Thursday March 28th, 2024
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2015 ASA A National tournament report!

 

 

 

2015 ASA 'A' National Tournament

 

Oklahoma City, OK

 

October 3-4

 

 

Winner's bracket championship late Saturday – ASPNation vs Precision!

 

Link to the Softballcenter.com picture album of the ASA A

 

ASA A tournament info and bracket link

 

Precisions Frank Fracek hits against ASPNation pitcher Danny Evans in the championship game!

The ASA 'A' Nationals played out this past Saturday and Sunday at the ASA Hall of Fame Softball Complex in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  12 really competitive teams entered the double elimination event which started with 4 "play in" games.  Texas based ASPNation.com got things going in game #1 with a 43-24 win over former ASA 'B' champion Heartland Investors.  All American Athletics from the great Northwest run ruled Iowa's OC 30-15.  BBS with a paired down roster to meet ASA 'A' standards compared to their Super team that won the ASA Super Nationals the day before knocked off West Coast Monsta 24-21.  And Team Combat came from behind to beat a very talented All Armed Forces team 34-19.  All Armed Forces is an all-star team made up of active duty Armed Forces players from their softball training camps that have been running for the last month.  These 4 teams moved on to play in the round of 8 in the winner's bracket.

Round of 8:

In the round of 8 all of the big all-star type teams with their 3 RPL (Restricted Players List) pickups were upset!  ASPNation.com scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th to beat favorite Compound Athletics 20-19 on a walk off single by pitcher Danny Evans!  T's 13/Demarini broke open a 30-30 tie with All American Athletics in the top of the 7th with 3 runs and won 33-30.  Mickey Rowland with 3 HR and 7 RBI for T's.  In game #7 Precision scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th including 3 straight homers by Umschied, Laski, and Collins to win the game 22-21 over BBS.  And Red's Astros batted around scoring 12 runs in the 3rd inning to beat Team Combat 36-25.  Red's Chad Mullins was 5-5 with 5 RBI and outfielder Mike Cirillo was 4-5 with 4 HR and 8 RBI.  

Round of 4:
In the first semifinal ASPNation.com scored 13 runs in the 3rd inning to go up on T's 13 19-9.  And they got a 3 for 3 with a grand slam and 7 RBI performance out of relief pitcher Brian Bohanon to hold on and beat T's 34-31 to advance to the winner's final.  In the other semifinal Red's Astros scored 10 runs in the top of the 6th to take a 21-11 lead on Precision.  But Precision answered with 15 runs in the bottom of the inning to wrest the lead back and held on to win 26-23 without having to bat in the 7th.  Red's was so close!

In the winner's final late Saturday night Precision scored 11 in the 3rd and 10 in the 5th to take a commanding 30-18 lead on ASPNation.  But ASPNations offense returned the favor scoring 17 runs in the top of the 6th and 10 more in the top of the 7th to claim victory 45-33!  ASP slugger Tim Bowser was 6-6 with 3 HR and 9 RBI including a grand slam and teammate Matt Vern was 7-7 with 3 HR and 9 RBI in the win.

Loser's Bracket:  In the loser's bracket All American Athletics and Team Combat were eliminating teams left and right including favored teams like BBS and Compound Athletics.  T's 13 finally ended Team Combats run and then ended All American Athletics run to make it to Sunday against Precision.  In that loser's bracket finals game Precision scored a tournament high 26 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning and they were trailing at the start of the inning 12-0!  T's 13 never gave up though and scored 6 in the 4th and 4 in the 5th to pull within 5 runs but Precision dropped an 11 run inning on them in the bottom of the 5th and left them on the field 38-22.

In the championship game ASPNation came out of the gate with a 12-0 lead after one inning as MVP Kyle Pearson homered twice.  Pearson would end up 5-6 in the game with 3 HR and 10 RBI including a grand slam!  Precision slowly crept back into the game over the next 4 innings trailing 21-14 going into the 6th.  But ASPNation put up an 11 run inning on homers by Mack, Bowser, and McBryde and led 35-18 going into the bottom of the 7th.  Precision made a valiant comeback scoring 14 runs in the bottom of the 7th by hitting 6 home runs but came up short 35-32.

ASPNation wins a very high quality 'A' tournament and met every challenge thrown their way.  The tournament had 22 games and just 4 ended in rules, and12 of the 22 games were decided by 4 runs or less.  The weather was great, the scoring was big, and each team had a 10 home run limit on basically 300 foot fields.  I couldn't help but wonder after some of the big teams fell by the wayside what Fence Brokers might have done in this tournament?  🙂

 

ASPNation records the last out of the tournament.  They celebrate their ASA 'A' title!

Winner's final between ASPnation and Precision

 

ASPNation takes on T's 13 in the winner's bracket semi finals

The favorites Compound Athletics take on eventual champs ASPNation in the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium

Precisions Davis Bilardello robs a home run from T's 13

 


 

Oldscout pollers had Precision winning it with ASPNation getting just 4% of the votes!

