2011 Conference USSSA Atlanta Major Recap

 2011 Conference USSSA

"Peach State Shootout"

 Marietta, Georgia

May 28 – May 29

The Atlanta Major was played at Al Bishop Softball Complex in Marietta, Georgia
 

The "Upset City Classic" is what this tournament should be named.  Every year in Atlanta it seems to be one upset after another.  Team 454/Worth led by a pair of grand slam homer's by Mitch Mabe and Phillip White went on to a 26-25 victory over the new Conference 'B' team from Georgia – Down2EarthSports.com/Worth in the championship game and capped a perfect 5-0 weekend.  Team 454 wins their first Conference tournament of the year and become the first non-Major team to win one.

Team 454 is pumped up coming off the field in the Championship game

The tournament didn't start until 8 AM on Saturday morning but the upsets were handed out fast and furious as Softball Express knocked off Blockers/Easton, Gas It dropped Famous 30-18, Primetime over Suncoast 16-11, Down2Earth beat Taylormade 21-9, and the biggest shocker of all Wiley's/Supreme/Combat, a 'C' team from Haines City, Florida knocked off GTL/Cartel/Demarini the number one ranked team in the nation by a run rule score of 30-15.  Wiley's played a perfect game on both sides of the ball as they used a bunch of their allotted 12 homer's early and then hit linedrive after linedrive to keep GTL down the entire way.  To close the game the Wiley's defense made a rash of hard linedrive stabs including a pair of liner's to Wiley's veteran pitcher Curtiss "Wolf" Wilson who tipped one to a diving second baseman and grabbed one himself with an acrobatic swing of his arm to the barehand side.  There was quite honestly nothing GTL could do.  An early feeling that Wiley's was using up all their homer's and GTL could come back by using their own homer's in a better way suddenly turned into an adrenaline rush by the Wiley's lineup as they fed off of each previous batter's success.

The upsets would continue throughout the tournament as Combat/Pharmapar nearly lost 19-16 to LineDrive, a Georgia 'C' team, that led almost the entire game.  Then Primetime dropped Jean Shoppe to the loser's bracket 27-21, Carolina Dynasty beat The Scene 38-28, Major League sent Famous home 20-13, Blocker's sent Suncoast home 19-16, and Taylormade ended GTL's loser bracket run before it started with a late offensive surge 44-39.  Then late on Saturday Wiley's was at it again as they sent Shoppe packing 39-24 followed by another Wiley's trouncing, this time beating Combat/Pharmapar 34-8.

On Sunday when the dust settled from the incredible previous day of great game after great game, it was Team 454 that stood unscathed.  Sunday morning Darkside who had finished the night before beating Primetime after 2 AM got up and put Wiley's away 29-18 before losing to Down2Earth 31-16.

Team Breakdown: 24 Teams: 2 Major, 6 'A', 5 'B', 8 'C', 3 'D' – 12 of which were from Conference USSSA

A note about pitchers being hit:  I noticed what seemed to be more than normal pitchers being hit in this tournament.  In particular Leslie Griffis was hit in the stomach and John Scott hit in the helmet for Down2Earth and Kevin Johnson was hit in the stomach pitching for Team 454.  These were direct hits where the pitchers had hardly any reaction time to stop them.  It may be time to move the mound back 3 feet and help to protect our pitchers.  At some of these Conference events the mound looks real close.  We also need to open up the strike zone a little bit, especially on strike two which seems to be called VERY differently from strike one.  

Darkside (batting) takes on Wiley's on Sunday morning

Combat Pharmapar in the red takes on Gas It on Saturday

Taylormade's Johnny Bailey bats agains Darksides Moose White on Saturday night in extra innings

The Al Bishop complex featured 5 – 300 foot fields and the weather was excellent Saturday.  Sunday it started to get hot.

Darkside taking on Wiley's Sunday

 Down2EarthSports in the blue knocks off Wiley's 37-33

Random video clips from the tournament

Full bat testing was in effect for the entire tournament.   66 bats failed for the initial 24 team test.

"Peach State Shootout Tournament Awards and Final Standings:

Team by team notes brought to you by:

1st Place Team 454 Emerald / Worth  GTGG 

Conf 'A' from Glen Allen, VA   5-0 Record

Team 454 Emerald/Worth wins a very good tournament and does so decisively by outscoring their opponents 155-85.  Once they made it to the semi-finals vs Combat/Pharmapar and the ball was flying, 454 was hitting rocket shots all over the yard.  I wish I had a picture of the score sheet when they beat Pharmapar 48-34 as almost everyone on the team had 4 or 5 runs scored. 

