Added All Tournament Awards —> 2013 Nationwide Conference USSSA Toledo (Maumee) Major tournament report!

2013 Nationwide Conference USSSA

"Miken Northern Ohio Major"

Maumee, OH

June 15

Line Drive's Mike Dill t's off on Precision's Todd Ankney's pitch

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

USSSA Toledo tournament info and bracket link

Line Drive Sportz/SSS/Sports, an 'A' team based out of Michigan, nearly dominated the Miken Northern Ohio Major NIT this past weekend as they went 5-1 and outscored their opponents 169-88.  Line Drive beat Albicocco/The Scene/Easton 34-19 in the "if" game of the championship early Sunday morning at 2:30 AM to take the title.

The tournament began on Saturday morning at 9 AM with 16 teams from 5 states competing.  9 of the teams were from the Nationwide Conference USSSA. The only Conference team upset in the first round was TG Brand who was beaten by Bella's 19-14. Bellas then became the only non-conference team in the second round.  The 4 fields used were all 300 foot down the lines and 310 to center field with nice 15 foot high home run fences that kept line drives in the park.  There was plenty of hard hitting action and at least one pitcher from Bellas, Anthony "Ant" Mattix was injured by a line drive.  Each field had a crown to it for drainage that put the pitcher’s mound up just a little bit and gave some hitter's fits on the strike zone.

In the second round Albicocco survived P&P 30-23.  Red's cruised past Bellas 25-5.  Precision used a walk off homer by big Frank Fracek in the bottom of the 8th to beat Pure Romance 18-17, and Line Drive Sportz squeaked past a fired up Trust/Detroit Elite team 22-19 after Trust pitcher Dan Evans hit a big 3 run homer to cut the lead to 3 with homer's left before the Trust offense stalled.

In the semi-finals Line Drive Sportz made quick work of Precision 32-1 when they batted around the lineup twice in one inning. Some Line Drive batters batted 3 times in that inning!  On Field #2 Red's was in control of Albicocco as they led most of the game.  But in the bottom of the 6th, Albicocco took a 5 run lead when they made what could have been a fatal mistake.  Albicocco re-entered infielder Buster Hendricks to run at first base after he was pinch hit for by John Robinson who had walked.  The problem is Hendricks himself was a substitute for Phillip White who had left the game early with a pulled muscle and was the starter.  When play resumed with two outs, Albicocco made an out and went to the 7th inning with a 5 run lead.  Red's then questioned the illegal substitution and protested the game.  After much deliberation it was decided to finish the game.  Red's lost, but continued to protest the illegal substitution.  After the game and another long delay it was decided by the rule book (page 32) that the game could be taken back to the point of the illegal substitution.  Hendricks
would be ejected for illegal substitution and the game would resume with 2 outs and a 5 run lead and the original starter, who was the only eligible player, was re-entered as Albicocco was out of substitutes on the bench.  Both teams were called back to the field and Albicocco added 2 runs to their lead and beat Red's 25-22 and moved to the championship game.

Albicocco and Reds Astros try to listen to the illegal substitution decision from Rick Robertson

In the winner's bracket final Line Drive put it to Albicocco with another impressive offensive performance and won 36-19.  Albicocco then came out of the loser's bracket late on Saturday night and forced an "if" game of the
championship with a 14 run first inning and a 30-23 win.  But Albicocco came up short in the second game when Line Drive returned the favor with a 15 run first inning and never looked back after a grand slam by Keith Anderson in the bottom of the 5th pushed the game to a 29-19 Line Drive lead and eventually a 34-19 run rule win.

The championship games were full of great diving catches by Albicocco CF Evan Gallmeier, double plays by Tony Mack, game saving chest (or as I was corrected by Robert) collar bone stopping grounders by SS Robert Knoblauch.  You have to be impressed by the level of offense and defense played in this championship by these two teams after having been at the park from 10:30 AM until 2:30 AM and playing their 6th and 7th games.  These guys are warriors and both pitchers basically pitched the tournament from beginning to end.  The games had big home runs, grand slams, and a lot of chirping from Dal Beggs and Tony Mack and a Line Drive team that had a feeling that this was their weekend.  All of it was good gamesmanship and an attempt at intimidation but what should be expected in a heated battle after nearly 16 straight hours of softball.

