2013 Nationwide Conference USSSA – Maryland Major tournament report!

2013 Nationwide Conference USSSA

"Battle on the Chesapeake"

Glen Burnie, MD

April 27-28

Albicocco's poses for a championship team photo

Link to the Softballcenter.com picture album of the Maryland Major

USSSA Maryland tournament info and bracket link

Albicocco/The Scene/Easton is the latest Nationwide Conference USSSA winner!  The series now has 5 different winners in 6 events.  Albicocco's was led by MVP pitcher Dan "Dirty" Sanchez and an offense that put up at least one big inning in every game and averaged 28 runs.  Albicocco's knocked off Taylormade/TM Sports/Mizuno 31-18 in the championship game on Sunday afternoon and climb the computer rankings to the #10 spot.

The Maryland tournament began on Saturday morning at 8 AM with a total of 29 teams, 4 of whom were from the Nationwide Conference. 2-A, 4-B, and 13 quality C teams were among the participants from 10 different states.  The big early upset was Above All Landscaping's 20-9 win over Taylormade in the third round.  Meanwhile DEI handled Deluxe Bakery 28-16 in an early round matchup of 'B' teams.  Albicocco came from behind to beat Valley Motors and DEI, and Cash House knocked off 3 straight 'C' teams to make the finals on Saturday night.

In the winner's final, Cash House jumped out to a 10-4 lead before Albicocco opened up the offense and won big 28-13.  Albicocco awaited an opponent for Sundays championship and that opponent was Taylormade who ran the loser's bracket and came from 16 down in the last two innings on Sunday morning to beat Above All Landscape 23-21.  Then Taylormade made quick work of Cash House to make it to the finals.

The weather was cool but sunny and at times there were adverse wind and dust conditions, but overall an excellent weekend for softball in the east in April.  There were no Nationwide Conference umpires in attendance and they used the Dudley ZN .40 core conference ball.  The seeding for the tournament was unusual in that non-conference 'B' teams like Deluxe Bakery had to play a conference team DEI in the second round and non-conference 'B' Valley Motors had to play and 'A' team Albicocco in the 2nd round.

Dal Beggs leads Albicocco into the championship game against Taylormade

DW's Soap Box:

I am cracking out the soap box for the first time.  I just wanted to bring attention to some very minor issues.  So far through the first 6 events the Nationwide Conference series is off to a great start.  The teams are stronger than ever, the competition (other than Resmondo games) has been great, and the umpiring and facilities have been first rate.  So take this as constructive criticism and not complaining.

Non-conference umpires need to make sure there is a "hump" on the pitch and watch for where the pitcher is releasing the ball.  The low strike has been a small issue in games umpired by non-conference officials.

Bracket makers:  I would make sure the seeding function on the USSSA website is still working properly when seeding "To Be Determined" class teams.  It doesn't seem to be working correctly, at least for Maryland.

Let's think about not scheduling a Nationwide Conference event before or after the Hall of Fame Classic as it seems to have an adverse effect on the Houston tournament before the dual and the Phoenix and Maryland tournaments that came after.

Finally, the points system.  While the points system has worked well from 2006 to 2012, the teams have caught on as to how to "work the system".  In Las Vegas Nordkap finished 2nd in a very good tournament and earned 137 points.  Albicocco won the Maryland tournament and will earn 152 points.  S&S Pools who went 0-4 in the Dual events at the Hall of Fame Classic earned 152 points for the first tournament and 152 points for the second tournament.  I understand giving more points for events that have the major teams in them, but let's think about cutting off the points for teams that finish 17th or lower who have a losing record.  Otherwise in the near future we are only going to have teams join the Conference that can afford to play the 6 biggest points paying events, and the smaller events will continue to dry up.  Just something to think about for 2014.

Some of the players hung around to watch a few games

Above All Landscaping's Patrick Riporti tees off on a pitch from Cash House 

It was nice the outfields had the big warning tracks because balls peppered the 300 foot fences regularly

Valley Motors (blue) takes on the TM Sports 'C' team early on Saturday

Video Highlites brought to you by:

Maryland video clips

Ballard won the home run derby on the big baseball field Friday night.

He also made the 300 foot fields during the tournament look like a little league field.

Ballard was also Offensive MVP

Maryland Major Final Standings & Awards

Team by team notes brought to you by:

1st Place – Albicocco/The Scene/Easton

Conf 'A' from NY  5-0 Record

Albicocco takes a step in the right direction as they used some big double digit innings in each game to roll undefeated in Maryland.  Sponsor/Manager Toni Albicocco actually made an appearance and it seemed to make a difference in the way the team played as they put on an offensive show.  After a slow start against a good Valley Motors in their second game Albicocco put up an 11 spot in the 4th and went on to beat win 30-25.

