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2014 USSSA Chicago Major tournament report!

 

 

 

 

2014 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

"Windy City" Classic

 

Chicago Major

 

Joliet, IL

 

June 6-8

HangriteAthletics.com has some sweet shoes, hats, and apparel!

Resmondo's Andy Purcell pitches to Precisions Jermaine Flythe during the winner's bracket championship game!

 

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

 

USSSA Chicago tournament info and bracket link

(Note: I was only able to be there from 11 AM to 8:30 PM on Saturday)

Resmondo Specialty Tank/Worth wins the Chicago Major 49-26 over Backman/Shoppe/Louisville Slugger in the "if" necessary game.  It is Resmondo's second tournament win of the season (Euless).  At 2 PM Central time on Saturday afternoon it looked like we were going to have the same final 4 teams that we have had every time these top teams have gotten together for a tournament on the same weekend (Laservision, Resmondo, Baugh Ford, Backman) and it looked like it might be the same order of finish.  But instead at 2 PM, Precision/Easton with their contingent of local players shocked the softball world by taking a lead into the bottom of the 7th against #1 ranked Laservision/H Auto/JJ's/Easton!  And then they got the first out on a diving catch by center fielder Bryan Porter and that was followed up later in the inning by a great play on a hard shot to shortstop by Tristan Reimolds.  The final out was recorded on an HRO (home run out) when Laservision who had already hit their 12 allowed homer's, hit one out by accident.  Laservisions amazing 35 game win streak had come to an end at the hands of Precision 35-34.  Precision didn't rest long and carried their momentum into their semifinal game against Backman/Shoppe where they hit and hit and hit some more and wound up run ruling Shoppe 42-24!  Meanwhile in the bottom half of the bracket, Resmondo took on Baugh Ford.  Baugh had the lead 21-19 into the bottom of the 4th inning and Resmondo put up 22 runs and run ruled Baugh 41-21 which leads me to my "Soap Box" topic of the week.


Soap Box Topic – "Run rules when the visiting team is leading going into the bottom half of the inning"?  The Conference should consider in the offseason voting on a rule that says if the visiting team is winning the game going into the bottom half of the inning, that they cannot be run ruled.  Why?  Because in the middle of the game both teams are managing their home runs and thus scoring less runs than they could if there was no home run rule.  Also when you are leading you are conserving home runs even more.  Then the home team comes up and has a huge inning and suddenly is within a few runs of run ruling the visiting team and decides to throw home run management out and just free swing to end it.  This happened at the Border Battle as well when the Future Stars team had the lead in the top half the inning on Team USA and Team USA had a huge bottom half and left them on the field.  Just something to consider to make the game better in the Conference where huge point swings happen more often then you think.


So back to the tournament.  Resmondo then knocked off Precision 34-13 in the winner's bracket championship game late Saturday night in a light drizzle of rain.  On Sunday morning it appeared to many like Laservision might roll through the loser's bracket but instead Backman Shoppe run ruled Laservision 31-16, and then came from behind to beat Precision 36-33, and nearly pulled off the Sunday sweep but Resmondo won the "if" game and the tournament title.

The tournament had great weather.  The wind blew hard straight out to center field on the show field all day on Saturday and straight in from center all day on Sunday.  There was a full contingent of top Conference umpires, bat testing was 100%, and the Conference Dudley ZN Conference M ball was used.  The infields were their normal brutal selves that we've gotten used to at the Inwood Sports Complex, and the crowds on Friday and Saturday were fairly big.

Backman/Shoppe/Louisville Slugger back on Field #3.  And yes SS Jonathan Lenz threw a runner out at first from there!

 

Backman's L.C. Watson pitches to 3rd Streets Chris Hoffer

P&P 333 second baseman John Zocco gets the out at second as Baugh's Donovan Pokraka tries to beat the throw

 

B&B Diamond & Ice's Eric Bunn hits against Resmondo on the show field

The crowd was pretty big and the weather was perfect

 

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

 

 


 

 


 

