Friday March 15th, 2024
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A look back at the 2017 USSSA Las Vegas Major tournament report!

 

 

 

2017 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

Las Vegas "Sin City" Classic

 

Las Vegas, NV

 

March 31 – April 2

 

The championship game was between Smash It Sports/Albicocco in the white and purple vs Resmondo in the teal

 

Link to Softballcenter.com picture album of the Las Vegas Major

 

2017  men's and women's bracket link

 

The 2017 Nationwide Conference USSSA season kicked off as it usually does in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Big League Dreams park with its 6 miniature replica MLB fields and artificial turf infields.  The tournament was played in good weather and was hard hitting – high scoring softball throughout.  The tournament featured all 6 of the Major classed teams, 37 teams overall, and 11 of the top 20 teams from the SoftballCenter pre-season rankings.  The teams were seeded based on the previous seasons Conference points and the top seeded teams played two games on Friday night.  In the first round all of the Conference teams won except for Tradesmen Elite 'A' who was beaten by a very good My Auto Jack (AZ-B) team 25-8 and Primetime 'A' who was beaten by Southern Barrel (TX-B) 30-27.  

With 14 of the 16 teams in the winner's bracket from Conference USSSA, the second round began with some great matchups.  Racks/Sonnys (WY-M) handled OA Apparel (AA) 47-33.  Resmondo (FL-M) played 7 innings with Pure Sports (SC-A) and won 41-31.  Pure Sports showed some nice offense in that game over on Wrigley field.  Smash It Sports/Albicocco (NY-M) run ruled MyAutoJack 46-20.  Xtreme (MN-AA) who squeaked by Toe 2 Toe (CA-C) 37-32 in the first round then used their homers better than Classic Glass (CA-AA) in the second round to win 27-25.  Classic Glass had also struggled to a 24-23 win in their opener against Baking Soda (AZ-C).  Newbreed (WA-M) knocked off Bay Area Legends one of the top 'A' teams in the country 32-25 on Yankee field.  Dan Smith (CA-M) run ruled Southern Barrel 45-21 and Thunder (NY-AA) mercied TDB/TMSports (NC-AA) 33-16 after trailing 11-3.  And Backman (IN-M) struggled past L&S Glass (CA-B) 29-26 in a game where Glass had the hammer if I recall in the bottom of the 7th.

In the winner's bracket round of 8 which was played at 3 PM on Saturday Resmondo had to lean on their offense to beat Racks 48-43 as their defense didn't look good.  Smash It Sports/Albicocco never could put away Xtreme/Miken but won anyway 35-25.  Newbreed obliterated Dan Smith 39-19 winning by the 20 run mercy rule in 4 innings.  Newbreed held huge early leads of 14-2 and 30-10.  In what may have been the best game of the tournament Thunder who was down 16 runs to the highly favored Backman came all the way back to take a 5 run lead at one point.  Backman came back though in the top of the 7th and went up 7 runs with some clutch hitting and held off Thunder 31-24 to advance to the final 4.

The final 4 of the winner's bracket started at 7:30 PM on Saturday night with the hot hitting Newbreed taking on the struggling Backman team.  Newbreed jumped out to an unbelievable 40-1 lead!  Somehow Backman who had struggled in all 3 of their games slowly came back and used a 22 run 3rd inning and closed the gap to 42-35 after 4 innings.  Newbreed would only score those 2 runs in the last 5 innings and Backman came back to win 43-42 in what had to be one of the greatest comebacks in Conference history.  Almost as dramatic and shocking as Sonnys 19 run 7th inning to beat Laservision a couple of years ago.  In the other semi-final Smash It Sports/Albicocco who's majority of players used to play for Resmondo and Resmondo who's majority of players used to play for Smash It Sports/Albicocco were meeting for the first time in 2017 in front of the tournaments largest crowd on Fenway field.  It looked like it was going to be a high scoring 7 inning game but Smash It Sports never let off the gas in a couple of their big double digit offensive innings and actually 20 run ruled their peers 42-22 to advance to the winner's bracket finals.

In that winner's bracket championship game between Smash It Sports/Albicocco and Backman shortstop Ryan Stovall from Backman hit a homer to tie the game at 22 each in the top of the 5th and Smash It/Albicocco did just enough to keep Backman down until the bottom of the 7th where SmashItSports/Albicocco needed just 1 run to win.  They got that from the first hitter in the inning Jason Branch who hit a walk off homer to win 34-33.

