mike Powers, and Curtis Stewart are the horses in the middle of the lineup that can put up big numbers in a hurry and the whole team can get it going and roll the top which is typical of a top 'AA' team.  Williams, Messer, Potts, Powers, and Bowser or Stewart were across the infield left to right and it was Mangannaro, Washington, and Schwindenhammer across the outfield in the last game.

Trending Up!

One of OA's new faces, outfielder Seth Schwindenhammer

 

Powers and Mangannaro

 


 

3rd Place Precision/3rd Street/G Brand/Easton

Conf 'AA' from IL  2-2 Record

 

Precision gets a "trending even" only because of that short game loss to OA Apparel and finishing 3rd out of the 3 'AA' teams.  They used some of their younger newer players Burkel 2B, Kannenberg SS, and Houseman CF.  They had Hoynowski in RF and Kessler in LF.  They had Rear at 3B, Keske in the MI, and McCollum at 1B.  Bean did the pitching and Anderson did the catching.

Trending Even

Keske makes a diving stop and gets the runner at 1st

Keith Anderson

Left side of Rear, Kannenberg, and Keske

 

Burkel and Houseman.  Houseman made a lot of nice plays back by the fence in the gaps in this tourny.

Houseman reminds us of Ryan Parfitt (who incidentally has returned from retirement to play with Newbreed)

 


 

4th Place TG Brand.Easton

Conf 'TBD' from MI  2-2 Record

TG Brand.Easton was the highest finishing non 'AA' team.  They are now 3-0 vs the 'A' division and 4-0 vs the 'B' division this season and had Worth Astros on the ropes in this tournament.  Good young athletic players for the most part and a couple of veterans in Ryan Morrow and Justin Evans, and a sprinkling of other players with some conference experience.

Trending Up!

 

Morrow with a backside single

Pitcher stabs a liner against Worth Astros

 

Infielders

 


 

Tied 5th Place Insidious

Conf 'B' from OK  1-2 Record

 

Insidious has played a lot of softball this year already and ended up staying Sunday when they had long drives ahead of them to get home to Oklahoma.  The team does well in division in 'B' but needs to put up runs against those 'AA' teams/pitchers. 

Trending Up!

 

 


 

Tied 5th Place HB/SoftballFans/Miken/Evil

Conf 'B' from MI  1-2 Record

HB Softball played in their first conference event of the year and battled in some close games against the 'B' teams with a nice win over Premier on Sunday morning.  They are new to the Conference and we will have to get a better feel for this team next weekend in Chattanooga.

Trending Even

 

Almost

 

 


 

Other top finishing Conference teams

 


 

Tied 7th Place – Premier/Easton

Conf 'B' from OH  0-2 Record

Premier played Precision well on Saturday night and lost a close one to HB on Sunday so 0-2.  At one point I think it was while they were playing I heard the ump say Premier scored 5 on 5 which of course is a death sentence for a team playing anytime the ball is flying on 300 foot fields.

  

 


 

Tied 7th Place – Rebel/Game On/Dirty/Hangrite

Conf 'B' from MI  0-2 Record

Rebel never got in the win column and had some new faces since the Florida dual.  Better days ahead for these guys.

Trending up!

 

 


 

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 2017 Tournament Reports and Previews

Nationwide Conference USSSA Points Link

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

Ah, the great disappearing batters box

Big warning tracks in Columbus, Indiana where we return to in two weeks

Nice rain tarps in the dugouts

The biggest crowd if you can call in that was for Astros.

Pinkham and Herb

John Dejarnette and his dad who played some pro ball back in the early 1960'sT

"Slim" the umpire.  

Livestream viewers love this guy because you always no the score, the count, and when its the "LAST PITCH"!

The green screen was an issue for the livestream.  The ipad that we used to livestream is in that little wind cutout above teh umpires head.

Above the green screen is netting so I couldn't put the camera up there.

Here you can see the ipad on the fence above where it says Ed Stillager field.

 

 

 

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