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Added all tournament awards —> 2017 USSSA Hoosier Classic Major tournament report!

 

 

 

 

2017 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

Hoosier Classic

 

Columbus, IN

 

May 13-14

 

Resmondo's Greg Connell hits a walk off homer to run rule TG/HDLNS in the finals in Columbus, Indiana

 

Hoosier Classic picture album link 

 

2017 Hoosier Classic bracket link

 

The Hoosier Classic returned to Columbus, Indiana's Lincoln Park for the first time since 2012.  19 teams took to the four 300 foot fields in perfect weather on Saturday morning at 9 AM.  There were 4 play in games into the round of 16 and most of those games were between non-conference teams with a hard-hitting Southside, Headlines Sportswear, HB Softball, and KBI all winning.  In the round of 16, TG/HDLNS (OH-AA) made short work of Cornerstone (KY-A) 33-3.  Southside won by forfeit over the now disbanded Backman Major team.  OA Apparel (IL-AA), Precision (IL-AA), JBL/Tailgaters (OH-AA), and Resmondo (FL-M) all won by the run rule.  And Premier/Easton (OH-B) shut out Maroadis (PA-B) 20-0 which was quite a feat considering how hard the Conference Dudley ZN Classic M ball was and how well it was flying.

In the round of 8 TG/HDLNS continued to roll as they obliterated Southside 29-9.  Precision used a walk off homer by Keith Anderson to beat OA Apparel 28-26.  TG Brand in a huge upset and a LONNNGG game went up by almost 30 runs on Worth Astros and held on to win 42-33.  And in the best game of the tournament Premier had Resmondo on the ropes the whole game over on field #3.  Resmondo went up 23-11 on Premier early and led 23-18 after 2 innings.  And it was 38-36 Resmondo after 6 complete innings.  In the bottom of the 7th with the winning run on second Premier got a clutch single from Josh Ashcraft past the diving Kevin Bazat up the middle and the runner had to hold up to make sure he didn't get hit by the hard grounder and they sent him home anyways and were thrown out at the plate by Resmondo center fielder Mike Umschied.  Resmondo then outscored Premier in extra innings and survived and advanced 42-40 to the winner's bracket semifinals.

In the round of 4 Resmondo got off to a 19-4 lead on TG Brand and although TG Brand forced Resmondo to play a full 7 innings, Resmondo won 41-30.  In the other semifinal Precision crushed a poor offensive performance by TG/HDLNS and won 26-8.

In the winner's bracket finals late Saturday night Resmondo and Precision were tied after 1 inning 8-8.  Then in the 4th inning Resmondo's Greg Connell and Travis Clark each hit 3 run homers to go up 38-18.  But Precision would come almost all the way back and made it 39-35 going into the 7th with both teams out of home runs (12 each).  But Resmondo would outscore Precision 4-0 in the 7th and win 43-35.

In the loser's bracket JBL/Tailgaters who had that tough first round draw against Precision ended up winning 4 straight games to finish tied for 5th.  Including knocking OA Apparel out of the tournament 34-31.  JBL got knocked out themselves late Saturday night by TG Brand 31-30 as JBL did not score in the 7th with no homer's left.  In the other half of the loser's bracket Worth Astros knocked off Maroadi Transfer 44-18 and Premier 40-24 before TG/HDLNS in "Grudge Match #3" sent them packing.  TG/HDLNS was up on Astros by scores of 28-17 and 38-21 before winning 41-34.  Even when Astros was down and out in both their losses they never gave up.  And the last game on Saturday which everyone agreed to play that night instead of the next morning TG/HDLNS beat TG Brand 45-24 after the game was tied at 23-23 in the 4th inning.  The highlight of that one besides the game ending at 1:30 AM was Weasel getting hit coaching first and Dan Feichtner getting onbase 2 out of 2 and keeping his 1000 average for the year.