In the loser's bracket there were a few interesting games.  Tradesmen won two straight but lost to Pure Sports 41-18 to finish tied for 17th.  Primetime won 2 straight then lost in extra innings to L&S Glass 32-31 in a game Primetime had the hammer and more than a few chances to win it with the bats.  L&S Glass shortstop Brian Fong made two incredible backhand catches in the 5-6 hole to help give Glass the win.  TDB/TMSports was flip flopped by G Town a free swinging Utah 'C' team but TDB came all the way back to win 31-30 and then they beat L&S Glass 36-7.  Bay Area Legends beat Pony Tail Express by the run rule, then mercied Southern Barrel, then left Xtreme on the field 26-11 in the 5th inning with a run rule before dropping a 36-29 decision to Racks.  Racks knocked off TDB/TMSports 38-34, Bay Area, and held on defensively in the bottom of the 7th against Newbreed late Saturday night to win 41-40 and advance to Sunday.  In the lower part of the loser's bracket OA Apparel won 2 games before being shut down by Thunder 22-7.  Classic Glass made a big run as they knocked off Pure Bedlam 19-18, MAJ 32-29, and then upset Dan Smith 41-33.  Then Classic scored 28 runs on Thunder in one inning.  But Thunder came back and won the game 52-45!  Thunder used the offensive momentum in their final game against Resmondo where after midnight Saturday they jumped out to a 23-5 lead!  Resmondo then scored 23 runs in the top of the 3rd inning to grab a 28-23 lead and Resmondo extended that to 49-36 going into the bottom of the 7th and held on to advance to Sunday 49-46.  A great run by Thunder to finish tied for 5th.     

Smash It Sports/Albicocco's Jason Branch hits a walk off homer to beat Backman in the winner's bracket finals

On Sunday the final 4 teams battled it out.  In the loser's semifinal at 8:30 am Resmondo jumped on Racks quickly and never let up in a 39-17 blowout.  Then in the loser's final Resmondo was up 24-18 going into the 5th on Backman with Backman hitting too many bad homers early on.  At one point Backman had hit 5 straight homers (4 solos) prompting Resmondos BJ Fulk to ask his pitcher Travis Clark if he was the pitcher for the Long Haul Bombers tour?  He said that in jest of course as allowing solo homers in a game with a 16 home run limit is actually a good thing.  Backman was down 39-18 in the bottom of the 5th and 39-25 in the bottom of the 6th but came back and extended the game in both innings.  Backman trailed 45-32 going to the 7th and Resmondo won 49-37.

In the first championship game Resmondo continued to roll and 20 run ruled a bewildered Smash It Sports/Albicocco team 30-10 leaving Smash It Sports/Albicocco wondering where their offense had gone too.  In the "if" necessary game Smash It/Albicocco led 3-0 after one inning and Resmondo looked to be out of gas after their run through the loser's bracket.  Smash/Albicocco Its Brandon Dillon ended up hitting 4 of Resmondos 13 homers, Cory Briggs was 3-3 with 2 HR and 2 walks, and Smash It/Albicocco just sort of held down Resmondo and won the game and the tournament 32-24 in a bit of an anti climactic low scoring final game.  Smash It Sports/Albicocco had the offensive outage in the first game and Resmondo had the offensive outage in the second game.

Smash It Sports/Albicocco gives the first punch to Resmondo of the season as they beat them 2 out of 3.  There was some chirping between the rivals when Purcell made a few remarks about former teammate Connell at the end of the first championship game (which they talked and worked out later) but overall the two teams seemed to let the play on the field decide the games.  There were quite a few conference umpires in attendance.  The umpires tell me it is a point of emphasis to give a little more on the strike zone this year, to give a little more on the edges of the plate and also allow a little bit higher pitch.  The Conference Dudley Classic M ball was used and that made for some high scores and long hard fought games.  

Las Vegas experienced winds of up to 80 mph on Thursday before the tournament and we believe that affected data service in the area causing problems with the livestreaming which we hope to test this week to make sure it isn't a problem on USSSALive's end.

As usual the tournament featured an unbelievable amount of great diving plays, home run robs, and line drive snares so I made some notes as I walked around watching games.  Remember I only see 1/6th or less of whats going on when there is 6 fields going.

