Tuesday March 26th, 2024
TEXT_SIZE

2014 Corky’s ASA Super Qualifier tournament report!

 

 

 

 

2014 ASA Super Qualifier

 

35th Annual Corky's!

 

Owatonna, MN

 

May 2-4

 

Long Haul/H Auto/Easton wins Corky's!  Mike Umschied hits a homer in the final game.

 

 

Link to the Softballcenter.com picture album of the Corky's

 

Combat was the tournament sponsor!

Here is the entire final day of streamed games.

T's 13 vs Sonnys.  Long Haul vs Xtreme.  Sonny's vs Xtreme. Sonny's vs Long Haul

The 35th Annual Corky's Early Bird ASA Super Qualifier played to an expected finish as Long Haul/H Auto/Easton went an undefeated 5-0 and continued their domination tour of the United States slowpitch scene.  Long Haul (aka Laservision) won their second ASA Super Qualifer (first was in Oklahoma) by defeating Xtreme/Miken 22-12 in the winner's bracket championship game Sunday morning and former Corky's champ Sonny's 32-22 in the final game on Sunday afternoon!

The tournament began on Friday night with 149 total teams across 5 divisions and the tournament was played for the Owatonna Youth Sports Scholarship fund charity!  In the Super Qualifier bracket there were 22 quality teams with just two teams starting out on Friday night – Line Drive Sportz an 'A' team from Michigan and HMC/Easton from Minnesota.  Line Drive was nearly upset as they struggled by hitting into multiple doubleplays and squeaked out a 6-4 victory with the wind blowing in and a decent sized crowd on hand on the main field – Fairgrounds #1.

The majority of teams started on Saturday morning when the tournament resumed.  The temperatures were in the 40's and 50's all weekend and on Saturday the wind played havoc with the game scores as it blew in on the main field F1 and F4, but out on F2 and F3 at 10 – 18 mph.  The rains did stay away. One of the great things about Minnesota is the fans all play the game and are very nice.  The players and teams love to drink beer and sit back and take in a ball game while they wait for their teams next game.  One vocal crowd member on Sunday was even a big Helmer fan!

Besides Long Haul and 'A' favorites like Sonny's, Rip City, and Line Drive, the Corky's Super bracket featured the last 3 ASA 'B' National champions in Precision (2011), Xtreme/Miken (2012), and Heartland Investors (2013).

The tournament continued on Saturday morning with 6 more play-in games, and most of the favorites won with Tryon Gym beating Whalers 13-12 on a walk off.  In the round of 16 all of the favorites won again – Heartland, Xtreme, Sonny's, Rip City, Precision, Long Haul, Line Drive, and T's 13 which set up some big final 8 matchups.  Long Haul used their defense to shut down Precision late in the game with the wind blowing in to win.  T's 13 used some more homers from Chaun Demars to beat Line Drive 15-4.  Xtreme/Miken sent Heartland to the loser's bracket 29-17 in a battle between the last two ASA 'B' champs.  And in one of the better games of the day, Rip City outslugged Sonny's in a marathon game 39-31 back on field #4.

In the final 4 of the winner's bracket Long Haul again needed some late defense to keep T's 13 from pulling off a big upset to move to the finals.  And late Saturday night in a shootout on the show field, Rip City/Demarini beat Xtreme/Miken 17-16 on a walk off two out bases loaded single by Brandon Bartels.  While the two teams were shaking hands after the game the Xtreme team asked the umpires if the runner going to second base ever touched the bag. Remember each player must touch the next bag to prevent a force play which would have been the third out.  The umpires gathered and decided the runner going from first to second did not touch second.  This was maybe the worst call ever as the the livestream video archive clearly shows the runner hit the base, passed the base, and then came back and stood on the base.  But the game went to overtime tied at 16-16 and Xtreme ended up winning 21-17 in the 8th inning to move on to Sundays winner's bracket championship game.

YouTube Preview Image

Here is a clip of the Rip City player touching second base.

Below is the entire game Rip City vs Xtreme

In that winner's final, Long Haul jumped out to a 19-6 lead after 4 innings as Brandon Dillon who already had a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning, added to his day with 3 more singles.  Mike Umschied hit two homers, and Kirby, Wegman, Filby, and Helmer were all 3-4.  They finished off Xtreme by the run rule 22-12 in five innings.  4 hitter Dustin Palm was 3-3 with a homer and 4 RBI for Xtreme. 

