Friday March 29th, 2024
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2011 Conference USSSA Dudley Recap

 

 

 2011 Conference USSSA

28th Annual Dudley/Budweiser/Easton Classic

Brooklyn Center, Minnesota

June 17 – 19

 

GTL vs Resmondo on Championship Sunday at the Dudley

 

 Crowds were reasonably large considering the bad weather at times

Click Wegs or Helmer for Easton equipment

GTL and Resmondo take in the ground rules and coin flip

Rain storms and fog could not stop the mighty 28th Annual Dudley Budweiser Easton Classic in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.   There were some close calls for the major teams who all seemed to run hot one game and cold the next.   When the fog lifted on Sunday morning it was the 4 Major teams out of the 30 team field that were still standing and they took turns run ruling each other until the end.   Resmondo-Specialty Tank/Worth defeated GTL Cartel/Demarini 52-34 in the second game (the "if" game) of the championship Sunday afternoon to take home the first leg of the modern era "Grand Slam".   The other 3 tournaments in the "Grand Slam" are the Smoky Mountain Classic, the Conference Championships, and the Major World Series.

The Dudley kicked off Friday night in front of a healthy crowd of beer guzzling softball die hards with some of the local teams getting a shot at the big boys from Conference USSSA.   One team in particular who was actually from Michigan was P&P, Plumber's and Pipefitters and they gave GTL a run for their money but came up short 12-8.   Upsets were few and far between as the Dudley quickly became a Conference dominated event.   DMC was the only team from the Conference to lose their first game.

On Saturday the winner's bracket resumed at 8 am under mostly cloudy skies cooler than normal temperatures.   Again all of the favorites moved on with only T's 13 attempting the only upset bid, giving Combat/Pharmapar a run for their money in a 31-23 loss.    Local 'B' team BBS Johnny's gave Suncoast a little scare by jumping out to a 14 run first inning lead before dropping 26-20.

Note: Lets add BBS Johnny's to the short list of 'B' teams that have a legitimate shot at the 'B' Worlds.   Other's on the list are Midwest Coast/Columbus Pipe, and maybe one of the real good 'C' teams that would be smart to enter like a Wiley's or BWW/Buzini.   I also like Cash Money out of Texas but I don't think they have the defense. 

On Saturday around noon GTL and Resmondo advanced easily but the Combat matchup between Combat/Laser Vision and Combat/Pharmapar was a war.   This was easily the game of the tournament.   Laser Vision jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the top of the first.   Pharmapar answered, which they don't always do, with a 15 run inning of their own.   The game had some huge innings and wound up with Pharmapar giving away a big lead with some defensive miscues.   But in the bottom of the 7th with 2 outs and runners on, Luc "The Canadian Bull" Chauvette smacked a walk off single to win the marathon contest for Pharmapar in front of a nice crowd.

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Elsewhere, EWS had a battle with Suncoast that was interupted by a downpour which saturated the infields.  The game was delayed for an hour and when it resumed EWS pulled the game out by 2 in extra innings over a Suncoast team that had plenty of chances to win with the bats.

In the quarter finals GTL hammered Pharmapar 32 to an almost unexplainable 0.   Ouch.   Resmondo meanwhile jumped out to a huge lead on EWS early on, nearly run ruling them.  In order to comeback, EWS hit a bunch of 2 run homer's and slowly climbed back into the game before dropping to Resmondo 38-34 when they put up a zero in the bottom of the 7th with no homer's left.

As the drizzling rain and loser's bracket played out late into Saturday night, the fog rolled in and just before the much anticipated showdown between GTL and Resmondo was about to begin, the fog became too thick to continue.   Games were postponed until 8 AM Sunday morning.