Note, these are ESPN worthy plays:

The pitcher for 17 Strong made an unbelievable diving stop to his left on a hard grounder in the 5 PM game against Element.

Mike Nino from MyAutoJack against SmashIt/Albicocco made a great diver at second base.

Frankie Longello (I think) the backup pitcher for Pure Sports was hit in the forearm/wrist area during the Resmondo game but came back to pitch later in the tournament.

Dirk Updike pitcher for Xtreme may have a broken foot when he was hit and was having such a good tournament.  Curtis Cornett came in to pitch in the tournament and snapped off Brian Wegman on a laser shot over his head that was highlight worthy.

Thunder left fielder Kyle Olsen had the HR rob of the tournament late in the game vs Backman on Yankee stadium when he went up over to snatch it away.

AJ Montano the middle man for Classic Glass made the leaping dive of the tourny in top 7th vs Thunder.

Tyson Steel the pitcher for Racks knocked down a hard grounder up the middle vs Newbreed late in the game and the ball bounced away toward shortstop.  Tyson slid over and from the ground with his back turned towards first somehow threw a blind throw to first for the out.

And the play of the tournament in my opinion was Newbreed shortstop Steve Whaley who threw out the speedy Steven Lloyd on one of Lloyds patented chop and run grounders in the 5-6 hole.  For Whaley to have taken at least 2 quick steps, backhand that grounder, and throw out someone as fast as Lloyd, well I guess you had to see it to believe it.  Makes one wish we had all of these plays on video.

Resmondos Bubba Mack hits a homer against Backman in the loser's final

 

Team Breakdown:
37 Teams Overall
16 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
6 Major Teams
5 'AA' Teams
5 'A' Teams
4 'B' Teams
10 'C' Teams
7 'D/E' Teams

 

Las Vegas BLD Field Dimensions
Yankee (main field) 285-308-290-286-286
Fenway 274-303-308-297-256
Angels 285-289-305-272-270
Wrigley 287-295-300-291-286
Dodger 275-305-321-304-274
Crosley 274-283-301-280-275

Winner's bracket semi final between Resmondo and Smash It Sports/Albicocco is under way

The Resmondo vs Smash It/Albicocco​ Saturday crowd

 

Resmondos Brian Wegman gets one past SmashItSports/Albicocco pitcher Andy Purcell

Newbreeds Davis Bilardello hits against Dan Smiths LC Watson on Angel field in quarterfinals

Thunder hits against Backman in quarterfinals

A pano view of Wrigley

If you were watching on the livestream the home run fence on Yankee is only about 6.5 or 7 feet high.

 


 

Oldscout pollers were wrong and picked Resmondo to win

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

 

2017 Las Vega Major Friday and Saturday video clips

2017 Las Vega Major Championship Sunday video clips

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

There were a lot of long homers but I think Haglund hit the longest on Sunday so we will give him long bomber of the week.  

Brambilla and Shannon Smith also had long ones that I witnessed.  

Joey Formosa also makes a softball look like a baseball sometimes when he hits it.

Everyone had a chance since Kennington was out with injury.  ðŸ™‚

 


 