On Sunday at 8 AM Precision got off to a nice 7-2 lead on TG/HDLNS until HDLNS batted around in the 3rd inning after an intentional walk to Cory Large to get to the pitcher Faron Miller backfired.  There were too many walks in the inning and HDLNS led 15-7 after 3 innings.  One reason there were a lot of walks is because the Lincoln Park grounds crew had two pitching rubbers on the field last time we were there two weeks ago.  One rubber was at the correct 50-foot distance and one was at 53 feet.  Apparently they took out the wrong one and only left the 53 foot rubbers in place.  While there were a lot more walks, it did seem like not as many pitchers got hit.  The Precision vs HDLNS game even with the walks and some bad errors was one of the better games of the weekend as HDLNS took control there in the 3rd inning and led 20-10 in the bottom of the 4th with both teams hitting 5 HR a piece.  In the 5th Precision had cut the lead to 26-24 but in the 6th Cory Boothe hit a pinch-hit BOMB and TG/HDLNS separated and won 40-32

The championship was anti-climactic as Resmondo had their best offensive showing of the weekend batting around a couple times in the first and leading 22-7 after 1 inning and 30-9 in the 4th.  Resmondo cruised to a 41-20 run rule win and the tournament championship, their first of the year.  Resmondo proved they could win on the 300 foot fields and grabbed 207 important points in the Conference standings.

The tournament was well run with perfect weather for a change.  Looking forward towards the Euless, Texas Major weather this coming weekend it looks like some bad storms headed that way which always makes one think of tarps…  It would take someone to be proactive but I bet teams spending thousands of dollars would pitch in to get some of those temporary roofing tarps.  They sell a 100 x 100 roofing tarp for $350 online, of course they would need 4 of them and would have to put them down on Thursday night and then drag the water off them into the outfield to play.  Just a thought.  I'm sure those are big and heavy and not easy to transport and a field crew would be needed to pull them off.

There also was a discussion about the "4 base award" rules which changed in the offseason.  I will post an article about that soon so everyone can better understand it.

 

Winner's bracket finals Saturday night Precisions Matt Rear and Kyle Kannerberg try to get them back into the game against Resmondo offensively.  And below center fielder Travis Houseman makes a great catch on the fence.

Sunday morning early in the game Precision intentionally walked TG/HDLNS Cory Large to get to Faron Miller.

Miller cashed in with a big hit.

The key play of the tournament was this two out bottom of the 7th hit up the middle by Premier 3rd baseman Josh Acraft.  The runner on second was the winning run and as you can see had to hold up to let the ball past.  Then the ball was slowed by the diving Resmondo shortstop Kevin Bazat.  But Mike Umschied in center field scooped the ball, bobbled it, but threw a strike to the plate where Bubba Mack tagged the runner out (below).  Had the run scored, Resmondo would have been sent to the loser's bracket and would of had to beat Headlines non conference 'C' team, Worth Astros 'AA', TG/HDLNS 'AA', and TG Brand 'B' all on Saturday night.  Then they would of had to beat most likely 3 'AA' teams in a row on Sunday to win the tournament.  Another weekend of "what if's".  But these top teams are the best for a reason, they know how to win close games.

Team Breakdown:
20 Teams Overall
14 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
2 Major Teams
5 'AA' Teams
1 'A' Teams
7 'B' Teams
5 'C' Teams

TG/HDLNS Ryan Disbennet hits a walkoff run rule homer over TG Brand after 1 AM in the morning to advance to Sunday 45-24.

JBL/Tailgaters pitcher John Dombrowski deflects a Zach Messer shot to the middle man who turned a DP.

JBL won 31-30 to finish tied for 5th.

 

Keith Anderson from Precision hits a walk off run rule homer to beat OA Apparel 28-26 in the quarterfinals.

Some views of the fields

Championship Sunday

Bat testing Sunday morning

Easton was the bat preffered by each of the top 4 finishing teams

 


 

Oldscout pollers went with Resmondo

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

 

Cory Boothe (only picture I had lol) and Brian Mays are the Long Bombers of the week.

Boothe hit one that eye witnesses say hit Herb Price's truck in the 2nd row 2nd spot in which measures at 453 feet.

He also hit an absolute bomb against TG Brand after midnight Saturday and another on Sunday morning against Resmondo.

Brian Mays hit on on field #1 that someone said went into a bedroom at the house.  

I'm sure that was an exaggeration but it was a bomb nontheless.