R&M second baseman Aaron Middendorf makes a great leaping stab


The two best defensive players in the game today.  Andy Purcell of Resmondo on the left and Matt Pesso of GTL on the right

In the morning GTL came out with a stifling defense much like they did in Chicago and then put up a couple of big innings and put Resmondo away quickly 30-10 in 4 innings.   In the loser's bracket Laser Vision put up a big first inning on Pharmapar but Pharmapar answered again and had the lead early on.   Laser Vision went on a huge run and ended up run ruling Pharmapar to slip into the loser's bracket championship where they laid an egg against Resmondo who batted around almost 4 times in the 25 run first inning and Ressy won by the run rule 47-17.

In the first game of the Championship showdown, Resmondo used a double figure first inning to put GTL back on their heels and won 45-20.   In the second game GTL jumped out to a 15-5 lead? before Resmondo stormed back and grabbed the coveted championship by an astonishing score of 52-34.   Last week in Chicago you may recall that Resmondo forced an "if" game but GTL held them off.   In the last 6 meetings between the two, they are 3-3.   For the season they are 6-6.   The last 8 games between the two super powers have been won by the run rule.   What is happening here is one of these teams or the other gets on a tremendous offensive roll and the momentum swings so hard one way that the other team just doesn't have a chance to come back even if they play well.   It is quite incredible to watch these great hitter's from both teams when they put up one of those 15 run innings against the best pitchers and defenders in the game today.

Resmondo wins their 5th tournament of the season and outscored their last 3 opponents an amazing 146-61.


When Greg Connell hit a rare popup with the bases loaded, Bryson Baker was there to pick him up with a grand slam and "B's" grabbed MVP

The Dudley uses 3 different parks that have 2 fields each, making it difficult to follow the tournament.   However at the main fields at Centennial Park (CN and CS on your bracket) it makes for a better atmosphere.   Although most thought the quality of teams at the Dudley was down this year, I didn't see a difference at the main fields where every matchup was a good one.

The grounds crew and tournament director Warren Bellm did a fantastic job of keeping the games on time and every game played to completion.   By evening, even with all of the rain, the fields looked great.

The famed Central North field where all of the big games have been played at the Dudley over its storied 28 year history

 

 

These two ladies sung the National Anthem before the Championship game

The Fog rolls in on Saturday night

YouTube Preview Image

Random video clips from the tournament

DW's weekly rant:   This weeks rant is about the Conference Umpires.   I don't want anyone to think for a minute that when I show a picture of a player striding out of the batter's box or I complain about the length of games, that I am blaming the Conference Umpires.   I am just pointing out some things that can be tweaked in Conference play to make the league better.   The Conference umpires are an awesome group of men that absolutely love the game of softball and they separate upper level softball today from the inconsistencies, constant arguments, and just plain hard to watch upper level ball of the 1990's.   The consistent strike zones, the superb game management, and the respect that the Conference umpires command makes each and every weekend much better from a fan's perspective.   This year in particular I think the umpires have done a great job with the bang bang plays and the traps and tough calls.   So when I point out something negative about the rules or enforcing rules or umpiring, just realize that I do so knowing we can never go back to relying strictly on local umpires to call the big games.   Having at least one group of Conference umpires at each league event is a must and USSSA has done a great job of providing this on a weekly basis.

I thought I was watching two good 'B' teams when Winner's Way came from behind to beat Urban Land Works 29-25.   There was plenty of 'A'/'B' talent on both teams but when I looked at the team pages on my iphone it said 'C' vs 'D'?

 


Dudley Tournament Awards and Final Standings:

Player Tournament Awards
Players Name
Plays For
Tournament MVP
Resmondo-Specialty Tank / Worth
Defensive Tournament MVP
GTL Cartel/DeMarini
All Tournament Team
Team Combat/LaserVision/D2E/Supreme
All Tournament Team
Team Combat/LaserVision/D2E/Supreme
All Tournament Team
Resmondo-Specialty Tank / Worth
All Tournament Team
Team Combat/LaserVision/D2E/Supreme
All Tournament Team
Resmondo-Specialty Tank / Worth
All Tournament Team
GTL Cartel/DeMarini
All Tournament Team
GTL Cartel/DeMarini
All Tournament Team
GTL Cartel/DeMarini
All Tournament Team
Team Combat/LaserVision/D2E/Supreme
All Tournament Team
Combat/Pharmapar/Transat Holiday
All Tournament Team
Combat/Pharmapar/Transat Holiday
All Tournament Team
Combat/Pharmapar/Transat Holiday
All Tournament Team
Resmondo-Specialty Tank / Worth
All Tournament Team
Resmondo-Specialty Tank / Worth
All Tournament Team
Resmondo-Specialty Tank / Worth
All Tournament Team
Resmondo-Specialty Tank / Worth
All Tournament Team
GTL Cartel/DeMarini
All Tournament Team
GTL Cartel/DeMarini
Place
State
Team
Team
Class
Wins
Loses
Ties
Runs
Scored
Runs
Allow
Avg
Runs
Avg
Allow
Avg
Diff
Max
Runs
1
FL
SPMensMajor
6
1
0
251
156
35.8
22.2
13.5
52
150
2
WA
SPMensMajor
4
2
0
168
136
28
22.6
5.33
40
110
3
WA
SPMensMajor
6
2
0
273
170
34.1
21.2
12.8
47
90
4
WA
SPMensMajor
4
2
0
174
179
29
29.8
-0.8
48
80
5
FL
SPMensA
4
2
0
171
117
28.5
19.5
9
40
140
5
IL
SPMensA
3
2
0
150
120
30
24
6
37
140
7
KS
SPMensB
3
2
0
89
98
17.8
19.6
-1.8
26
120
7
IA
SPMensA
3
2
0
94
90
18.8
18
0.80
24
120
9
MN
XTREME/COMBAT Qualified
SPMensC
3
2
0
114
60
22.8
12
10.8
38
100
9
MN
SPMensC
3
2
0
86
65
17.2
13
4.2
29
100
9
MN
SPMensB
3
2
0
98
116
19.6
23.2
-3.6
25
100
9
NE
SPMensB
3
2
0
75
71
15
14.2
0.80
23
100
13
MN
SPMensD
2
2
0
60
57
15
14.2
0.75
24
80
13
MN
SPMensC
2
2
0
47
53
11.7
13.2
-1.5
19
80
13
MN
SPMensC
2
2
0
79
78
19.7
19.5
0.25
25
80
13
MN
SPMensC
2
2
0
50
79
12.5
19.7
-7.2
29
80
17
IA
SPMensC
1
2
0
20
38
6.66
12.6
-6
10
40
17
MN
SPMensD
1
2
0
38
67
12.6
22.3
-9.6
17
40
17
MN
SPMensD
1
2
0
15
31
5
10.3
-5.3
7
40
17
MI
SPMensC
1
2
0
31
49
10.3
16.3
-6
14
40
17
MN
SPMensC
1
2
0
66
69
22
23
-1
29
40
17
MO
SPMensB
1
2
0
44
53
14.6
17.6
-3
27
40
17
MN
SPMensC
0
2
0
23
33
11.5
16.5
-5
13
40
17
MN
SPMensC
0
2
0
12
54
6
27
-21
10
40
25
MN
SPMensD
0
2
0
8
73
4
36.5
-32.
8
0
25
MN
SPMensD
0
2
0
14
45
7
22.5
-15.
10
20
25
MN
SPMensD
0
2
0
25
61
12.5
30.5
-18
25
20
25
MN
SPMensC
0
2
0
27
35
13.5
17.5
-4
15
0
25
MN
SPMensD
0
2
0
30
65
15
32.5
-17.
19
20
25
TXS
SPMensB
0
2
0
0
14
0
7
-7
0
20

 


Team by team notes brought to you by:


1st Place Resmondo-Specialty Tank / Worth  GTGG 

Conf 'M' from Winter Haven, FL   6-1 Record

These guys and GTL probably hate that I took pictures with their hats off.   I know I would.