 Las Vegas Major Awards and Final Standings

Player Tournament Awards Players Name Plays For
Tournament MVP Andy Purcell Smash It/Albicocco/Miken/Worth
Offensive Tournament MVP Kyle Pearson Resmondo/O.A.Apperal/H.Auto/Special
Defensive Tournament MVP Luis Reyna Smash It/Albicocco/Miken/Worth
All Tournament Team Brad Reckart Resmondo/O.A.Apperal/H.Auto/Special
All Tournament Team Bryson Baker Resmondo/O.A.Apperal/H.Auto/Special
All Tournament Team Jason Branch Smash It/Albicocco/Miken/Worth
All Tournament Team Kevin Bazat Resmondo/O.A.Apperal/H.Auto/Special
All Tournament Team Jeremy Yates Backman/S&S/Dr.Pepper/Louisville Sl
All Tournament Team steven Lloyd Backman/S&S/Dr.Pepper/Louisville Sl
All Tournament Team Cory Briggs Smash It/Albicocco/Miken/Worth
All Tournament Team Andrew Collins Smash It/Albicocco/Miken/Worth
All Tournament Team Buddy Wolf Resmondo/O.A.Apperal/H.Auto/Special
All Tournament Team Ryan Harvey Smash It/Albicocco/Miken/Worth
All Tournament Team Brandon Dillon Smash It/Albicocco/Miken/Worth
All Tournament Team Lee Powers Backman/S&S/Dr.Pepper/Louisville Sl
All Tournament Team Argen Dodds Racks/Sonny's/Athlon/Easton/Cutter
Place State Team Team
Class
Wins Losses Ties Runs
Scored
Runs
Allow
Avg
Runs
Avg
Allow
Avg
Diff
Max
Runs
USSSA
Points
1 NY – Rochester smash it/albicocco/miken/worth USSSA-SPMensMajor 6 1 0 235 160 33.5 22.8 10.7 46 300
2 FLS – Winter Haven resmondo/o.a.apperal/h.auto/special USSSA-SPMensMajor 7 2 0 334 260 37.1 28.8 8.22 49 225
3 IN – Aurora backman/s&s/dr.pepper/louisville sl USSSA-SPMensMajor 4 2 0 207 189 34.5 31.5 3 43 200
4 WY – Casper racks/sonny's/athlon/easton/cutter USSSA-SPMensMajor 5 2 0 248 229 35.4 32.7 2.71 47 175
5 NY – Wading River sis/thunder/miken/worth/vulcangrips USSSA-Mens-AA 4 2 0 209 150 34.8 25 9.83 52 0
5 WA – Tukwila NEWBREED/GTS/DEMARINI USSSA-SPMensMajor 3 2 0 184 135 36.8 27 9.8 42 155
7 CAN – San Jose Classic Glass / Easton USSSA-Mens-AA 4 2 0 186 182 31 30.3 0.66 45 130
7 CAN – Castro Valley Bay Area Legends/Miken USSSA-Mens-A 4 2 0 175 120 29.1 20 9.16 34 130
9 NC – Charlotte tdb/tmsports/midwestwhitetailadv/mi USSSA-Mens-AA 3 2 0 144 111 28.8 22.2 6.6 36 110
9 TXN – Gladewater oa apparel/broughton/kbi/easton USSSA-Mens-AA 3 2 0 153 127 30.6 25.4 5.2 41 110
9 CAN – San Jose Dan Smith/Menosse USSSA-SPMensMajor 2 2 0 131 115 32.7 28.7 4 45 110
9 MN – Medina Xtreme/Miken/ASP/Athlon USSSA-Mens-AA 2 2 0 100 118 25 29.5 -4.5 37 110
13 SC – Charleston Pure Sports/HB USSSA-Mens-A 2 2 0 137 116 34.2 29 5.25 41 70
13 TXS – Pearland southernbarrelapparel/steelsports USSSA-Mens-B 2 2 0 92 108 23 27 -4 30 95
13 CAN – San Jose L & S Glass USSSA-Mens-B 2 2 0 102 118 25.5 29.5 -4 37 170
13 AZ – Glendale Myautojack.com USSSA-Mens-B 2 2 0 91 95 22.7 23.7 -1 29 0
17 AZ – Phoenix PRIMETIME/PTCT USSSA-Mens-E 2 2 0 71 103 17.7 25.7 -8 37 65
17 NV – Las Vegas Synergy USSSA-Mens-C 2 2 0 64 67 16 16.7 -0.7 30 0
17 GA – Macon Primetime/Easton USSSA-Mens-A 2 2 0 105 87 26.2 21.7 4.5 31 40
17 UT – Salt Lake Tradesmen Elite USSSA-Mens-A 2 2 0 73 97 18.2 24.2 -6 25 40
17 UT – St. George G Town USSSA-Mens-C 2 2 0 87 89 21.7 22.2 -0.5 30 65
17 AZ – Chandler pure bedlam/uncle al's cafe/pf USSSA-Mens-C 1 2 0 55 69 18.3 23 -4.6 19 65
17 CAS – EAST LOS ANGELES PONY TAIL EXPRESS USSSA-Mens-C 1 2 0 39 80 13 26.6 -13. 19 65
17 CAS – SoCal toe 2 toe/premier athletics/worth USSSA-Mens-C 1 2 0 64 91 21.3 30.3 -9 32 65
25 CAC – Bakersfield Chosen few/MMT USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 48 79 16 26.3 -10. 23 0
25 AZ – Gilbert Element Restoration USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 62 83 20.6 27.6 -7 26 65
25 AZ – Phoenix slm/alpha source/fortis apparel USSSA-Mens-C 1 2 0 50 57 16.6 19 -2.3 24 65
25 CAS – Temecula Barney's Tire & Wheel USSSA-Mens-C 1 2 0 47 73 15.6 24.3 -8.6 26 65
25 CAC – Paso Robles 17 Strong/PacWest Sports USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 52 72 17.3 24 -6.6 28 0
25 AZ – Mesa Baking Soda/ Tunie Sports USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 40 49 20 24.5 -4.5 23 40
25 CAS – Indio No Limit USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 21 44 10.5 22 -11. 15 65
25 CAS – South El Monte Magz Premier USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 17 45 8.5 22.5 -14 14 65
33 AZ – Gilbert Tunie Sports USSSA-Mens-B 0 2 0 43 61 21.5 30.5 -9 27 65
33 CAN – Stockton Cheap Suits/MIKEN USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 36 42 18 21 -3 18 0
33 AZ – Chandler lundmortgage/topnotch/batshelf.com USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 23 48 11.5 24 -12. 12 65
33 CAN – Fresno DTA Construction USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 19 54 9.5 27 -17. 15 0
33 WA – Tacoma HangRite/SquatchNation USSSA-Mens-A 0 2 0 53 74 26.5 37 -10. 31 0