Going back to the Music City tournament where 454 was still alive when the rains washed it out, they have won 7 straight games now and 10 of their last 11.  454 may be the number one ranked 'A' team in the country at this point in the season. 
454 played without infielder Don Rogers (thumb)

 Team 454 has the "eye of the tiger" right now in the 'A' division

 Lineup

C  Derek Perkins 
1B  Mitch Mabe 
LF  Ronald Mack 
3B  William Rhew 
C/EH Kyle Moyer 
RF  Brent Griffin 
MI  Phillip White 
2B  Tyler Newell 
SS  Kevin Bazat 
CF  Evan Gallmeier 
P  Kevin Johnson

Team 454 Coach David Lewis hands MVP pitcher Kevin Johnson the game ball

Team 454 shortstop Kevin Bazat was Defensive MVP

454 pitcher Cameron Byars pitches to Leslie Griffis in the Winner's Bracket Championship late Saturday night

   454's Bubba Mack was hitting laser's all weekend   

454's third baseman William Rhew is also the "Emerald Consulting" part of the team's sponsorship

Team 454's Mitch Mabe pictured above and Phil White below had big grand slam homer's in the Championship game

2nd Place Down2EarthSports.com/Worth   GTGG 

Conf 'B' from Baxley, Georgia   4-2 Record

Down2EarthSports is the latest in a long string of Conference 'B' teams to turn it up a notch in their home event

Down2EarthSports.com/Worth becomes the latest in a string of 'B' teams that has their best Conference tournament ever on their home turf.  D2E brings their record to 6-6 vs 'A' and 4-2 vs 'B' and puts their hat in the ring for a 'B' World run.  

D2E opened up Saturday morning with an impressive 21-9 win over Taylormade, a team that had beaten them on Sunday morning just a week ago in Nashville.  Then they came from 15 down (something GTL couldn't do) to beat Wiley's 37-33.  In their evening semi-final against Primetime they scored the last 17 runs of the game to win 37-21 after being down 21-20 in the 5th.  In the winner's championship Team 454 took the wind out of D2E with some big early innings and D2E never recovered.

On Sunday morning D2E took care of Darkside and then used an 8 run 7th to pull within 1 run against Team 454 in the first and only Championship game.  D2E had all of their starters present for the first time all year.

Robert Canceran celebrates a big homerun against Wileys with his teammates

Lineup

MI Shaun Bridger
SS Todd Hilton
P/EH Jonathan Scott
CF Jesse Scott
LF Lee Payne
2B Robert Canceran
2B Sean Greer
CF Larkin Grant
RF/3B John Canceran
1B Carlton Griffin
RF Brandon Connell

3B/P Leslie Griffis

D2E LF Lee Payne may challenge EWS infielder Brett McCollum as the fastest runner from home to third in the Conference

D2E pitcher John Scott made all tournament.  This picture was just minutes before he was drilled in the helmet 

D2E celebrates a double play to keep them in the winner's championship game vs Team 454

3rd Place Darkside/TYJA/Easton  

Conf 'A' from New Britain, CT   5-2 Record

Darkside sponsor/manager Mark Weber congratulates all tournament pitcher Moose White

Darkside/TYJA/Easton opened against The Scene on Saturday morning and held on 26-24.  Then in their second game they were run ruled and shut down by Team 454.  In the loser's bracket they had the unfortunate luck of meeting Taylormade who had just put up 44 runs on GTL.  The game which was broadcast right here on SoftballCenter.com lasted for hours as both teams defenses opened the door to big innings and in the end Darkside prevailed 33-32 in 9 innings.

Darkside then beat Gas It by 1, beat Primetime at 2 AM Saturday night 21-11 and beat the scrappy Wiley's team on Sunday morning before bowing out to D2E.

I think this is Darksides highest finish ever in a Conference event and a much needed rally after that big extra innings victory.  Darkside played without outfielder Billy Moore and pitcher Dan Sanchez (wrist).