Resmondo did the unthinkable and double dipped GTL.  When I was headed to the airport around noon before the tournament was over I heard GTL had the lead in the second game and actually started to write the report as if they had won the tournament.   

Resmondo played without Jeff Wallace.   Out of respect for Jeff, I ask all of softball to give him some space and time to work things out.   He has over 10 years with Resmondo and lets not speculate on what will happen.   Resmondo also has Striebel and Hughes who are banged up in the outfield.   Fulk and Krause who are banged up in the infield.  The good news is I think they are off for 3 weeks until the Smoky.

However, even with all the injuries, the offensive display that they put on in the final 3 games was unbelievable.   Crisp, clean, solid hitting, line to line and gap to gap.

The 25 run inning against Laser Vision was impressive.   Only the Shoppe monster inning at the Hall of Fame Classic, which was also against Laser Vision, was a better inning out of the entire Conference season so far.   Resmondo also handled all of their non-GTL opponents pretty well and there were some great plays out of Jr, Purcell (who actually dove sideways and stopped a hard grounder from his pitcher position), and how about that diving play Mike Rhines made at third base on Sunday morning! 

 Resmondo 2B Greg Connell continues to play both sides of the ball.    In the old days he probably would have played 3B or even SS on a few of those unlimited homerun teams

There wasn't an Offensive MVP listed on the Tournament web page, but I'll go ahead and give it to Andy Purcell who made hitting look easy on Sunday


2nd Place GTL Cartel/Demarini   GTGG 

Conf 'M' from Othello, Washington   4-2 Record


GTL's success starts with the management and sponsorship group which has had great foresight to build a team with such great talent and chemistry.   Then the success continues with multiple time MVP pitcher Geno Buck who in my opinion is beginning to give Resmondo pitcher Andy Purcell a run for his money as the best.   Then the attitude of the defense hinges on the well documented play of its middle infield, Dress-Pesso-Cordova who continue to make great play after great play.   Then they have a rotation of 4 solid outfielders and some big hitters on the corner's and EH/C's from both sides of the plate, and a patient leadoff hitter in Mike Bowlin who you probably could make a case as being the best right handed leadoff hitter in today's game.

In that winner's bracket championship game on Sunday morning, GTL second baseman Victor Cordova made a full extension "snowcone" stab of a Don Dedonatis Jr. linedrive then middle infielder Matt Pesso challenged and stopped a Greg Connell smashed ground ball to start the top of the first, and those plays really seemed to set the tone of the game.   The fact that they were double dipped in the finals doesn't mean a whole lot in the long run as these teams are about as evenly matched as any two super teams we've seen in a long time.

Geno Buck scores and is congratulated by Tim Howard and Anthony Dress

GTL outfielder Mike Bowlin is one of the few elite right hand hitting leadoff men in the game

Geno Buck is doing more than just pitching as he holds down the 3 spot in a stacked lineup


 

3rd Place Team Combat/Laservision/D2E/Supreme   

Conf 'M' from Kent, WA   4-2 Record

Laser Vision much like Resmondo is a bit banged up.   Rick Baker was back in center field, and Brett Helmer played most of the weekend after sitting out Chicago with the bad back.   Rusty Bumgardner was mashing and they didn't have trouble scoring runs except for when they played Resmondo.   Laser Vision lost that Pharmapar shootout 48-47 but recovered to run off a string of nice wins in the loser's bracket against BBS, R&M, EWS, and a revenge victory over Pharmapar.   

Laser Vision is looking a step slow on defense but still has so many tough outs with the game on the line that they give themselves a chance to win most games.   Their nemesis is GTL and Resmondo and their lack of competitiveness against those two teams. 