 


 

 Hoosier Classic Major Awards and Final Standings

Player Tournament Awards Players Name Plays For
Tournament CO-MVP Brian Wegman Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/Special
Tournament CO-MVP Buddy Wolf Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/Special
Offensive Tournament CO-MVP Roger Drake TG/HDLNS/BHR/EASTON
Offensive Tournament CO-MVP Faron Miller TG/HDLNS/BHR/EASTON
Defensive Tournament MVP Kevin Bazat Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/Special
All Tournament Team Brad Reckart Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/Special
All Tournament Team Michael stephany WORTH ASTROS / K&G / KLUTCH
All Tournament Team Greg Connell Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/Special
All Tournament Team Evan Gallmeier TG/HDLNS/BHR/EASTON
All Tournament Team Cory Boothe TG/HDLNS/BHR/EASTON
All Tournament Team Justin Geiner TG Brand.Easton
All Tournament Team Chris Hansen Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/Special
All Tournament Team Ryan Noe TG/HDLNS/BHR/EASTON
All Tournament Team Adam Kaminski TG/HDLNS/BHR/EASTON
All Tournament Team Kyle Pearson Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/Special
All Tournament Team Billy Fulk Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/Special
All Tournament Team Tony Payne TG Brand.Easton
Place State Team Team Class Wins Losses Ties Runs
Scored
Runs
Allow
Avg
Runs
Avg Runs
Allow
Avg Run
Diff
Max
Runs
Ranking
Points
1 FLS – Winter Haven Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/Special  USSSA-SPMensMajor 5 0 0 200 143 40.0 28.6 11.4 44 300
2 OH – Hamilton TG/HDLNS/BHR/EASTON  USSSA-Mens-AA 5 2 0 216 169 30.9 24.1 6.7 45 225
3 IL – Chicago Precision/3rd St./GBrand/Easton  USSSA-Mens-AA 3 2 0 157 137 31.4 27.4 4.0 37 200
4 MI – Flint TG Brand.Easton  USSSA-SPMensConfTBD 3 2 0 159 161 31.8 32.2 -0.4 42 175
5 OH – Kent JBL/Tailgaters/All In/B&E/Worth  USSSA-Mens-AA 4 2 0 181 160 30.2 26.7 3.5 39 155
5 IN – Indianapolis WORTH ASTROS / K&G / KLUTCH  USSSA-Mens-AA 3 2 0 191 149 38.2 29.8 8.4 44 155
7 TXN – Gladewater OA APPAREL/BROUGHTON/KBI/EASTON  USSSA-Mens-AA 2 2 0 117 75 29.3 18.8 10.5 33 130
7 OH – Morrow Premier/Easton  USSSA-Mens-B 2 2 0 121 97 30.3 24.3 6.0 40 130
9 MI – Kalamazoo HB/SoftballFans/Miken/Evil  USSSA-Mens-B 2 2 0 92 112 23.0 28.0 -5.0 34 110
9 OH – Cincinnati Headlines Sportswear / CSB  USSSA-Mens-C 2 2 0 85 87 21.3 21.8 -0.5 37 135
9 IN – Indianapolis Southside Miken  USSSA-Mens-C 2 2 0 70 79 17.5 19.8 -2.3 28 135
9 PAW – Pittsburgh Maroadi Transfer/SIS/Worth  USSSA-Mens-B 2 2 0 49 77 12.3 19.3 -7.0 24 110
13 MI – Dearborn Rebel Sports/Game On/Dirty/hangrite  USSSA-Mens-B 1 2 0 44 75 14.7 25.0 -10.3 17 70
13 KY – Richmond Cornerstone/BuffaloWings&Rings  USSSA-Mens-A 1 2 0 66 82 22.0 27.3 -5.3 32 70
13 IL – JOLIET KBI (KEN'S BEVERAGE INC.)  USSSA-Mens-B 1 2 0 76 104 25.3 34.7 -9.3 26 95
13 IN – Aurora Backman/S&S/Dr.Pepper/Louisville Sl  USSSA-SPMensMajor 0 2 0 0 14 0.0 7.0 -7.0 0 0
17 OH – Akron Pauer Sports/Rogue Bowstrings  USSSA-Mens-B 0 2 0 37 58 18.5 29.0 -10.5 21 65
17 IN – Georgetown Georgetown Park/Slayer/KB  USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 16 67 8.0 33.5 -25.5 10 65
17 IN – Columbus RaisorSharp/Burt's Pest/MadeRite  USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 39 41 19.5 20.5 -1.0 25 65
17 KY – Louisville Rats Hitmen / Cornerstone  USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 29 58 14.5 29.0 -14.5 16 65

Resmondos Brian Wegman and Buddy Wolf were co-mvp's.