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

Some Womens Open and Men's D highlite clips mixed in with the ASA 'A'

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

Home Run Champion – Chris Greinert hit 10 HR to lead all hitters

 


 

2015 ASA A Awards and Final Standings

2015 ASA 'A' Nationals final standings:
  1st Place ASPNation.com/A&A Utility/KV Weld (TX)
  2nd Place – Precision/Easton/DO (IL)
  3rd Place – T's 13/Demarini (NE)
  4th Place – All American Athletics (OR)
  Tied 5th Place – Red's Astros (IN)
  Tied 7th Place – West Coast Monsta/The Scene (CA)
  Tied 7th Place – Heartland Investors (ND)
  Tied 9th Place – Compound Athletics/Bubbas/Easton (IL)
  Tied 9th Place – All Armed Forces (USA)
  Tied 9th Place – BBS/Mr. D's/Rip City (MN)
  Tied 9th Place – OC (IA)

Tournament MVP – Kyle Pearson from ASPNation .808, 6 HR, 27 RBI!

Batting Champion – Mike Brown the pitcher from all American Athletics .813

 

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:


 

 

 

 

 

 

1st Place ASPNation.com/A&A Utility/KV Weld

from TX  5-0 Record

ASPNation with their Texas All Star team flavor mixed with a little Kyle Pearson (Louisiana) and Bubba Mack (Florida) made for a winning chemistry!  They went undefeated and led the tournament in batting average and made good use of their home runs throughout the tourny.  The defense was solid, the pitching consistent considering the scores, and the offense stood on the gas whenever they pushed the pedal.  Congratulations on a great 'A' win!

Matt Vern, Cole Campbell, Marcus Thornton, and Chris Potts

  

Tim "Bye Bye" Bowser had a monster tournament

  

Potts, and Brian McBryde

Vern, Vittitow, and Large

This group all won the ASA 'A' but also won:

Bubba Mack also won the USSSA Major

Bowser, Maggard, and McBryde won the USSSA 'A'

Also 4 of them won won USSSA 'C' (Potts, Thornton, Bohanon, Barnes)

 

 


 

2nd Place – Precision/Easton/DO

from IL  3-2 Record

 

Precision was rolling towards an elusive 'A' title but ran into an offensive buzzsaw against ASPNation twice.  A valiant effort for Precision to force an "if" game was too little to late and they play bridesmaid…again.  Mooch did the pitching.  They made some great pickups in Collins, Parfitt, and Umschied.  They also gave infielder Alex Burkel his first shot at upper level.

 

Precisions Dan Kirkwood and Davis Bilardello finish off T's 13 on Sunday morning

Precision had Umschied, Laski, and Keske on left side of infield

Right side Alex Burkel and Curtis Stewart

 


 

 

3rd Place – T's 13/Demarini

from NE  3-2 Record

 

T's 13 beat the All Star team All American Athletics twice and Team Combat once.  They lost Madsen to an injury early in the tournament and had to shuffle some guys around but overall another solid showing.  Once all the big name teams were in the losers bracket early it looked like it could be T's 13 and Precision in the finals but ASPNation just had too much offense for everyone else.

T's 13 Matt Schrage made some great plays in CF.

 

 

T's 13 outfielder Jason Madsen broke his ankle straight stealing 2nd base successfully

 


 

4th Place – All American Athletics

from OR  4-2 Record

 

All American Athletics had a nice team assembled.  Quite an infield with Brungardt, Mays, Bazat, Lloyd, and Johnson.  They played well.  Pitcher Mike Brown led the tournament in RBI with a whopping 36!  Matt Fox from OC Swats chipped in 9 HR and 24 RBI.  And the team scored 30 runs per game average.  They sent home Armed Forces, Monsta, and Red's all by 9 runs or less but lost twice to T's 13.  

AAA's Mitch Johnson and Steven Lloyd

 


 

Tied 5th Place – Red's Astros

from   -2 Record

Reds beat Combat, lost to Precision and All American Athletics.  All were good solid games.

Red's SS Troy Krider and Branch

Jason Branch another great season and all tournament!

 


 

Tied 5th Place – Team Combat/Baugh Ford/Softball.com

from WA  3-2 Record

Combat beat Armed Forces, OC, and Heartland but lost to Red's Astros and T's 13.  The end to a tough season for Combat rumored to have picked up Jason Wilkins, Zach Messer, and Johnathon Williams for 2016.

 

Great plays by shortstop Jeff McGavin and 1st Base Casey Rogowski saved the game against OC

Nick Mangannaro has quietly had a nice season for Combat but needs a shave I'm told…

 


More pictures below


 

Other teams!


 

Tied 7th Place – West Coast Monsta/The Scene

from CA  1-2 Record

The Monsta lost to BBS by 3 then upset Compound Athletics!  Ryan Harvey led theh way with a .786 average and 7 Homers in the tournamentI

 


 

Tied 7th Place – Heartland Investors

from ND  1-2 Record

 
Heartland knocked BBS out of the tournament 26-23!  Crine hit .846 and Dana Roller hit .778.

 


 

Hot Links section brought to you by:

I would like to thank ASPNation.com, ASA, and the SoftballCenter and Oldscout advertisers!

Send corrections to dw@softballcenter.com

Link to the SoftballCenter.com Youtube channel

Link to the 2015 Tournament Reports

Link to the 2014 Tournament Reports

Link to the 2013 Tournament Reports

Link to the 2012 Tournament Reports

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

OC gave Team Combat all they could handle in a loser's bracket 9 inning loss

 


Armed Forces scored runs, hit, and hit for power but it wasn't enough.

 


 

Many on Compound Athletics have won the ASA 'A' multiple times but they watched this year after going 0-2

 


 

 

BBS went 1-2 after most of their team won the Super the day before


 

 

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