Andy Vitcak had the best weekend out of the Laser Vision pitchers

Rusty Bumgarnder and Brett Helmer on the right side of the defense

 Rick Baker slipped rounding third and dove back to the base in the mud 

It wasn't quite the father's day that Scott Brown's dad had in mind for Combat/Laser Vision


  

4th Place Combat/Pharmapar/Transat Holiday   

Conf 'M' from Seattle, WA   4-2 Record

Pharmapar had a bit of a breakthrough weekend.   They won that Laser Vision game 48-47 and then put up the zero against GTL.   This just shows you how much momentum, both positive and negative, and sometimes adrenaline affect the game of softball.   To score 48 one game and 0 the next is an incredible thing.   Then in the loser's bracket they held on to beat Suncoast 42-40 when both teams were out of homer's in the 6th before losing early Sunday to Laser Vision in the rematch of the earlier great game. 

Pharmapar played without most of their infield and again moved Sal Formosa to short and Mike Taylor to middle infield.   Pharmapar needs a backup pitcher in these marathon games to change it up.   All in all, a nice weekend for Pharm and something they can build on.


The "Canadian Connection", left to right,  Andre Francoer, Stephane Leduc, Claude Chiasson, and Luc Chauvette

Derek Warren is one of the better hitting pitchers in the game and gets a lot of work on the mound without a backup


Tied 5th Place Suncoast/Reebok  GTGG 

Conf 'A' from Parish, FL   4-2 Record

Suncoast came from behind to beat BBS/Johnny's, then let one slip away in extra innings against EWS.   In the loser's bracket they handled T's 13 and RFC before losing a late Saturday shootout with Pharmapar 42-40.

Suncoast had a new center fielder, I believe his name was Curtis that looked good.   Hank Garris is gone from the team.   Justice was back in the fold, but Losson White and Marty Malloy stayed home injured.   Bean and Nelson did the pitching.

Suncoast has a solid season going with some ups and downs.   Now they need a signature win over one of the top 3 major teams and a finals appearance to break through.

Curtis? the new center fielder for Suncoast

 

 


Tied 5th Place EWS/ShirtsandLogos/Drgraphx/Easton  GTGG 

 Conf 'A' from Chicago, IL   3-2 Record

EWS knocked off Suncoast 21-19 in the Saturday afternoon rain delay game.   A bit of a gift from Suncoast from what I heard.   Then in the quarter finals against Resmondo they had to dig their way out of a huge deficit.   They weren't able to score in the bottom of the 7th down 38-34 but it was a great game nevertheless and showed EWS they can compete with the best.

In the loser's bracket they had a similar game against Laser Vision.   They were down big early on and just never could quite climb all the way back into it.

 The new left side of the defense, Brett McCollum, Mike Umschied, and Tony Mack

"Give the man a handshake" – Wheres the mustaches?


 

The rest of the Conference Teams:


7th – R&M had a walkoff homer by Kyle Yerkes to beat a very good Chanticlear Pizza team 20-19 but still isn't competing with the Major teams

YouTube Preview Image

R&M center fielder Brian Zirkle left the Dudley early for good reason.   He went to see his brother Calvin in the OAKAD 170lb MMA Title Fight.   For you MMA fans this is worth watching!

9th – T's 13 hung tough with Pharmapar for awhile but still hasn't had a real signature win this year

 7th – RFC beat 3 locals

DMC lost bad on Friday night to a 'D' team called DSTI and never made it back to the main complex except to drink beer when they were done.  So I didn't get any pics.  Sorry

 


 

alt

More Pictures Below  


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

I am not scheduled to be at another tournament until the Smoky in early July. 

2011 Dudley Major pictures link

Link to the  Bracket/Stats for the Dudley Major

Link to the tournament in Connecticut when ready

Link to the USSSA Point Standings and Stats


Here are some other pics from the Dudley Major:

BBS Johnny's – Irving, Kelsey, Palm, Peterson, Strunk, Schultz, Thurman and other's.   This is one of the better non-conference 'B' teams in the country

They play through the mud in Minnesota.   Who knew?



Jeremy Dahlby from Works

Centennial Park is a very scenic place to play ball

 

 

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

DW@softballcenter.com


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