Chicago Major Awards and Final Standings

Player Tournament Awards Players Name Plays For
Tournament MVP Bubba Mack III Resmondo-Specialty Tank Worth
Defensive Tournament MVP Dennis Rulli Resmondo-Specialty Tank Worth
All Tournament Team Brian Wegman Laservision/H.Auto/JJ's/Easton
All Tournament Team Kevin Bazat Laservision/H.Auto/JJ's/Easton
All Tournament Team Jermaine Flythe Precision/Easton
All Tournament Team Jimmy Salas Resmondo-Specialty Tank Worth
All Tournament Team Francis Fracek Precision/Easton
All Tournament Team Jeremiah Isenhower Resmondo-Specialty Tank Worth
All Tournament Team Bryan Porter Precision/Easton
All Tournament Team George Connell Resmondo-Specialty Tank Worth
All Tournament Team Howard Krause, Jr Resmondo-Specialty Tank Worth
All Tournament Team Lee Powers Resmondo-Specialty Tank Worth
All Tournament Team Andrew Purcell Resmondo-Specialty Tank Worth
Place State Team Team
Class
Wins Loses Ties Runs
Scored
Runs
Allow
Avg
Runs
Avg
Allow
Avg
Diff
Max
Runs
USSSA
Points
1 FL – Winter Haven resmondo-specialty tank worth SPMensMajor 6 1 0 246 145 35.1 20.7 14.4 49 300
2 IN – AURORA backman / shoppe/louisville slugger SPMensMajor 7 2 0 258 173 28.6 19.2 9.44 36 225
3 IL – Chicago Precision/Easton SPMensB 4 2 0 167 152 27.8 25.3 2.5 42 200
4 NYU – Cicero laservision/h.auto/jj's/easton SPMensMajor 5 2 0 227 158 32.4 22.5 9.85 47 175
5 OHO – Cincinnati pure romance/chics/headlines/easton SPMensB 4 2 0 134 132 22.3 22 0.33 31 155
5 AL – Clanton baugh doerflinger nat-pawn/easton SPMensA 3 2 0 145 151 29 30.2 -1.2 39 155
7 MI – Lansing p&p333/suburban/clutch/lt/combat SPMensB 4 2 0 131 136 21.8 22.6 -0.8 35 130
7 MO – Belton B&B DRYWALL/Easton SPMensC 4 2 0 150 140 25 23.3 1.66 35 130
9 MI – Flint TG Brand SPMensB 3 2 0 123 122 24.6 24.4 0.20 29 110
9 OHO – West Chester 3rd street/louisville slugger/mojo SPMensB 3 2 0 107 108 21.4 21.6 -0.2 31 110
9 MN – Le Sueur h. auto llc/easton/hooters moa SPMensB 2 2 0 107 110 26.7 27.5 -0.7 41 110
9 MI – Warren line drive sportz/r&m metals/easton SPMensA 2 2 0 107 89 26.7 22.2 4.5 33 110
13 OHN – Mentor CashHouse/ Nager Law SPMensB 3 2 0 95 91 19 18.2 0.80 25 70
13 IL – Chicagoland Polekatz/Alpine Machine Qualified SPMensD 2 2 0 88 81 22 20.2 1.75 27 70
13 IN – Indianapolis red's astros/louisville slugger SPMensA 2 2 0 106 112 26.5 28 -1.5 30 70
13 IN – Columbus k&g/wilson/louisville slugger SPMensC 2 2 0 85 73 21.2 18.2 3 29 70
17 OHS – Huber Heights Cooper/Yuengling/Easton SPMensB 2 2 0 90 69 22.5 17.2 5.25 27 40
17 NC – Greenville Bad Draw SPMensB 2 2 0 95 82 23.7 20.5 3.25 29 40
17 MN – Brooklyn Center Xtreme/Miken SPMensB 1 2 0 51 66 17 22 -5 24 40
17 IN – South Bend Street Kids Softball SPMensC 1 2 0 37 73 12.3 24.3 -12 25 65
17 TXN – Frisco Vivid/Worth/Shirt Doctors SPMensA 1 2 0 56 89 18.6 29.6 -11 36 40
17 NC – Clayton B&B/Diamond & Ice/BMW SPMensB 1 2 0 82 84 27.3 28 -0.6 34 40
17 IL – Chicago Demolition/Shirts & Logos SPMensD 1 2 0 38 66 12.6 22 -9.3 18 40
17 WI – Janesville Venom/KA/SNL SPMensC 1 2 0 60 58 20 19.3 0.66 28 65
25 IL – Joliet Lumber Company SPMensD 1 2 0 43 58 14.3 19.3 -5 21 65
25 IL – Machesney Park BD Softball Qualified SPMensD 1 2 0 36 82 12 27.3 -15. 20 40
25 IL – Plainfield NE/neXt Qualified SPMensD 1 2 0 35 60 11.6 20 -8.3 26 40
25 IL – Channahon Team ISS Qualified SPMensD 0 2 0 34 68 17 34 -17 30 40
25 WI – Eau Claire WSC / The Sportsman Shop SPMensC 0 2 0 34 49 17 24.5 -7.5 18 40
25 IL – Decatur Precision Recovery SPMensC 0 2 0 39 60 19.5 30 -10. 31 65
25 MO – St. Louis Wesley Law/Hooters/Buzini SPMensC 0 2 0 42 52 21 26 -5 25 65
25 OHO – Middletown slayer/rsc/alphadawgsports/combat SPMensC 0 2 0 53 59 26.5 29.5 -3 33 40
33 IL – Naperville Redemption Softball SPMensD 0 2 0 19 51 9.5 25.5 -16 14 65
33 WI – North Prairie MCR Hitmen SPMensD 0 2 0 36 40 18 20 -2 18 65
33 IN – Crown Point MMS/Adiktiv SPMensD 0 2 0 33 50 16.5 25 -8.5 27 65