Meanwhile Sonny's ran the loser's bracket beating Outpost and Team Stoop on Saturday night and T's 13, Rip City, and Xtreme on Sunday morning to make it to the championship.  In the Xtreme game which was the loser's bracket championship, Sonny's had a 13 run inning and run ruled Xtreme.  In the finals though Sonny's grounded into a couple of doubleplays against Long Haul early on and trailed 19-0 after two innings.  Long Hauls lineup was onbase 19 of their first 25 plate appearances with 6 homers including 3-3 with 2 homers and a double from leadoff man Bryson Baker.  Sonny's would mount a 10 run inning in the 4th to extend the game but Long Haul won by the run rule.

Overall the tournament was well played in very cold weather and heavy wind conditions.  The main field had lower scores on Saturday which made for some close games and allowed for some great defense.  Then on the back fields there were some shootouts like BBS/All Americans win over Line Drive and Rip City's win over Sonny's.  A number of teams had a legitimate chance to beat Long Haul but could not muster any offense in the late innings.  When two ASA Super Series teams played each other a 16 home run rule was used.  When a Super Series vs a non-Super Series game was played, 12 homers were used.  When two non-Super Series teams played each other ther were 8 homers allowed per team.

DW's Soap Box:  I do have some suggestions for the Super Series.  1) Do not use a 10 run rule after 5 innings mercy rule.  With 16 homers a team could be down 10 and still easily come back.  2) Have the winner's final on Saturday night.  That way if it rains you already have a winner for the point standings and prize money.  3) Supply the balls for the upper division.  4) I heard they used a time limit in the Oklahoma tournament.  Never use a time limit for upper ball.  5) Umpires should never overturn a judgement call if they didn't actually see it.  Let the play stand.

Long Haul (above) takes on Sonny's (below) in the Corky's championship

A kind and knowledgeable softball crowd was in attendance 

Corky's Friday night crowd!

The main field is in the bottom right. 

The fields were approximately 295 down the lines and 300 to center.

The view from the SoftballCenter.com livestream.  Xtreme/Miken batting against Rip City/Demarini

52 core tattoo ball was used

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

YouTube Preview Image

 

 


 

Coryky's Final Standings & Awards

Final Standings
1st Long Haul/H Auto/Easton – New York
2nd Sonny's – Wyoming
3rd Xtreme/Miken – Minnesota
4th Rip City – Iowa
5th T's 13/Demarini – Nebraska
5th Precision – Illinois
7th Team Stoop – Minnesota
7th BBS/All American – Minnesota

MVP – Long Hauls Steven Lloyd

(on 19-22 .864, 7 HR, 23 RBI – Led team in all 3 categories)

Get the body in motion with slight overlapping grip, plant front foot, turn hips, make contact…

Wrist roll and follow through…

This is the result…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team by team notes brought to you by:

 


 

1st Place – Long Haul/H Auto/Easton

Super Team from NY  5-0 Record

Long Haul (aka Laservision) continues to roll.  Their defense is taking the pressure off of their offense to perform at certain times which gives their opponents a feeling of helplessness as if Long Haul can't be defeated.  They have now won all 5 of the tournaments they have played in 2014.  Travis Clarks pitching has been spot on, and the infield defense turns doubleplays as good as any team in recent history.  Long Haul played without third baseman Dale Brungardt who is out with an obleak injury.  I believe last week I mistakenly said he was out with a knee.  Super sub Mike Umschied held down third base just fine and the team even used Billy Messina to pitch an early game and seldom used Josh Bartlett and third base coach Dal Beggs also saw action.

Look for Long Haul to continue their dominance of the ASA Super Series at the McQuades in June.

 Here is the Long Haul picture collage

 

Bryson Baker and Brian Wegman

Kevin Filby

Brett Helmer and Steven Lloyd hit over .800

 

Brandon Dillon and Mike Umschied

Middle infielder Kevin Bazat

Pitcher Travis Clark and SS Luis Reyna

 

Josh Bartelett and Dal Beggs

Long Haul didn't exactly cruise in this tournament but they were confident with any lead they had and led all of the time.

Not pictured, manager and relief pitcher Billy Messina

H. Auto sponsor Bob Hortenbach won the Corky's and the KC Major this past weekend!

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday!

 

 


 

2nd Place – Sonny's

'A' from Wyoming  6-2 Record

 

Sonny's lost that 39-31 shootout early in the tournament to Rip City and then ran the losers bracket 5 straight to make it to the championship game.  The team used a rotation in the lineup, 3 pitchers (John Wheeler, Dan Bean, and Carl Blank), and linedrive hitting to send home top teams like T's 13, Rip City, and Xtreme.  In the championship they were down 19 after a slow start but never gave up.  Sonny's has another great team and should be the #1 seed for the ASA 'A' Nationals.