The Conference ZN Classic M ball was used, Doc and Tony led a quality group of umpires, and the weather was near perfect with just a little bit of rain and a little wind.  Full bat bucket testing was administered with bats re-tested Saturday evening for the final 4 teams.  Hopefully the Toledo major remains for years to come and the number of Conference team’s increases with a fix to the points system.  I think the last weekend in June would be a better weekend for the Toledo major as many of the regional teams just finished playing in Columbus, Ohio and Chicago the previous two weekends.

Crowd was small

Red's Astros Justin Aldora tries to hit one past Precision pitcher Todd Ankney

The softbtball fields are built behind the old Toledo Mudhens stadium which could be used as the main field if they can attract some Major teams to come to the event. 

The fields in Toledo reminded me of the Columbus, Indiana park except with higher fences

Trust/Detroit Elite's Dan Steingraber takes one deep against Pure Romance

Brian Blay with the go-kart track in background

Video Highlites brought to you by:

Compression testing

 Major Final Standings & Awards

Team by team notes brought to you by:

1st Place – Line Drive Sportz/SSS/Miken

Conf 'A' from Michigan  5-1 Record

Line Drive wins their first Nationwide Conference tournament of the year and score their 3rd top 4 finish in the last 3 weeks!  The defensive improvement by pitcher Faron Miller and shortstop Jared Krasselt coupled with an offense that continues to feed off of its own momentum in an unselfish way, makes this team a contender for the 'A' World title.  Line Drive is now 13-2 vs TBD's so they are really taking care of business there and now improve to 6-4 vs 'A' teams on the season.  Remember the last 12 'A' World winner's had twice as many wins in class as they did losses…

Line Drive won their first 4 games in dominating fashion and were only tested once, by Trust/Detroit Elite in the winner's bracket.  They pulled that one out 22-19 and won the other 3 games by the mercy rule.  Then in the championship they trailed Albicocco 14-8 after one inning and 24-8 after two and a half innings and lost but never gave up 30-23.  In the final game Line Drive reversed the tables and led 15-5 after one inning and used a Keith Anderson grand slam to put them up 29-19 in the 5th inning and Albicocco never scored again as Line Drive won 36-19.  I believe this may be Linedrive's first ever Nationwide Conference tournament win?

Line Drive Lineup:
LF Cory Large
CF Ryan Parfitt
C Mike Dill
1B Keith Anderson
3B Matt Rear
2B Sal Formosa
MI Steve Whaley
SS Jared Krasselt
RF Dan Hall
P Faron Miller

Linedrive played without Joel Ramos and Jason Ferguson.  Ferguson got married, congratulations!  Mark Holstein and Billy Barrett are also out with injuries.

Keith Anderson racks up the RBI for Linedrive

Jared Krasselt paints the right field line

Sal Formosa gets 4 more on this grand slam in the championship

Miller and Large score

2nd Place – Albicocco/The Scene/Easton

Conf 'A' from New York  5-2 Record

Albicocco is now 14-4 since the Hall of Fame tournament and they have another good finish in Maumee.  They put away RSC 23-7 in their opener with a 13 run inning.  Then they struggled past P&P 333 30-23 in a game that really could have gone either way.  In the semi-finals against Red's Astros they came from behind to take a 5 run lead into the 7th inning and won, but the game was protested on an illegal re-entry and the game was re-played from the bottom of the 6th with two outs.  This time Albicocco would take a 7 run lead into the 7th inning and win 26-18.

In the winner's bracket championship Albicocco lost to Line Drive Sportz 36-19 as they just didn't keep up.  In the loser's final Albicocco won a long drawn out 26-18 quality win over Red's Astros. Then the first championship game started after 11:30 PM on Saturday night.  Albicocco came out of the gate with guns blazing with 14 runs in the top of the first on a grand slam by Tony Mack, 7 runs in the top of the 2nd inning on a 3 run homer by Robert Kncolauch, and 2 more in the top of the third to take a 24-8 lead.  A lead they would never relinquish although Linedrive did make a comeback, Albicocco won 30-23.  In the "if" game which ended at 2:30 AM in the morning, Albicocco scored 5 in the first but 0 in the second and trailed 19-7 going into the bottom of the third.  Albicocco was unable to keep pace with Line Drive and lost by the run rule 34-19.