I give P&P 333's SS Zach Hartle the diving stop of the week as he layed out full against Street Kids and made a great stop,

jumped to his feet and threw a strike to first in what looked to be a tie with the runner.

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:


 

1st Place – Resmondo Specialty Tank/Worth

Conf 'M' from   6-1 Record

Resmondo looked good.  The offense was back to putting up big innings, and actually one of the biggest innings of the season vs Baugh Ford when they left them on the field 41-21 in the semifinals.  Resmondo went 7 innings with a good B&B Diamond&Ice team early in the tournament, knocked off two of the top 'A' teams by 20 runs each, and strolled into the championship like the old days with a 34-13 win over the hot hitting Precision team in the winners championship.  Then on Sunday they had a little offensvie outage against Backman in the first finals game 30-10 but came back to put up the highest run total of any team during the weekend when they won the tournament 49-23!

Resmondo seemed to be healthy, played solid defense, and in the end they take care of business and pick up 238 points which moves them into 2nd in the Nationwide Conference USSSA points standings 289 pts behind Laservision.  But Laservision has 6 tournaments and Resmondo has 5.  Maryland this weekend looks to have 33 Conference teams which means first place will score 282 points.  Were Resmondo to win both tournaments, they may very well come out of Maryland as the #1 seed for the Dudley.

Trending Up!  35.1 runs per game this week!

Resmondos Saturday Night Lineup:
Dennis Rulli
Greg Connell
Andy Purcell
Jimmy Salas
Bubba Mack
BJ Fulk
Don Dedonatis Jr
Jimmy Powers
Jeremy Yates
Nick Santana
Jeremy Isenhower

Bubba Mack won the MVP with this bat.  Buy it now.

Bubba was onbase 31-34, .912 onbase %, with 13 HR and 32 RBI

Resmondo left side with Jimmy Salas and Don Dedonatis Jr

Andy Purcell on the mound.  Thanks for putting up the video livestream ipods.

Left Fielder Jeremy Yates hauls in a flyball

 

 


 

2nd Place – Backman/Shoppe/Louisville Sluggern

Conf 'M' from   7-2 Record

 

Backman finishes second after being tripped up by Precision 42-24 in the semifinals.  They showed some heart and knocked off Pure Romance on Saturday night, and Laservision, Precision, and Resmondo once on Sunday and scored 26 or more runs in each of those games.

I didn't get to see a lot of the Backman games but Sam Lopez and Brett McCollum seemed to be hitting well, and TJ Thompson at pitcher held Resmondo to 10 runs in that first finals game.  The defense as a whole seemed to be doing better (allowed major team low 19.2 runs per game).  In the Precision loss, home run management was poor. Backman has a chance to jump Team Combat and Baugh Ford up to 3rd in the point standings with a good weekend in Maryland, as Backman only has 5 tournaments played so far.

Trending Up!  Beat Resmondo and Laservision in the same weekend!

Sam Lopez is back and hitting well and his daughter is doing better which is great to hear!

Chicago area native Brett McCollum has taken a more veteran offensive approach this season

 

Backmans left side – Sam Lopez, Jonathan Lenz, and Kevin Kennington

 


 

3rd Place – Precision/Easton

Conf 'B' from   4-2 Record

 

Precision had a breakout weekend.  As most local teams do when the major comes to their state, they stepped it up.  Precision halting Laservisions win streak at 35 games and then knocking off Backman by the run rule in back to back games is why teams play the Conference.  To make softball memories that will last a lifetime.  Precision has the best offense in the 'B' division, and a defense that can make the big plays to win games.  With Vitcak on the mound this team seems to have a feeling that they are never out of any game.