Andy Purcell of Smash It Sports/Albicocco was MVP

Luis Reyna of SmashIt/Albicocco​ was Defensive MVP

Kyle Pearson of Resmondo was Offensive MVP

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:

 

1st Place Smash It Sports/Albicocco/Miken/Worth/DirtySportsWear

Conf Major from NY  6-1 Record

Smash It Sports/Albicocco​ wins the first round and the best 2 out of 3 between them and their rivals Resmondo.  They may be the most complete team on 300 foot fields and I know they look forward to showing what they can do on the baseball fields.  Purcells pitching was very effective when needed.  Rulli and Branch set the table and conserved homers, Dillon seemed to be off to a fast start and the team only had one bad game for the most part.  SIS takes the early lead in the points which will help with early seeding in places like Chattanooga, Chicago etc.  Rulli is still gloving it, now at 2nd base and made a number of great plays.  Reyna was defensive MVP, Santana is hitting higher up the lineup than in the past, and Branch, Purcell, Collins and others seemed to be pretty focused and ready to go from the start.  If you win or lose Vegas we usually just say well "its Vegas" and you can't really tell with the small fields but remember last year Smash It Sports (Helmers team) won two tournaments all year – the Vegas Major and the Major World Series…

Trending Up!

One of Smash It Sports/Albicocco​ lineups:
2B Dennis Rulli
1B Jason Branch
P Andy Purcell
C Ryan Harvey
CF Nic Santana
RF Andrew Collins
MI Luis Reyna
LF Brandon Dillon
SS Don Dedonatis Jr
3B Cory Briggs

Kanaby, Payne, Graus, and Filby also played

Smash It Sports/Albicocco​ prepares for the Championship game

 

CF Nic Santana and shortstop Don Dedonatis Jr are with Smash It Sports/Albicocco​ this year

Smash It Sports/Albicocco​ 3rd baseman Cory Briggs.  Lots of fans were asking who he was.  Cory played with Nightmare last year.

 

Smash It Sports/Albicocco​ second baseman Dennis Rulli and shortstop Don Dedonatis Jr turn a double play

 

Ryan Harvey and Luis Reyna

 

 


 

2nd Place Resmondo/O.A.Apparel/H.Auto/SpecialtyTank/Easton

Conf Major from FL  7-2 Record

 

The new look Resmondo struggled with the gloves early on which led to them to having to lean on the bats a little too much.  I watched one inning where 5 balls hit gloves and none of the 5 turned into outs. They were 20 run ruled by Smash It Sports/Albicocco​ in the semifinals and had to work their way back through the losers bracket.  As they did so the defense got a little stronger when needed and they gutted out a long Saturday night and Sunday to force an "if" game and the "Helmer group" almost won for the 5th year in a row.  They showed some heart and nearly pulled off the win.  Bazat was huge defensively up the middle making winning plays and taking balls off the chest and throwing out runners.  Wegman and Clark both seem healthy, Reckart played the super utility role to a an all tournament selection, and the offense was pretty much as advertised.  I still question the defense of this team but will conceed that when they have to they can make some plays you don't expect.  But I believe it will be a roller coaster season for this team which cannot be successful having to score 10 per inning all the time.

