1994 USSSA Flag City Shootout

May 1994 – article by Jerome Earnest – Softball USA Vol. 5, No. 3

Lighthouse tops Savannah, Georgia field;  Converters 2nd

Flag City Shootout

When Lighthouse of Stone Mountain, GA, swept through a tournament at Birmingham, AL, not too many people paid much attention.  But after Lighthouse did the same thing in the Flag City Shootout the first USSSA Major NIT of the 1994 season at the beautiful Paulson Softball Complex in Savannah, GA, a lot of heads were turned.

Especially the players on the Williams team from Spring, Texas…after a 36-11 walloping by Lighthouse in a game that went only 4 1/2 innings.

Williams was listed 3rd in the Softball USA preseason rankings compared to #8 for Lighthouse.  Also in the tournament were #4 Steele's/Sunbelt, #5 Converters Unlimited of Kinston, NC, and #6 DJ's of Atchison, KS.  So was #9 Vernon's/Power-Flite of Jacksonville, FL, plus teams that were ranked 14, 16 and 17 after placing in the top 4 at Birmingham — Soutland of Gainesville, GA, Back Porch of Destin, FL and RSH/Deep South of Ridgeland, MS.

Lighthouse won over Converters in the title game at Savannah by the lopsided score of 45-14…after trailing 12-0 going into the bottom of the 2nd inning.

Converters came through the losers bracket after dropping a 16-15 decision to DJ's in the quarterfinals of the winners bracket.  Converters got back into the championship finals with a 35-17 romp over DJ's.

Vernon's was the 3rd place finisher, topping DJ's 17-12 in the winners bracket semifinals before losing 21-11 to Lighthouse in the winners bracket finals and 25-10 to Converters in the losers bracket finals.

DJ's was 4th, ousting Williams 33-32 on a one out solo home run by Robbie Ergle in the bottom of the 7th inning.  Williams had tied it with 4 in the top of the inning.

Williams finished in a tie for 5th, but the Steele's/Sunbelt Hit Men managed only a tie for 9th place.  They lost 19-12 to RSH/Deep South, then won one before being eliminated by Converters who spoiled a comeback by the Hit Men with a 20-19 win on a 2 run home run by Bruce Rains in the bottom of the 7th.

Lighthouse hit 91 home runs while compiling a 5-0 record, including 25 in the finals.  The team batting average was .675 as 6 players batted between .739 and .783.

MVP Curtis Williams, a veteran outfielder who came in to pitch when Converters led 10-0, batted .783 with 6 HR.
Shortstop Larry Sauceman had 7 HR.

Lighthouse
Carl Rose 9 HR
Monty McCory 9 HR
Danny Williams .765
Kenny Carver     .773 with 9 homers
Dewayne Frizzell .750 with 12 homers (in 24 at bats)
Ernie Montgomery .739 10 HR
David Johnson    .739 with 10 HR 
Steve Craven 10 HR
Big Wendell Rickard 9 HR
Danny Holder 8 HR

Jimmy Powers of Converters was tops in home runs with 13.  He went 22-28 for a .786 average.

Converters only other .700 plus hitter was Rusty Bumgardner at .731 with 12 HR.

Scott Elliott .609 10 HR

At on point in the tournament Converters manager Elvin Herring commented: "I don't know how we are still here…we are hitting so poorly."

Four Converters players had 8 HR — Derek Oliver, Dewayne Nevitt, Todd Martin, and Tot Powers.

Todd Martin was tabbed for the defensive award for his play at shortstop.  At on point in the tournament, Randy Romagna of the Converters, who had been moved from shortstop to second base position, complimented his teammate: "Boy, you can sure pick it."

Vernon's
Pitcher Butch Ovens 9 HR
Vic Crews .737 9 HR
Larry Heise .750

RSH
Lamar Echols .706 8 HR

Sylvin Little of Southland 8 HR

Back Porch
Mike Stanley .762

DJ's
Ricky Huggins

Southland
Mark Cauley .722.

Ricky Huggins won a playoff over Randall Boone in a match up of Savannah area products in the finals of the first leg of the Worth Power Tour home run contest.

Boone, a former two time All America safety at Georgia Southern, went 8-12 with 5 homers while drawing 5 walks for Herrin, while Keith Messex was 10-13 with 3 HR and Jason Fleming 10-14 with 6 HR.  Denny Nelson and Roge Williams each contributed 4 HR as the Savannah squad wound up in a tie for 5th after losing 36-10 to Lighthouse in the semifinals of the winners bracket and 23-14 to Converters in the semifinals of the losers bracket.

20 man All Tournament Team

Lighthouse
Curtis Williams
Dewayne Frizzell
Kenny Carver
Larry Sauceman
Ernie Montgomery

Converters
Jimmy Powers
Rusty Bumgardner
Scott Elliott

Vernons
Vic Crews
Larry Heise
Butch Ovens

DJ's
Ricky Huggins

Williams
Carl Rose
Danny Williams

Herrin
Jason Fleming

Back Porch
Mike Stanley

Southland
Sylvin Little
Mark Cauley

RSH/Deep South
Lamar Echols

Herrin's biggest win was 25-23 over RSH/Deep South after the Mississippi outfit upended Steele's/Sunbelt.  A 9 run rally in the 7th inning fell short against Herrin.

Afterwards, Lighthouse boss Cecil Alford had this to say:
  "This is a new team we have put together, but a lot of the guys have played for me in the past.  I think we have got a good mixture, a good bunch.  We are going to lose some games, but we are going to win a lot, too.  We hit a lot of home runs, but we get a lot of base hits too.  And we have a good defense too.  You have to be able to catch it.  You can put all the runs you want to up on the board, but if you don't catch it and let the other team score more runs, it's to no avail.  We handpicked certain players for certain positions."
 
Alford pointed out that there were a lot of teams that were equal with a shot at winning in Savannah, "but we just happened to be a little bit hotter than the rest of them.  Williams and DJ's, and certainly Converters, are going to win their share.  And Steele's/Sunbelt has a young team, but Dave Neale has always been able to bring young players around."

Alford said the best thing that happened to him this weekend was "getting that berth out of the way, so we can go play ball the rest of the season and not have to worry about it."

He was referring to a berth in the USSSA World Series, scheduled for Sept. 15-18 in Daytona Beach, FL.

"Now we've got to chase that ASA a little while and nail one of them down," pointed out Alford.  He was referring to a berth in the ASA Super Nationals August 19-21 in Maryville, TN.

After two weekends, the Lighthouse crew has hit 224 HR in 10 games.