They would repeat this pattern in their 3rd game against DEI when DEI held an 11-4 lead after 3 innings.  Albicocco would score 9 in the 4th and 16 runs in the 5th to win 30-16.  Two homers by Ballard, and homers by Beggs, Robinson, Knoblauch, and Faniglula powered the big innings.

Then again in the winner's bracket championship, upstart Cash House had Albicoccos down 10-4 after two innings when TMack, Tapley, Riley (2), and Beggs (2) all homered and Albiccocos scored 9 in the third and 13 in the 4th and won 28-13.

In the championship game on Sunday, Albicoccos put up 10 on Taylormade in the first inning behind a grand slam by leadoff man Steve Allen after they batted around the order.  Then after Taylormade closed the gap to 15-13 in the 4th, Albicoccos used 3 run homers by Ballard and Faniglula to score 12 in the 5th inning and won 31-18.

Albicoccos defense can be stingy and capable of making the great plays.  Their outfield played the wind well and did not make many mistakes.  Albicocco turned on the offense when they needed it in a big way. The only question is, can they do that against the other top 'A' and Major teams/pitchers?  We will find out in 3 weeks at the big "Music City Classic" in Nashville, TN.

The second half of the lineup changed around a lot as manager Tony Albicocco gave a look to some new players, but here is an approximate lineup:

LF Steve Allen
2B Dal Beggs
SS Robert Knoblauch
C  Shawn Ballard
3B John Robinson
1B Chris Moon
CF Eric Beattie
EH Tanner Tapley
MI Tony Mack
RF Mike Faniglula
P  Dan Sanchez

Others that played: IF Josh Riley, OF Brent Griffin, SS Hector Diaz

Sponsor/Manager Toni Albicocco is undefeated in Nationwide Conference play when he is there to manage.

John Robinson and Steve Allen rarely make outs and have a knack for hitting doubles

Dal Beggs looks to help Albicoccos move to the top of the 'A' division

Albicocco SS Robert Knoblauch (left) made the play of the tournament with a full out dive in the hole.

Tony Mack (right) locked down the middle of the defense and batted from both sides of the plate.

2nd Place – Taylormade/TM Sports/Mizuno

Conf 'A' from VA  6-2 Record

Taylormade was unimpressive in their 12-8 opening win over a solid CGR team.  Then in their second game with the wind blowing in hard from left field they were out muscled by Above All Landscaping 20-9.  Dropping to the loser's bracket, much too early, they knocked off their TM Sports "farm" team 23-0, a good Deluxe Bakery team 29-9, and then late Saturday night knocked off DEI 29-15 to make it to Sunday.

On Sunday morning against Above All Landscaping, Tmade was outplayed from the start in every phase of the game and were actually trailing 21-5.  Inning ending double plays, errors, and an Above All team that came to advance.  But Above All didn't close the door when they had the chance at a run rule and Taylormade scored 9 in the 6th, and 9 more in the bottom of the 7th and won on a 3 run walk off homer by lead off man John ZorichBrian 23-21!

Somewhat amazed to be in the loser's final, Taylormade made quick work of Cash House with a 6 run 2nd and a 13 run 3rd on the power of homers by Zorich, Bolton, Langford, and Logan and won the game 22-7 in 5 innings.

In the championship, Taylormade weathered a 10 run first inning by Albicocco to close the gap to 15-13 on multi run homers by Brian Logan, Blake King, and Chris Kirian but surrendered 12 in the top of the 5th and lost 31-18.

Taylormade never gave up, played fairly well defensively, and showed that even when they are not playing their best softball they can still win games against good teams.

LF John Zorich
C  Blake King
2B Scott Langford
MI Billy Moran
1B Stacy Bolton
SS Nick Utley
RF Jackie Corn
3B Chris Kirian
P  Kevin Johnson
CF Brian Logan

Rick Leith, Chyenne Brooks, Chris Calcutt, and Brian Floyd also contributed for manager Dean Stevens.

Taylormade leadoff man John Zorich caps an 18 run rally in the last to innings with a walk off 3 run homer

Taylormade SS Nick Utley and MI Billy Moran attempt to turn a doubleplay

3rd Place – Cash House ATM/Louisville Slugger

Conf 'C' from OH  4-2 Record

Cash House ATM is the new sponsor of the "old" Elk & Elk team.  They came to Maryland from the Cleveland, Ohio area wanting to make their mark in their first Nationwide Conference event of the season.  They definitely got their money's worth on Saturday as they knocked off 3 very solid eastern 'C' teams by a combined score of 82-50.  Each time they were set to play one of the top teams in the tournament, the top team would get upset and sent to the loser's bracket.

Credit Cash House for beating the teams they were supposed to beat and they did have a 10-4 lead over Albicocco early in the winner's bracket championship game.