Infielder Chris Potts

Middle man Brian Faria was hitting it well all the way up in the 3 hole

Sonny's has added the California Connection – Julio Salazar and Jason Kreider

 


 

3rd Place – Xtreme/Miken

'A' from   3-2 Record

 

Xtreme knocked off fellow Minnesota rival BBS/All American in their opener convincingly 32-14.  Then they beat 2013 ASA 'B' National champ Heartland 29-17.  In the semi-finals against Rip City they won the controversial game in extra innings 21-17.  In the winner's bracket finals they scored in 4 out of the 5 innings but couldn't keep pace with Long Haul in a  22-12 loss. 

Xtreme has a nice blend of veterans and young players.  The middle infielder Lehman was impressive, veteran Dustin Palm had some big homers, and the top of there order Bauer, Harvanko, Barber, and Palm were a combined 9-12 against Long Haul.

Xtreme's athletic right fielder Mark Harvanko is off to a fast start in 2014

 


 

4th Place – Rip City/Demarini

'A' from IA  3-2 Record

 

Rip City got ripped off by a bad call as mentioned in the opening of the report.  They had Xtreme beat in the semi-finals on a game winning two out hit by Bartels but it was taken away.  In the loser's bracket they knocked off Precision before Sonny's paid them back and sent them home.  I really thought Rip City was the team that had the best chance to beat Long Haul but they never got the opportunity.  Rip City has great power, solid defense, some up and coming players, a little swagger, and a veteran on the mound in Shannon Arnold.  This team can win the ASA 'A' and should make some noise again in the Super.

Adam Rockoff from Combat/Blockers and Brian Zirkle from Baugh Ford pick up with Rip City for ASA tournaments.

They also have Tim Bowser, Donovan Pokraka, and Chris Greinert for ASA.

RF Josh Brocket and SS Grant Grimmett – two talents we don't get to see a lot of

Big Andy Shiltz

 

 

Tied 5th Place – T's 13/Demarini

'B?' from NE  2-2 Record

T's 13 started out pretty well by overpowering teams on the field #1 eventhough the wind was blowing in, including a big win over Line Drive 15-4.  Then they ran up against Long Haul and had a chance in the 7th inning but put up a zero.  When they dropped to the losers bracket they were beaten by Sonnys on Sunday morning.  T's is a combination of a bunch of good players that have been around that Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota part of the country for years.

T'S manager Justin Bonnette and company look on

Charlie Casella was pitching for T's 13

 

  

Reggie Schulte (left), Cvedjik (right), and Chaun Demars provided the power for T's 13

Scott Roen at middle infield

 


 

Tied 5th Place – PrecisionDn

'A' from IL  3-2 Record

Precision was playing without a lot of their regulars but persevered and came up with 3 wins.  Like T's 13 they had a shot to beat Long Haul late in the game but came up short.  
 

 


 

More pictures below

 


 

Hot Links section brought to you by:

I would like to thank, Loren Dietz the Corky's director, ASA, and the SoftballCenter and Oldscout advertisers!

Some of the archived games from the ASA Corky's can be found here

Send corrections to dw@softballcenter.com

Link to the SoftballCenter.com Youtube channel

Link to the 2014 Tournament Reports

Link to the 2013 Tournament Reports

Link to the 2012 Tournament Reports


 

Tier 2 champions – Elite Sports from Iowa

Tier 2 runner up – KA Militia

Tier 3 champions – Joe's Pizza from Iowa

Tier 3 runner up – Red Stars from Iowa

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

T's 13 power hitter Chaun Demars and his brother in softball Geno Burdick from Line Drive 🙂

BBS/All American shortstop could pick it.

Tarz missed out on the shot cart!

Carly from Softball360 interviews Long Haul shortstop Luis Reyna

 

This is our fan of the week, decked out in her team colors

The outfields had taken a lot of rain the previous few days and were treacherous

This is what Minnesota softball is all about.

ASA bats

 

Line Drive still trying to find their chemistry

Team Stoop rattled off a few nice wins

Patriots Pub are an up and coming team

Viessman is always a tough team

Xtreme's Matt McGowan hits against BBS/All American

Derek Irving?  pitching for BBS

I realize DW is not well liked in all softball circles but this is over the top!   🙂

 

4 responses to “2014 Corky’s ASA Super Qualifier tournament report!”

  1. brian says:

    Nice write up DW….Thanks

  2. Beezy. says:

    Great article DW. Had a blast there except for getting ripped on our win sat night. But oh well lots more. First big tourney ever and I loved it. Was Alittle nervous haha.

  3. Jason Murphy says:

    6th picture up from the bottom. That’s Patriots Pub not CT Hawks.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.