I would like to thank the Resmondo team for agreeing to a team picture which Major teams traditionally skip during the season if they don't win.  Thank you.

Trending Up!

One of Resmondos lineups:
SS Bryson Baker
2B Greg Connell
LF Brian Wegman
1B Kyle Pearson
P Travis Clark
C Scott Kirby
C BJ Fulk
3B Bubba Mack
RF Buddy Wolf
CF Mike Umschied
MI Kevin Bazat

Sanchez pitched some and Reckart played a lot of utility

The winning team traditionally gets the MVP and gets to choose Offensive or Defensive MVP.

And the 2nd place team gets whichever the 1st team doesn't choose.

If Resmondo had gotten the Defensive MVP I believe it would have been Kevin Bazat who "bodied them up" all weekend long.

Left side of the Resmondo defense, 3B Bubba Mack, SS Bryson Baker, MI Kevin Bazat

Baker made a great diving play to his left on Sunday and throwout to first.  The guy can still turn it up a notch.

Greg Connell places one up the middle against Backman

 


 

3rd Place Backman/S&S/Dr.Pepper/Louisville Slugger

Conf Major from IN  4-2 Record

 

Backman played without Kevin Kennington who is out injured but might be back for the HOF Dual in 3 weeks.  The team really struggled in all of their games but to come back from a 40-1 deficit to Newbreed and win 43-42 and to come back Sunday morning to extend the game from the mercy rule twice against Resmondo showed that even when they aren't their best this team has the heart to compete.  I still believe this team is so young that each and every player can still get better as the season goes and they can contend for the biggest prizes and they are at their best when they are running bases and not worrying about home runs.

Trending Even

Backman lead off hitter Lee Powers knocks in the game tying run vs SmashItSports/Albicocco in the winners finals

 

Backmans big offseason free agent signing was middle infielder Brett Rettenmeier (left) and (right) Jo Jo Bennett who played with TM Sports last year.

 


 

4th Place Racks/Sonny's/Athlon/Easton/Cutter

Conf Major from WY  5-2 Record

 

Racks/Sonnys had a nice weekend which was really helped along by their win over Newbreed late Saturday night.  I thought that Newbreed was sort of the "Albicocco" of 2017 but Racks is right there with them.  We shall see when the stats come out but Argen Dodds seemed to really be "on it" and the new talent in 3B Orlando Cano and LF Jordan Spaulding was on display.  This team will have to learn how to deal with those early Sunday double digit deficits when they make it to the final 4 and remember there is a lot of game left.  

Trending Up!

One of Racks lineups:
1B Lopez
C Dodds
EH Snell
CF Kirkwood
SS Laski
MI Faria
P Steel
2B Christensen
3B Cano
LF Ramirez
2B Mclanahan

Kirkwood congratulated on winning the SoftballCenter NCAA pool

 

Racks first baseman Steven Lopez makes a diving stop

Super Utility man Ryan Mcclanahan played pitcher, SS, 2B, and LF for Racks.  And maybe some other spots I missed.

 

3B OrlandoCano and OF Jordan Spaulding are new to the Conference

 


 

Tied 5th Place SIS/Thunder/Miken/Worth/VulcanGrips

Conf 'AA' from NY  4-2 Record

Thunder finished as the highest 'AA' team and almost made it to Sunday as they jumped out to that 23-5 lead on Resmondo late Saturday night.  They put 52 up on Classic, 46 on Resmondo, and really got on a roll beating fellow 'AA' teams TDB, Classic Glass, and OA Apparel, and almost upsetting Backman and Resmondo.  A great weekend.  Driskell was awesome in the leadoff and pitcher Losson White got lit up a number of times but being the warrior that he is fought through it.  Tennyson and Barcelo were running down balls in the outfield and it seemed that Thunder played up to the competition and may be better than their pre-season ranking.  ðŸ™‚

Trending Up!