Albicocco flashed some great leather with center fielder Evan Gallmeier making two of the most spectacular diving catches of the tournament.  TMack was using his quick hands and cannon to turn many double plays.  Dirty was stabbing line drives and Steve Allen was chasing down gap shots.  The most impressive player may have been SS Robert Knoblauch who's defensive range and arm were tested time and time again late into the night.  Knoblauch also moved up the lineup to 3rd and has "Major Prospect List" player written all over him.

Albicocco is rumored to be picking up some more players.  This past weekend they had Phil White with them who pulled a muscle in the Red's Astros game and sat the rest of the way.  They also picked up a new talent Buster Hendricks who showed some incredible speed and defensive ability and it looks like he could be a conference talent for many years to come.

Albicocco's Shawn Ballard has as much distance as anyone on the circuit

Albicocco lineup:
LF Steve Allen
2B Dal Beggs
SS Robert Knoblauch
C Shawn Ballard
MI Tony Mack
RF Josh Riley
1B Chris Moon
CF Evan Gallmeier
3B Buster Hendricks and John Robinson
P Dan Sanchez

Albicoccos Steve Allen hammers a no doubter!

Buster Hendricks is a new pickup for Albicocco

Phil White was back in the Conference for Albicocco

3rd Place – Red's Astros/Slugger/Stucco/Dirty

Conf 'B' from Indiana  4-2 Record

Red's dominated their first two games by a total score of 51-11.  Then in the semi-finals against Albicocco they squandered a lead and trailed by 5 or 7 going into the 7th inning.  I say "or" because they actually played the end of the 6th and all of the 7th inning twice?  For an explanation read about the illegal substitution at the top of this report. Needless to say Red's lost both times and with the second one being a final score of 25-22.  In the loser's bracket they shook off Precision 19-11 and in the loser's bracket championship they never gave up but lost to Albicocco 26-18.

Red's isn't beating the 'A' teams as consistently as they did in 2012 but are 9-2 vs the TBD's.  I was impressed with first year conference player Justin Aldora and one of his great diving stops at second base.  His hitting and versatility as a pitcher looks like Red's has a super sub on their roster.

One of Red's lineups:
SS Travis Dale
LF Doug Martin
C Steve Kingsolver
3B Rob Roop
RF? Josh Bowen
OF Brian Farrar
1B Ricky Potter
P Ryan Joiner
2B/P Justin Aldora
MI Troy Krider

Red's played without Chad Mullins, Cody Gilbert, Fred Lawson, and Clayton Shaw.

Reds Astros were dealt a blow when center fielder Wally Maybrier broke an ankle leaping for a ball near the fence.

Wally will be out 6 weeks if he doesn't need surgery.

Red's shortstop Travis Dale is among the league leaders in non-home run extra base hits

4th Place – Precision/Hang Rite Athletics

Conf 'B' from Illinois  3-2 Record

Precision finishes 4th even though they were forced to use manager Todd Ankney at pitcher the entire tournament and was outscored 101-67!  With 3 of their top players and all of their pitchers missing they knocked off a tough non-conference 'C' team called Untouchable Films 19-18 when Todd stabbed a line smash at his melon with the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the 7th.  Check the video highlights for that one.  Then Precision continued their streak of close wins when they knocked off Pure Romance in the bottom of the 8th inning on a walk off homer by Frank Fracek.  Again check the video highlights. Then Line Drive Sportz sent them to the loser's bracket quickly 32-1.  In the loser's bracket they held off Bellas 18-15 before Red's sent them home 19-11 in a game that featured some solid defense by both teams.

Precision needs to realize they can have something special once they get all of their players in place and everyone learns their roles.  This is a dark horse in the 'B' division and they have a similar look and feel to some of the old EWS teams back when it didn't matter who put on the EWS uniform they would still find a way to compete.

One of the Precision lineups:
Bryan Porter
Mike Jacobson?
Keith Laski
Seth Burgmeier
Andy Brown
Jeff Keske
Frank Fracek
Nate
Gary Lofton
Todd Ankney

Remember this team was missing former Resmondo utility man Mike Rhines, outfielder Brandon Riese, Chris Geron, and their pitcher Justin Wiciniski.  Veteran pitcher Robert Sena is also still on the roster.

