2011 Conference Championship Preview

 2011 Conference Championships

Preview

The 2011 USSSA Conference Championships take place this coming weekend (September 2-4) in Kissimme, Florida at the USSSA headquarters.  This tournament has been trying to find a format that works for all classes since the inception of the Conference in 2006.   This years tournament is using a bracket inspired by the Big East College Basketball Tournament, where seeds 9-16 have 2 play in games, and seeds 5-8 have one play in game.  The 8 loser's from the first two rounds drop to a double elimination "Open" bracket of their own, while the top 8 teams play for the Conference Championship.  All 16 teams are playing for points as if this was a 7th Conference tournament and a good weekend or a bad weekend could affect the seedings for the Major World Series.

Most of the games from the stadium field will be shown on USSSA.com at this link:
Video Broadcast Link

I will also have the feed embedded at SoftballCenter.com along with the chat room.

And on Saturday I will attempt to broadcast some from the score tower at the Fortune Road Complex.

Conference championship bracket link

First Round Major Bracket Predictions:
The tournament opens at 3:30 Eastern on Friday, September 2nd and every game quite honestly is a great matchup.  

Top quarter of the bracket – The red hot R&M Metals team that has finished runner up in the last two tournaments (Michigan, 'A' World) takes on Taylormade who slipped into the Conference Championships and Major World Series when Midwest Swing declined their berth.  This is a 60/40 game with R&M favored.  Lets pick Nick Robertson, Brian Zirkle, and the boys from R&M to drop Taylormade eventhough Tmade is desperate for points to try and get out of the 16 seed spot which means they would have to play Resmondo in the first round at the World Series.  Taylormade may be the best #16 seed ever but a 2-10 record against 'A' teams doesn't bode well for them.  The winner gets Wood Law also on the stadium field at 6:30 PM.  Wood Law played well at the 'A' World and this is a 50/50 game with R&M Metals.  Wood Laws lack of a bench might catch up with them but if they have Denny Crine and Brian Higginbotham the power should be there.  I'll take R&M 14-10.  Winner gets Resmondo and we know R&M vs Major teams on baseball fields doesn't normally work well.  In the month of August though, R&M has competed well with everyone they have played.  I'll take Resmondo 22-8 but hoping for at least a good game here.

2nd quarter of the bracket – EWS takes on Combat/Pharmapar.  Both teams have rosters that should compete on baseball fields.  This game is back on diamond #2 where the wind often blows out to the right field corner.  If that is the case, it could be a battle between EWS left handed slugger Mark Holstein and Pharmapars lefty Luc "The Bull" Chauvette.  Both will hit one but EWS will prevail 19-11.  Winner gets Shoppe who played well at the Hall of Fame Classic on these same fields.  This part of the bracket plays all of their games back on diamond #2 and I think Shoppe will prevail in another great 50/50 "toss up" game and move on to play Team 454 at 9:30 PM.  Those diamonds in the back don't have very good lighting for these night games.  I'll take Team 454 over Shoppe to go to the final 4.  This part of the bracket is wide open and EWS, Shoppe, and Pharmapar have a real opportunity to score some big points.

3rd quarter of the bracket – Just by chance the 2 'B' teams that qualified get to play each other in the first round.  Down2EarthSports.com from Georgia plays Doerflinger out of Seattle, Washington.  Both teams are first year Conference members with different agendas.  Doerflinger wants to score enough points to get out of the #15 seed so they don't have to play the big boys in the first round at the World Series.  D2E is trying to maintain their seeding for the World with a solid showing this weekend.  This game is on the stadium field at 5 PM and I anticipate a low scoring game with D2E coming out on top 8-6.  Winner gets Sonny's who was recently bumped to the 'A' division and has not played a game on a baseball field this year.  That makes this game impossible to predict and this will be played back on diamond #2 at 6:30 PM Friday.  Lets go with Sonny's pitcher Danny Lopez to keep D2E's offense in check and Sonny's to squeak out a 10-8 win.  Winner moves on to play GTL late Friday on the stadium but Primetime on the West Coast for the viewers in Colorado and Seattle to see their home teams.  This will be a fun night cap if Sonny's can make it go 7 innings.  I don't think they can and look for GTL in a route 25-5.

4th quarter of the bracket – It is funny how the seeding made for such different groups of teams.  In the 2nd quarter of the bracket you had 4 powerhouse 'A' teams squaring off.  In the 3rd quarter you had 3 'B' teams squaring off for those that still think Sonny's is a 'B' team.  And in this 4th part of the bracket you have 3 'A' teams that haven't done much all year squaring off to meet Combat/Laser Vision who has underachieved most of the year.  The first game is Sinister vs Darkside.  All of this part of the bracket is played on diamond #1 where the sun, wind, poor lighting, and the huge outfield fence in left field all take its toll on unsuspecting teams.  This is yet another 50/50 game but I think Darkside will breakthrough and beat Sinister 9-8.  Winner gets Suncoast.  Suncoast hasn't been very impressive but I'll take them to win 11-10 with the winner losing to Team Combat/Laser Vision 22-12.

That is a lot of great softball being played on the baseball fields on Friday night.  The loser's in the first two rounds will show up on Saturday at the Fortune Road complex to battle it out in the "open" bracket while the top 8 teams return to Osceola County Stadium to fight for the Conference Championship.

Final 'Major' Bracket Predictions
1) Resmondo
2) GTL
3) Team 454
4) Team Combat/Laser vision

Final "Open" bracket predictions
1) EWS
2) Wood Law
3) Darkside
4) Sinister

The 'B' teams that did not qualify or accept a bid to the Major World Series will square off in a separate 3 game guarantee tournament at the Fortune Road softball complex.

Final 'B' Bracket Predictions
1) Blitz
2) The Scene
3) Midwest Swing
4) Magic
5) Gas It