Wegman also organized the event and shagged home run balls…

He is like the Chuck Norris of softball.

Resmondo middle infielder Kevin Bazat was Defensive MVP

 

TG/HDLNS pitchers Roger Drake and Faron Miller were tabbed for Offensive Co-MVP's

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:

 

1st Place Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/SP Tank/Easton

Conf Major from FL  5-0 Record

Resmondo showed they can win on 300 foot fields.  They played without Bryson Baker (coaching high school) and Scott Kirby.  Their super sub Chris Hansen played a nice shortstop and Brad Reckart filled in at 3rd and 2nd and those guys help the lineup save homers.  Buddy Wolf and Wegman shared MVP.  Clark was relieved by Dirty Sanchez on occassion, and the team had some huge innings at bat in those last two games.  Resmondo moved up to 4th in the point standings and will play next in Chicago in early June.

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Resmondo lineup:
Connell
Wegman
Pearson
Clark
Mack
Wolf
Fulk
Reckart
Hansen
Umschied
Bazat

Greg Connell homers against Precision

 

Pearson and Clark

BJ Fulk went to the work gloves like Pearson at the Corky's last weekend and stuck with them when he got hot

SS Chris Hansen dives for a shot against Premier

 

CF Mike Umschied and MI Kevin Bazat

 


 

2nd Place TG/HDLNS/BHR/Easton

Conf 'AA' from OH  5-2 Record

 

TG/HDLNS is one of the funnier teams on the circuit and they have a good time playing and ragging on each other and their opponents.  They beat their rivals Worth Astros for the first time and sent home Precision.  Miller and Drake did the pitching.  Jamison, Kaminski, Corn, and others seemed to be on it offensively.   And the team chemistry took a step in the right direction as this team comes together again from their Pure Romance days.  They have Gallmeier leading off but think about the fact that Newman and Large have both led off for 'AA' teams in the past and you realize how good this offense can be.

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TG/HDLNS lineup
Gallmeier
C Jamison
1B Kamiski
C Boothe
IF Noe
RF Disbennet
2B Corn
CF Newman
SS Bellamy
LF Large
P Drake/Miller
MI Staton

TG/HDLNS center fielder Cory Newman showed the most range this week

P Faron Miller, SS Brandon Bellamy, LF Cory Large

 

TG/HDLNS 3B Jacki Corn

 

This could have been a 10-3-2 triple play but the catcher was headed to the dugout?

Jackie Corn at 3rd, Bellamy, Staton

 


 

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

Conf 'AA' from IL  3-2 Record

 

Precision finished 3rd.  They won't be happy with that.  They had that big early win over OA Apparel on the walk off homer by Keith Anderson.  Then crushed TG/HDLNS 26-8 to meet Resmondo in the winner's final.  In that game they had their chances but couldn't find that Precision "magic" from past years to really threaten Resmondo.  And on Sunday they started off good against TG/HDLNS but never fully got it going and lost 40-32.

Precision is adding former Thunder pitcher Losson White to the roster and will tweak this thing until they are at the top of 'AA'…again.

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Precision lineup:
Rear
Kessler
Mccollum
Houseman
Hoynowski
Paturzo
Tabler
Bean
Kannenberg
Anderson
Burkel/Abraham

I have said it before but will again.  CF Travis Houseman is in that Gastineau/Parfitt mold.

 

Anderson and Tabler the veteran home run hitters doing their thing

Rear, McCollum, Kannenberg for Precision.  Thats Kessler over at 2nd base.

 


 

4th Place TG Brand Easton

Conf 'TBD' from MI  3-2 Record

 

An impressive line drive hitting team with some up and coming power hitters.  These guys played great…again.  They beat Conference teams Rebel, Worth Astros, and JBL/Tailgaters to finish 4th.  When you have Greer and Payne that far down the lineup you know you have a deep lineup.  The team has some good athleticism, they didn't back down to Astros or Resmondo and never gave up.  An impressive run for a team we haven't hear the last of.