One of Thunders lineups:
3B Driskell
Gordon
LF Olsen
Goyette
1B Costantino
2B Vittitow
MI McBryde
SS Ussery
C Cervantes
Tennyson
Barcelo

Kyle Olsen had the HR rob of the tournament late in the game vs Backman

 


 

Tied 5th Place Newbreed/GTS/Demarini

Conf Major from WA  3-2 Record

Newbreed is the hard luck team of the tournament and leave Las Vegas thinking "what could have been".  That 40-1 lead they had on Backman in the 2nd inning only to lose by one and then the one run loss to Racks are two games they let slip away.  But becoming a Major team is the hardest thing a team can do and the growing pains and learning to finish are what that division is all about.  The energy this team brings carried them to huge leads in their first 3 games and it felt like this was their weekend.  If they could magically redo the last inning of each of those games they probably would have finished 1st or 2nd in this tournament and besides Smash It Sports they may be the best team in the country on 300 foot fields.  

Trending Even

One of Newbreeds lineups:
CF Gastineau
LF Bilardello
3B Brungardt
2B Rockoff
MI Flood
C Brown
SS Whaley
EH Rodriguez
RF Terry/Hollingsworth
P Mucciareli
1B Cordova

The scoreboard didn't say it all in this one.

Newbreeds Adam Rockoff sends one out

 


 

Other top finishing Conference teams

 


 

Tied 7th Place – Classic Glass / Easton

Conf 'AA' from CA  4-2 Record

Classic Glass is still trying to figure out their offensive and defensive lineups and they got 6 games in which is the reason teams play Las Vegas early in the season.  They had a nice win over Dan Smith and lost that slugfest with Thunder.  They struggled with home run management and scoring when the homers were gone so they will have to do better with that going forward.  Jonas was pitching, they had Goodman at times in left field? and Montano up the middle was making his usual great plays.  At least when I was watching Brambilla looked like a gold glove at 1st base making some nice plays.  I guess his teammates were razzing him about some miscues earlier in the tournament.  ðŸ™‚

Trending up!

 

Classic Glass slugger Mike Brambilla crushes one

 


 

Tied 7th Place – Bay Area Legends/Miken

Conf 'A' from CA  4-2 Record

Bay Area Legends got off to a solid start to the season being the highest finishing 'A' team.  They lost a tough one to Newbreed, sent home Southern Barrel and Xtreme by the run rule and lost a 7 run game to Racks.  4-2 on the weekend which is a much better start than in 2016 and the team as we know is now battle tested and understands what it takes to compete in the Conference and thats exactly what they did.

Trending up!

 Bay Area always seems to get the sun game on Yankee…

 


 

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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 once available

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

 

Dan Smiths Joey Formosa and Chris Greinert.

The team needs to loosen up and answer when their opponents score big.

They finished tied for 9th

Dan Smith outfielder Westy Guill ran through the fence to try to get a foul ball

Xtreme middle infielder Brandon Newman turns two

Xtreme competed but probably didn't finish where they wanted (9th)

Xtreme pitcher Dirk Updike was hit in the side of the foot and may have a break

Xtremes Joe Skyles finishes off a pesky Toe 2 Toe team Friday night 37-32

David Prahm was with the Texas non conference team Southern Barrel who beat Primetime on Friday.

Look for Southern Barrel to make some noise in Houston this week as they have some big hitters and a few guys with Conference experience.

Big Ira Brown from Primetime has that sweet dive into the ball with your whole body swing

  

RF Joey Formosa and SS Brian Fong return to the Conference with L&S Glass who beat Hangrite, Primetime in extra innings, and almost upset Backman!

 

TDB tied for 9th.  They almost upset Racks.

Primetime was 17th.  Let that game against L&S Glass slip away.

Bowser hits a bomb.

OA Apparel tied for 9th.  They may have taken Thunder for grant it…much to their detriment.

Jose Canseco played for Hangrite/SqatchNation and hit a homer in this at bat

Michael Rasso is back with MyAutoJack after a few years away

 

Pure Sports Pitchers Frankie Longello and Donald "Buckshot" Plaisance

OA

My Auto Jack was the highest finishing 'B' team

Tradesmen still learning the Conference

Former D2E B Champion teammates Chivas Clark and Lee Payne

Conference umpires were out in full force

All American Athletics had a trailer

As did GS Sports!

Nice suits

This field had 4 livestream devices.  That is the USSSALive.com ipad mini in the middle

See you in Houston next week

What is this?  Only in Vegas!

 

 

 

One response to “A look back at the 2017 USSSA Las Vegas Major tournament report!”

  1. Tyler says:

    Are you guys able to archive any game that was live streamed?

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