Trending Up!

Precision lineup Saturday night:
3B Matt Rear
Chris Geron
1B Ryan Thiede
RF Frank Fracek
C Mark Holstein
Pete? Denis Fisher I believe
SS Tristan Reimolds
P Andy Vitcak
EH Jermaine Flythe
MI Jeff Keske
Gary Lofton

Precision had the annual "bad moustache" Major going

Andy Vitcak led wills this team to win.  Great leader.

Credit sponsor/architect Bill Wax and manager Todd Ankney for putting together a winning team

Precision shortstop Tristan Reimbold had a sweet swing

 


 

4th Place – Laservision/H Auto/JJ's/Easton

Conf 'M' from   5-2 Record

 

The first stumble of the season for Laservision.  It is actually nice to know they are human.  Laservision played without their vocal leader Brett Helmer who was attending softball legend Todd Joerlings sons funeral.  Without Helmer the team seemed a little complacent but for the most part just got beat, which is going to happen even to the best.  There 35 game win streak came to an end but that may be an all time conference record, we'll have to check into it.  No real worries here for Laservision except a reminder that they have to continue to work and prepare for every tournament and every game.

Trending Even

Laservision center fielder Brandon Dillon climbs the fence

Dal Beggs spelled some of the outfielders as Laservision climbed through the losers bracket

 


 

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

Conf 'B' from   4-2 Record

PRI always plays well in Chicago.  They had a tough loss to Baugh Ford 26-21 but otherwise handled the other teams they were supposed to.  When PRI has everyone they are a formidable force and a tough opponent.  PRI picked up former Precision and EWS pitcher Justin Wicinski.

Trending Up!

Steve Edwards is back from injury.  He was hit by a kid swinging a baseball bat while watching a game two months ago.

 


 

Tied 5th Place – Baugh Ford/Doerflinger/National Pawn/Klutch/Easton

Conf 'A' from   3-2 Record

Baugh was set to assume 3rd place in this one as they normally do but then they put up some huge runs on poor home run management early in their semifinal game against Resmondo and actually led 21-19 going into the bottom of the 4th when Resmondo scored 15 runs before the first out and 22 runs for the inning and left Baugh on the field.  In the loser's bracket they ran into Laservision late on Saturday night and lost 47-32.  Baugh wasn't crisp in any of their games but persevered and used their strong #2 seed to make it to a 5th place finish.

Trending Even

Billy Barrett

SS Brad Reckart is quietly having a big year

Jeff Flood hits a homer in a comeback vs P&P 333

 


 

More pictures below

 


 

Other top finishing teams and Conference teams

Tied 7th MO B&B DRYWALL/Easton 4-2 – B&B Drywall continues to play well regardless of who their opponent is.  They barely beat a 'D' team on Friday night 32-31, then lost to Precision 17-14 on Saturday morning.  In the loser's bracket they made a little run knocking off the feisty K&G 35-18 and upsetting Line Drive again 32-31 before getting ousted by PRI.  Well managed team with a group of players who listen, hustle, and play hard.  This is one of those teams that I need to have on a livestream broadcast sometime to get to know better.  🙂

Trending up!

 


 


Tied 7th MI – P&P333/suburban/clutch/lt/combat 4-2 – Best tournament of 2014 for P&P 333.  Should have beaten Baugh as I walked away from their game thinking they had it in the bag, but they lost 39-35.  Then they beat Cooper and H Auto.  At least they stuck around long enough for me to get some pictures this week.  🙂
Trending up some

John Zocco and Brian Farrar set the table at the top of the P&P 333 order

 


3rd baseman Jayson "Red" Scott was hit in the throat by a bad bounce but came back to play

Tied 9th OH 3rd Street/louisville slugger/mojo 3-3 – 3rd Street sent Reds home by a run 19-18 after jumping out to a 14-0 lead in the loser's bracket then lost late Saturday to Ohio rival PRI by a run.  Solid weekend for 3rd Street.
Trending Up

 


 

 

Tied 9th MN H. Auto LLC/easton/hooters moa 2-2 – Hortenbach Auto started off with back to back 40 run games including an epic 40-30 win over Red's Astros.  But in the losers bracket only managed 26 runs in losses to Backman and P&P 333.  The Red's win may have been one of the better games of the tournament and another notch in H. Auto's bid to become a World Series qualifier?

Trending Up!