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TG Brand Lineup:
Ryan Morrow
Justin Evans
Austin Pichiotino
DJ Hughes
John Franklin
Nathan King
Justin Geiner
Tyler Kincaid
Jonathan Greer
Tony Payne
Clay Paul

 

Morrow and Evans

 


 

Tied 5th Place Worth Astros/K&G/Klutch

Conf 'AA' from IN  3-2 Record

This team played too many tournaments in a row this year and was tired and missing their shortstop Lizcano.  But they never gave up in any of their games where they were down big early on and they should be top 5 in the points when they get to Chicago in early June.

Trending even

Random Worth Astros lineup:
Kersten
Stephany
Mullins
Riley
Edwards
Ortiz
Martin
Dale
Pinkham

Astros center fielder Josh Kersten had several of these mini home run robs.

Super sub Justin Aldora was at it again as Astros played without shortstop Ricardo Lizcano

 


 

Tied 5th Place JBL/Tailgaters/All In/B&E/Worth

Conf 'AA' from OH  4-2 Record

 

JBL won 4 straight in the loser's bracket including a nice 34-31 win over OA Apparel.  They had that one run loss to TG Brand at the end which could have put them in the final 4 which hurt.  They played without second baseman Bill Lewis one of the sponsors.  Dombrowski at pitcher does a nice job and the lineup gets to free swing some as they don't seem to need to conserve home runs as much as other 'AA' teams.  This team is still being evaluated as to their classification even though they had to start 2017 as a 'AA' team because they made the USSSA Major World Series last year.

Trending Even

Some of the JBL Lineup
Miller
Douhgty
Hofer
Roppel
Simpson
Cunningham
Sheeler

Roppel, Sandoval, and 

Miller the leadoff hitter

Dombrowski has some deceiving pitches.  Probably one of the more underrated pitchers on the circuit.

 


 

 


 

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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:

 

It was great to see pitcher Frank Gruber back.  Frank won the USSSA 'B' World with Watanabe a few years back.

Then he was in a terrible accident while working roadside was hit by a car and has had a long hard road to recovery.

He played great and looked great.  Welcome back!

Premier tied for 7th but almost got to face fellow 'B' team TG Brand in the semifinals if they could have gotten one more run against Resmondo.

OA Apparel tied for 7th and was 2-2, they played short handed without Filip Washington or Cam Byars.  Their pitcher Jason Wilkins fractured his pinky in two places but still tried to play catcher since they only had 10 players.  You can see his fingers outside the glove in the picture below.  So that forced Nick Mangannaro to pitch and I think I even saw Tim Bowser out there.

 

Cornerstone went 1-2 and picked up Chris Stamper from the folded OC Swats team

HB Softball Fans/Miken/Evil tied for 9th at 2-2.  Against Cornerstone one of their players Mark Hershberger hit into a triple play but then won the game with a walk off homer.

 

Rebel Sports tied for 13th at 1-2

  

Maroadis tied for 9th at 2-2 after losing their first game to Premier 20-0?

 

Raisor Sharp Images went 0-2 but had some sweet Ohio State colored uniforms

This is TG/HDLNS before the championship game with Resmondo thinking they had won the toss and were home team.  When the umpire told them they were mistaken and were visitors it prompted some quick witted comments which they are known for.  One player said "the game hasn't even started and we already got Helmered".  Another said "that isn't even the real Resmondo".  Funny!

Slayer went 0-2

Thats where the great view from the livestream was positioned.

This is a picture from the livestream

Tony the UIC of the tournament tests some bats.

Final game umpiring crew.

My Hulkamania pick with Cosgrove came out blurry…

Gotta love people that give back to the game!

It was mother's day, I believe these are some ladies from the Wegman family

This is a TG/HDLNS fan that found the championship to be anti climactic.

 

 

5 responses to “Added all tournament awards —> 2017 USSSA Hoosier Classic Major tournament report!”

  1. William Geatches says:

    Great job as always Sir!!!
    Many people feel that way as well!!
    Thanks for all that you do!

  2. larry wood says:

    live stream was best its been all year really enjoyed the tournament

  3. Teddy says:

    What’s up with Bachman????

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