Darkside meets on the mound

Lineup

CF Ryan Parfitt
LF Chris Smith
RF Neil Haglund
3B John Robinson
DH Charlie Baumgartner
C Matt Smith
1B Lou Mongelli
2B Jon Encarnacion
SS Lee Lipschutz
P Frank White
MI Adam Belding

Darkside pitcher Moose White

Click Wegs or Helmer for Easton equipment

Darkside 3 hitter and third baseman John Robinson

4th Place Wiley's/Supreme/Combat  GTGG 

'C' from Haines City, FL   5-2 Record

Wiley's/Supreme/Combat WOW!  It will be tough playing back at the house after tasting this kind of success in the show.  Wiley's moves their Conference record to 8-6 even though they are not a Conference team (but should be).  Wiley's started off with a 25-16 victory over Major League, and followed that up with the well documented "perfect" game over GTL 30-15.  In the third round they jumped out to a 15 run lead on D2E before dropping that one 37-33 in a game that had a little bit of everything including ejections, some chirping, to go with great action and defensive plays.

In the loser's bracket Wiley's knocked off a very good Carolina Dynasty team 31-21, then led early and run ruled both (seriously) Shoppe 39-24 and Combat/Pharmapar 24-8.  On Sunday morning they lost to Darkside 29-18.

A 4th place finish for a team that first showed some promise at last years 'A' Worlds and should come away with a very high ranking when the computer standings come out tomorrow.  This had to be a fun ride home back to Florida for this team having beaten the quality of teams they beat this weekend!

Wiley's could be a quality Conference team.  HOF, 'A' World, Conference Championships, 'B' World, and Major World Series are all in Florida and Atlanta and North Carolina would make it so they would only have to fly maybe 3 times.

Wiley's veteran all tournament pitcher Curtiss "Wolf" Wilson
Lineup

Brian Milstead
Joey Tirrell
Scotty Langford
Roy Garcia
Scobee
JR Nocera
Brannen
Wolf Wilson
Josh Welkes
Oscar Pajon
Jorge Bravo

Wiley's player/part sponsor JR Nocera is one of the better sponsor hitter's in the game

Tied 5th Place PrimeTime/Easton  GTGG 

Conf 'B' from Macon, GA   3-2 Record

PrimeTime/Easton another Georgia Conference 'B' team had a solid weekend and one of their best Conference finishes.  They won 3 in a row to start the tournament including an early Saturday win over Suncoast 16-11 and a lead from the beginning win over Shoppe 27-21 before their defense opened the door for a Down2Earth comeback and a poor offensive showing gave them a loss to Darkside well after midnight Saturday.

PrimeTime may have turned a corner when competing with the top 'A' and 'B' teams.  Hopefully they play another Conference event soon to keep the momentum going.   Primetime played without Earl Bryant.

Primetime celebrates a big homer in their win over Jean Shoppe

Primetime regroups against Darkside after midnight Saturday

Primetime (in the field) upsets Jean Shoppe 27-21

Primetime celebrates a win over Suncoast

Tied 5th Place Combat/Pharmapar/Transat Holiday  GTGG 

Conf 'M' from Seattle, WA   2-2 Record

With all the upsets early in this tournament, the door swung wide open for Combat/Pharmapar to walk through and pick up a top two finish.  This was not to be as they struggled and nearly lost their opener to Linedrive a local 'C' team that had the lead most of the game.  Then in the bottom of the 6th Pharmapar used 5 homer's to take the lead by one run and Linedrive put up a zero in the 7th.  Then Combat beat Gas It convincingly 31-11 and put up 34 but was never really in the game against Team 454 as they lost 48-34.  In the loser's bracket they were thumped 24-8 by a Wiley's team that gained a second wind when the sun went down and the ball really started flying.

The right side of the Pharmapar defense is a duo of Canadians first baseman Claude Chiasson and second baseman Oliver Forest 

Pharmapar pitcher Derek Warren has been a solid presence on the Combat team since the 2009 'B' World Championship

Pharmapar's Michael Taylor strikes the homerun pose

Tied 7th Place Gas It/Easton/Lewis Lawn Care  GTGG 

Conf 'B' from Blacksburg, SC   3-2 Record

Gas It/Easton/Lewis Lawn Care picked up some quality wins over Famous and Blockers and nearly knocked off Darkside.  Gas It moved Gilfillan to shortstop and Bolin to CF.  I'm not sure this is the answer but they competed better at times and still have time to figure this thing out before the end of the season.