Manager/Sponsor Bob Hortenbach and power hitter Curtis Stewart who had 28 HR and a .733 onbase percentage coming into the weekend

Mike Nelson's grand slam against Red's Astros

 


 

 

Tied 9th MI TG Brand 3-2 – TG Brand was upset by Street Kids on Friday night but won 3 games in the loser's bracket before running into Laservision Saturday evening.  Game over.  TG Brand is way ahead of where they have been in past years.

Trending Up slightly

Adam Kaminski is 5th in Home Run Frequency at 2.88 and has a .778 onbase percentage for TG Brand

 


 

Tied 9th MI Line Drive Sportz/r&m metals/easton 2-2 – Another subpar weekend for Line Drive as they got tripped up by B&B Drywall in the loser's bracket.

Trending Down – still has a lot of points though

 


 


Shortstop John Sullivan dives for a ball vs H Auto

Tied 13th IN Red's Astros/louisville slugger 2-2 – Red's is failing on the home run management and just flat out getting beat by teams that play well against them.  Work on basehitting this week in BP. And all teams need a second pitcher. 🙂

Trending Down digging hole

Red's pitcher Ryan Joiner had an onbase percentage of almost .900 this weekend in Chicago

 


 

Tied 13th OH CashHouse/ Nager Law 3-2 – beat some locals, came from behind to knock off B&B Diamond & Ice by 1 run, and played 7 innings every game.
Trending Even

 


 

Tied 17th MN Xtreme/Miken 1-2 – Xtreme had a tough draw but beat Bad Draw by one on Friday night.  I heard Bad Draw had a 14 run lead.  Then Xtreme played Laservision solid in a 32-23 loss but put up a tournament low 4 runs against K&G to lose 11-4?  That is a bad way to end a tournament with 4 runs.  Xtreme picked up Illinois native and former Resmondo utility man Mike Rhines.

Trending even

Mike Rhines returned to the Conference with Xtreme in Chicago

 



Tied 17th NC B&B/Diamond & Ice/BMW 1-2 – Played better than the 17th finishing position would indicate.  Beat Cooper, went 7 innings and was winning early against Resmondo, and was beating Cash House until late.  Was missing Bill Rhew.  The Bunn brothers were bringing it but the team just didn't finish strong in their losses.

Trending Even

 


 

Tied 17th NC Bad Draw 2-2 – Bad Draw lost a 14 run lead and the game to Xtreme on Friday night.  Beat two locals on Saturday morning and was put out by Red's Astros 28-24.  Some tough losses which could have been won.  We will see them in Maryland where the field of teams only gets tougher. Sorry, never made it over to your field for a picture.

 

 


Tied 17th TX Vivid/Worth/Shirt Doctors 1-2 – Poor defense led to an offense that was trying to hit 5 run solos. Too many new players and people chiming in on the direction of the team to be effective. Big hitters making too many outs.  No manager and no second pitcher.  Things can only go up from here.

 


 

Tied 17th OH Cooper/Yuengling/Easton 2-2 – This was Coopers chance to play and beat some Conference 'B' peers but instead they dropped 2 and only beat the locals. Nice unis though, also they played enough to get 15 AB's for the pickem, and they scored more runs than they gave up.  🙂

 


 

Tied 13th IN k&g/wilson/louisville slugger 2-2 – Played well enough on Friday night to beat Red's but came up a run short.  Held Xtreme to 4 runs, nice.

 


 

Tied 25th WI WSC / The Sportsman Shop 0-2 – WSC lost to 3rd Street and a 'D' team.  Need to play more games.

 

Tied 25th OH Slayer/rsc/alphadawgsports/combat 0-2 – Looking for their first conference win.  Played Vivid tough but gave it away. Slayer picked up Noah Wetzel, Ryan Love, Josh Buckner, and Nolan Brightman.

 


 

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USSSA Chicago tournament link

Link to Softballcenter.com pictures of the Chicago

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

Nationwide Conference USSSA Points Link

 


 

 

Joe Horvath of Street Kids

Street Kids is the only non-conference team to make it to the second round when they beat TG Brand 25-21

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

 

Nick Santana climbing way up the fence

Coopers purple and black gets the best uniforms of the week award.  Uniforms were made by HeadlinesApparel.com

 

Tony on field #6.  What?

Wind blew straight out all day Saturday and straight in all day Sunday

Kyle Yerkes is with Vivid now

Superman in the background watches Laservision play hackysack

Beer cart, where is Tarz?

 

I'd say some players are getting too big.  Remember you still have to field and run the bases.

 

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