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USA Softball crowns 3 more 2017 slowpitch champions!

October 1, 2017

Three champions crowned in Oklahoma City as the 2017 Slow Pitch Championship Series comes to end

OKLAHOMA CITY – Home runs, closely fought games and Championship celebrations brought the 2017 USA Softball Slow Pitch Championship Series to a close today at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex.  Three teams came out on top and were crowned National Champions in their respective divisions. Precision was crowned the Men’s Class A Slow Pitch National Champion after a perfect 4-0 weekend while SFI/Spurgeon Trucking claimed the Men’s D title after rebounding in the if-necessary game with a 19-13 win. The Women’s Open Championship was decided in dominant fashion as Derby Girls defended the Women’s Open Slow Pitch National Championship title with a 16-1 (four innings) win over All Armed Forces.

Men’s A

A perfect 4-0 record resulted in Precision earning the Men’s Class A Slow Pitch National Championship title.  With the help of Tournament MVP Steele Lewis, Precision earned the trophy after defeating ASP/KV Weld/A&A Utility/OA Labs 29-19 in the Championship Game.  The two teams had met previously in the winner’s bracket finals with Precision earning the same fate with a closely fought 27-26 win over ASP.

Precision jumped out to a two-run lead in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back.  Scoring in all but one inning during the game, Precision was powered by Lewis who went 3-for-5 with six RBI in the contest, including two home runs.  Travis Clark, Pat Elwanger and John Williams each had four RBI in the win for Precision, with Clark and Williams also hitting out two home runs in the win.

ASP earned a spot in the Championship Game after defeating FK/Pauer Sports 36-7 in four innings earlier in the day.  Jason Hoynewski of FK/Pauer Sports was named batting champion after leading the tournament with a .857 batting average.  FK/Pauer Sports teammate Ryan Stovall was named home run champion after hitting 11 home runs.

Click here to view the Men's Class A First Team All-Americans

Men’s Class D

An 11-run fourth inning would help land SFI/Spurgeon Trucking the Men’s Class D Championship title as the team would defeat ADL/Swing Nation 19-13 in the if-necessary game.  Despite being forced into the if-game, SFI/Spurgeon Trucking quickly rebounded with the help of Tournament MVP Chance Hall to walk away with the title.  The two teams had met previously with SFI/Spurgeon Trucking sending ADL/Swing Nation into the loser’s bracket in the latter’s first contest of the tournament.

In their first meeting of the day, ADL/Swing Nation would trail by three runs in their final at-bat in the top of the seventh inning but would take the lead after an RBI single from Ian Castle, a three-run home run from John Duhadway and an RBI single from Jake Bell.  Leading by three, ADL/Swing Nation kept SFI/Spurgeon Trucking from plating any runs in the bottom of the seventh to force the if-game. 

In the winner-take-all finale, the game would be closely contested until the 11-run fourth inning by SFI/Spurgeon Trucking.  Powered by two-run doubles from Hall and Jay Thompson, a three-run home run by Michael Holbert, an RBI single from Nick Hill and a three-run double from Brian Renner, SFI/Spurgeon Trucking would eventually earn a 19-13 win.

ADL/Swing Nation earned a spot in the Championship Game after posting five-straight wins after dropping their opening game of the Men’s Class D Slow Pitch Championship Series on Friday.

Click here for more information about the Men’s Class D Championship Series

Women’s Open

Derby Girls defended the USA Softball Women’s Open Slow Pitch National Championship title after defeating All Armed Forces 16-1 (five innings) in the Championship Game.  The Derby Girls had an unblemished record en route to the 2017 trophy, outscoring opponents 40-5 throughout the Women’s Open Slow Pitch National Championship.  Kristen Shifflet from Derby Girls would take home the Tournament MVP title after a strong defensive outing all weekend at shortstop.  Shifflet also hit .700 with seven runs scored throughout the Championship.

The Derby Girls offense put up production every inning, scoring five runs in each of the first three innings before earning the run rule win in the bottom of the fourth.  Tara Salcedo and Amanda Hollman both homered in the bottom of the first inning and Amanda Durand and Megan Miller drove in runs to take an early 5-0 lead.  Armed Forces would strike back in the top of the second with a run after Carmen Fowler singled to plate a runner.

Derby Girls would open up the game in the bottom of the second.  Salcedo, Hollman, Kami Marrott, Miller and Stefanie Watt each drove in additional runs to extend Derby Girls’ lead to 10-1.  Another five-run inning came in the bottom of the third for Derby Girls after Dara Toman hit an RBI single, Christan Dowling hit a three-run home run and Durand doubled to plate run number 15.

Laura Harms would help Derby Girls seal the run rule victory after singling to drive in Watt in the bottom of the fourth.

The All Armed Forces team earned a spot in the Championship Game after battling through the loser’s bracket.  Dropping their first game of the tournament to On-Point 12-2, the All Armed Forces would win three-straight to earn a spot in the Championship Finals.  All Armed Forces was let by Tournament MVP and home run champion Jordan Brown, who hit .800 with 15 RBI and five home runs.

Click here to view the Women's Open First Team All-Americans

That concludes the 2017 USA Softball Championship Season.  For more information on 2017 National Champions or to locate 2018 National Championship locations, please visit USASoftball.com.

About USA Softball
USA Softball is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization headquartered in Oklahoma City, Okla., and is designated as the National Governing Body (NGB) of Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation’s largest sports organizations, USA Softball sanctions competition in every state through a network of 70 local associations and has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 150,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2 million.  USA Softball is dedicated to providing people of all ages the opportunity to play the game they love at a variety of levels by offering recreational, league, tournament and competitive play for fast pitch, slow pitch and modified pitch.  USA Softball annually conducts thousands of tournaments throughout the country including over 100 National Championships.  The USA Softball umpire program is among the nation’s largest and are widely known as the best trained umpires in the game. 

As the NGB for the sport of softball, USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in events such as the Olympics, Pan American Games, World Championships and other international and domestic events. For more information on USA Softball, including its founding and history as the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA), please visit, www.USASoftball.com.

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