Cash House is a line drive hitting team (much like Classic Glass) who can sneak up on opponents.  They are led by veteran Eric Gallon at the top of the order who can do it all offensively and defensively.  Allen Dina an OF/2B who mashes, and SS Marce Porcello who doubles as a pitcher.

Cash House probably needs some more power if they hope to win games on bigger fields and or when they face the Disney heat come worlds time.  They also need to learn in these longer conference games to "weather the storm" when an 'A' or 'B' team puts up a big number and just come back and play their game offensively the next inning sort of like Taylormade did in a couple of their other Sunday games.

FYI: I am just getting to learn this teams players and may have messed up more than a few first and last names during the livestreams of their games.

MI Eric Galon
LF Allen Dina
3B Ryan Roppel
C  Rob Whitehouse
SS Marce Porcello
1B Steve Zemanek
CF Rusty Dodge
RF Kevin Raisor
2B Scott Shantery
P  Reuben Miller

Kyle Moriarty and Tim Lemponen also played.

SS/P Marce Porcello and Eric Galon

Cash House veteran Rob Whitehouse (above) and Ryan Roppel (below) bat 3-4

3First baseman Steve Zemanek led Cash House in hitting and Allen Dina an up and coming Conference talent

4th Place – AboveAllLandscaping/ACS/QWS

'C' from NJ  4-2 Record

I didn't see a lot of Above All Landscapes games but I did see enough to know this is one of the top 'C' teams in the nation.  They have some serious firepower with Luke Golden, and former ABS veterans middle infielder Chris Montenegro and left hander Patrick Riporti.  They have a hardnosed pitcher in Russ Banasiak, and some good younger talent in 3rd baseman Bobby McMinn, SS Jesse Campanelli, and leadoff man Jason "J-Bird" Hoynowski.

They beat rival Southern Smoke twice, should have beaten Taylormade twice (let a 21-5 lead slip away), and was also beating Cash House early on but ended up losing 32-19.  When this team learns to close out opponents, and keep the foot on the gas, they can play with any 'A' or lower team in the country.

I look forward to seeing their progress if they make it to the Cincinnati Major in July as they are planning.  Although they may find more success in a smaller event like Toledo in June.  Just a thought.

Joseph Quenet of Above All Landscaping

Tied 5th Place – Southern Smoke Easton

'C' from MD  5-2 Record

Southern Smokes lost an early battle of big eastern 'C' teams 26-17 to Above All Landscape.  Then they ran 4 straight in the loser's bracket including a big Saturday evening win over Valley Motors 25-20.  They lost the last game of the night to Above All Landscaping 13-8 after the game was tied 8-8 going into the late innings.

I recognize a few names on the roster, but overall a solid 'C' team with a hard hitting style.

Tied 5th Place – DEI/S&S/Scott's/Easton

Conf 'B' from MA  2-2 Record

DEI played without Chris Carr and the injured Daren Hunter.  Hunter was hit in the mouth by a bat at the Hall of Fame Classic and is recovering afer surgery.  He hopes to be back for the Nashville tournament.  Softballcenter wishes him the best on his recovery.

2B Matt McCraw
SS Jeff Lahair
CF Matt Tindell
C  Todd Pease
Dylan Davidson
Josh Biershenk
3B Sean Hussey
EH Bruce Dady
Joe Venturini
P John Hickey
MI Dale Zwack

McCraw and Biershenk are two of DEI's younger players

DEI centerfielder Matt Tindell

DEI 2-hitter Jeff Lahair

More pictures below

Hot Links section brought to you by:

I would like to thank all of my sponsors, USSSA, the SoftballCenter and Oldscout advertisers, and Maryland USSSA director Bob Holland!

Some of the archived games from the Maryland Major can be found here

USSSA Maryland tournament link

Link to Softballcenter.com pictures of the Maryland Major

Send corrections to dw@softballcenter.com

Link to the SoftballCenter.com Youtube channel

Link to the 2013 Tournament Reports

Link to the 2012 Tournament Reports

Some more pictures for you:

Valley Motors/Reebok/Easton/VectorTeamSports.com out of Rhode Island features Bobby Olah, John Redihan, and team Canada players Ryan Wood and Jeff Gare

Professional hitter Stacy Mizelle plays for the TM Sports 'C' team sponsored by Travis Taylor who also sponsors Taylormade.

Note the same uniforms in all of the pictures.  That is Travis hitting below.

Semper takes on FSA

Deluxe Bakery had a tough draw playing DEI in the second round

"Softball Guy"

Mike Dill who plays with Linedrive Sportz and works for Combat Sports Group helped broadcast a couple of games.

mdill@combatsportsgroup.com if you need any equipment

Late on Saturday night it got a little chilly