Tied 7th Place Shoppe / Team TPS / D2E / Elite  GTGG 

Conf 'A' from McKenzie, TN   2-2 Record

Shoppe / Team TPS / D2E / Elite beat OI Livingston and a jawing battle with Major League but crapped the bed against Primetime and Wileys who held leads on them throughout.  Shoppe has no consistency to their game right now and did not look good in Atlanta.  Rick Sills handled most of the pitching duties in place of the injured Shane Spicer.  They were also missing leadoff man Chad McLamb.

 Shoppe brought in veteran pitcher Rick Sills for the injured Shane Spicer

 Shoppe celebrates a run against Major League

The rest of the Conference Teams:

The left side of the Talormade defense 3B Brent Haywood, SS Dale Zwack, MI Kevin Kennington

Taylormade/TM Sports/Mizuno has had some tough early draws since they haven't played a lot of tournaments and don't have enough Conference points to get good seeds.  They only scored 9 runs against D2E in the second round after scoring big on them last weekend in Nashville.  Then in the loser's bracket they immediately matched up against GTL.  Taylormade trailed for a good part of the game before a big inning and some clutch homer's gave them a lead and they finished off GTL 44-39 for their biggest win of the season.  This win really showed what this young Taylormade team is capable of.  They followed this game immediately with a 9 inning loss to Darkside in a game in which both teams had multiple chances to win.

The Scene's middle infielder Joel Ramos

The Scene/A.J.S./Easton/D2E seemed to play a lot of softball for only 4 games as they beat a local to start then came up short in a comeback against Darkside 26-24.  In the loser's bracket they run ruled Athletic Shop before dropping a shootout to Carolina Dynasty 38-28.  The Scene had newly acquired Kathem Martin leading off and playing 2nd base and outfielder Anthony Aceves.  This team is still a threat in the 'B' division.

Scene takes on Darkside – left to right, Barnowsky, Arlett, SS?, and Blake Williams

Suncoast Reebok lost their opener to Primetime with the bats in their hands in the 7th and home runs left on the table.  Then after a win over a lower class local they lost 19-16 to Blocker's where they trailed most if not all of the way.

Famous Sports/Logo Express/Easton is having an offensive outage.  Part of this team was on the Logo Express team that double dipped Sinister last year in Atlanta.  This just goes to show the difference between having chemistry (2010) and not having it (2011).  Famous lost their opener Saturday morning to Gas It and never really got going offensively and finished 1-2.

GTL Cartel/DeMarini lost their opener to Wiley's 30-15 when they fell behind and just never could set the table to use their homer's.  They won by forfeit in their first loser's bracket game and then led Taylormade for 5 innings before Taylormade made an impressive comeback and left GTL with a 44-39 loss.  

Uh-Oh GTL gets the rare 2 and Q picture, on the phone to change flights…

This may be GTL's worst Conference tournament ever and they kissed their number one ranking good bye.  In their defense there wasn't much they could do, both Wiley's and Taylormade played great and this really shows the bulls eye on GTL's back after their fast start is now as big as Resmondo's but teams are not rolling over for GTL (at least this weekend).

More Pictures Below

A big thanks to my sponsor's – USSSA, Down2EarthSports.com, GameTimeSupply.com, MojoSportsGear.com, TPS, Easton, DSSBats.com, SoftballToday Magazine, BatReviews.com, and BPAthletics

I will be in Houston, Texas next week for the Space City Classic

Also don't forget to click the "like" or "share" on facebook buttons for any articles you particularly enjoyed.  Thanks.

2011 Atlanta, Georgia Major pictures link

Link to the  Bracket/Stats for the Atlanta Major

Link to the tournament in Houston when ready

Link to the tournament in Concord when ready

Link to the USSSA Point Standings and Stats

Here are some other pics from the Atlanta Major:

Blocker's is a solid 'B' division team that will be a tough out at the Worlds

Carolina Dynasty had an impressive win over The Scene

Some chirpin going on in the Major League (blue) vs Shoppe (white) game

The local Georgia 'C' team Linedrive almost knocked off Combat/Pharmapar

Team 454 second baseman Tyler Newell goes all out but eats some dirt!

As always send question, corrections, comments, and criticism's to

DW@softballcenter.com