Precisions Frank Fracek puts the finishing touches on a win over PRI

Game over linedrive stab!

Tied 5th Place – Pure Romance/Chic's/Insanity/Easton

Conf 'B' from Ohio  3-2 Record

PRI lost in the second round to Precision in extra innings on a walk off homer 18-17.  In the loser's bracket they sent home Conference 'C' teams TG Brand 22-10 and Trust 20-16 before Red's Astros run ruled them 36-17. PRI seemed to have all of their starters and are good enough to finish top 5 at 'B' Worlds but they will have to eliminate the unforced errors.

John Jamison, manager Mike Foulkes, and Ben Cosgrove

Tied 5th Place – Bellas/MOJO/Miken

'C' from Ohio   3-2 Record

Bellas was the highest finishing non-conference team just like they were in Columbus, Ohio when they finished 9th.  This team outscored their opponents 102-100 which is 20 runs per game. Bellas knocked off TG Brand in their opener 19-14, then was quickly smoked by 20 runs to Red's Astros.  In the loser's bracket Bellas run ruled Great Lakes Express 35-19 and knocked off P&P 333 28-24, before losing to Precision 18-15 with the bats in their hands in the bottom of the 7th in a game that could have gone either way.

Bellas is like a mini Line Drive Sportz or Sonny's.  They have solid talent and everyone seems to pitch in.  I would not want Bellas as an early draw in Cincinnati next month. They are now 4-4 vs Conference A/B/C teams!  Bellas pitcher Anthony "Ant" Mattix will be out for 2-3 weeks.  Xrays show he does not have a break.

Conference veteran Cory Hogle was playing SS for Bellas

The Rest of the Nationwide Conference Teams!

Tied for 7th – MI Trust/ Detroit Elite/ Easton/ Mojo  2-2  –  Beat fellow new 'C' conference team Cash House in their opener 25-21 then had the sticks in their hands and homer's to burn in a 22-19 loss to eventual tournament champ Line Drive Sportz.  In the loser's bracket they lost another close one to PRI 20-16. This team has growing pains but some real good young talent mixed with veteran pitcher Dan Evans who does a nice job of giving his defenders a chance to make big plays, and some conference experienced hitters like Green, Luna, Aleksandrovich and Blay.  Some of the young guys like Justin Geiner, SS Zach Hartle, 3 hitter Trent Sizemore, and infielder Dan "The Mayor" Steingraber could be names we hear in the conference for years to come.  Dan Evans brother Michael Evans also plays outfield for this team and seems to have a natural talent for hitting a softball that is entertaining to see.

Tied for 7th – MI P&P333/Suburban/Larry/Mojo/Easton  2-2  –  Need to break through against the 'A' division.  This
team is underperforming.

Tied for 9th – MI TG Brand.MOJO.Easton   1-2  –  TG was unable to build on their Chicago momentum where they won 5
straight games last weekend.  This time a very good non-Conference 'C' team Bella's beat them in their
opener Saturday morning and TG never recovered as they lost to PRI 22-10 two games later.

Tied for 9th – OH Cash House ATM / Louisville Slugger 1-2  –  Cash House is just 1-5 vs TBD's this season.  It
looked like they had all of their starters and they always seem to play 7 innings, but they just keep
finding different ways to lose, although they usually only lose to Conference teams.

More pictures below

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I would like to thank all of my sponsors, USSSA, the SoftballCenter and Oldscout advertisers and especially Line Drive Sportz for their hospitality!

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

USSSA Toledo tournament link

Link to Softballcenter.com pictures of the Toledo 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

Nationwide Conference USSSA Points Link

SoftballCenter.com Computer Rankings Link

Some more pictures for you:

Tmack and Don Sikora at the coin toss for the Championship

 Untouchables had Jason Crain, Scott Weaver, and Rob Partain from the old Bud Light team

Trust's Mike Evans

SS Shawn Placie of Alpha Dawgs, another Cincinnati combine player

Line Drive Sportz owner and sponsor David "Tarz" Lanzon with former Conference pitcher Mike Rose. 

I bet Rose could find a spot on a good conference team to finish the year if he wanted to?

Umpire In Chief Rick Robertson and former Steve's Drywall sponsor Steve Butler

Softball die hards gutting it out late on Saturday night/Sunday morning!

SoftballCenter fans!