Thursday March 28th, 2024
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2015 USSSA Smoky Mountain Classic tournament report!

 

 

 

2015 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

47th Smoky Mountain Classic

 

Maryville, TN

 

July 10-12

Precisions Andy Vitcak pitches to Smash It Sports Scott Kirby in the championship game in the rain Sunday

 

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

 

USSSA Smoky tournament info and bracket link

 

Here is a link to an article from the Tennessee Daily Times

 

A view from Center Field at Sandy Springs main field #3

The 47th annual Smoky Mountain Classic was taking a familiar path when #1 Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth and #2 Smash It Sports/Compound/H Auto/ASP/Laservision/Easton each won their first 4 games by the run rule and met on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 2,000 people in the winner's bracket finals.  The two teams have squared off in the finals of many of the recent Smoky Mountain Classics and Resmondo has come out on top 7 years in a row either through the winners bracket or the loser's bracket.  But this year Smash It Sports got Resmondo down in the winner's final and capitalized on some Resmondo miscues and never let up as they won 45-27.  Also on Saturday night another great story was beginning to unfold as 4th ranked Precison/Easton/DO a 'A' team out of Illinois was starting an impressive run through the loser's bracket.  First they knocked off #3 Major Team Combat/Baugh Ford/Softball.com 39-23 in the fog, then early Sunday morning they beat arch rival Major team #5 Backman/Shoppe/Louisville Slugger 39-23, and then upset #1 Resmondo 43-38 in the loser's bracket finals!  They advanced to the championship game which was anti-climactic however as a fresh Smash It Sports team jumped out to a 7-0 lead and beat Precision in 4 innings by the 20 run rule 29-9 playing the last couple innings in the rain.  Smash It Sports hit 21 homers in just 3 innings.  Brian Wegman was 4-4 with 4 HR.

The Smoky Mountain Classic of course features unlimited homers and 80 foot bases and the main field is an old high school sized baseball field where all the top legends of slowpitch softball have created a name for themselves.  One of those players is Smash It Sports Bryson Baker who started things off on Thursday night by outslugging Lee Powers in the final of the annual home run derby.  Bryson hit 9 out of 10 in the final round to Lee's 8 out of 10.  20 Major players hit in the derby and 2 local derby winners joined them.  After the first round they paired it down to the top 6 which included Baker, Powers, Wegman, Helmer, Umschied, and Castillo.  Bryson continued the onslaught when the tournament started as he was onbase 30-33 times (.909), hit 23 homers, and drove in 38 RBI.  So he collected both the tournament MVP and the presigious most home runs award!  He beat out Smash Its Scott Kirby who had 20 and Precisions Davis Bilardello.

The crowds were maybe a little bit bigger than in 2014.  They came back Saturday night even after that torrential downpour in the early evening.  The crews did a great job getting the fields ready after the storm in about an hour and a half.  The stadium ZN ball was used on the main field and the conference ball on the other 5 fields.  I went to 3 of the parks and 5 of the fields and witnessed walk off homers by Travis Dale of Reds Astros over Encompass over at Everett Park which was one of the best games of the tournament.  I watched OC Swats Chente Granados hit a walk off homer against Fence Brokers and his brother Mario Granados hit a walk off shot into the net to beat Semper on field #4!  I watched Adam Kaminski from TG Brand walk off 3rd Street, local 'D' team Solway send home VCH 16-13, Xtreme knock off Peak and Racks on Friday over at the Denso fields, and Pure Romance power hitter Stacy Mizelle walk off Combat NWA.  I also witnessed Albicocco beat Fence Brokers 56-37 and combine for 58 home runs.  Albicocco hit 38 and FBI hit 20!  I watched long bombs from many of the top hitters but a few stood out.  I thought Tim Bowsers homer against Albicocco may have been the furthest.  Colby Hughes of FBI may have hit the highest.  Howie Krause I thought may have hit one further than Bowser.  For the lefties I witnessed Jeremy Isenhower hit the far fence on the tennis courts we "google earthed" at 465 feet and many players like Davis Bilardello short hopped that second fence at around 460.  I know Kevin Filby, Greg Connell and many others wowed the crowd with some creatures.

Team Breakdown – 34 Teams Total (31 Conference)
  4 Major
 7 'A'
  15 'B'
5 'C'
2 'D'

It rained again during the Smash It Sports vs Precision finals

Historic Smoky Mountain Classic Winning Teams List:
2015 Smash IT Sports/Compound Athletics/H Auto/ASP/Laservision/Easton
2014 Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth
2013 Resmondo-Specialty Tank Worth
2012 Resmondo-specialty tank worth
2011 Resmondo-specialty tank / worth
2010 Resmondosport/specialty/phonemaster
2009 Resmondo-specialty tank-worth
2008 Resmondo/specialty tank/worth
2007 Bellcorp/belcher/tai/backman
2006 Resmondo – KME Softball
2005 Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton – Tampa, Florida
2004 Resmondo/Hague/Taylor/Sunbelt
2003 Hague / Resmondo / Taylor Brothers
2002 Dan Smith / Backman / Menosse / Easton
2001 Long Haul / Taylor Bros. / Shen Corp. / TPS
2000 Team TPS/Louisville, KY
1999 Team TPS, Louisville, Kentucky
1998 Sierra/TPS, Reno, NV
1997 Ritch's/Superior/Tri Gems/Beloli/TPS, Windsor Locks, CT
1996 Sunbelt/Easton, Centerville, GA
1995 Ritch's/Superior/TPS, Windsor Locks, CT
1994 Ritch's/Superior/TPS, Windsor Locks, CT
1993 Ritch's/Superior, Windsor Locks, CT
1992 Bell Corp, Tampa, FL.
1991 Bell Corp, Tampa, FL.
1990 Steeles Silver Bullets, Grafton, OH
1989 Superior-Apollo, Windsor Locks, CT
1988 Starpath Systems, Monticello, KY
1987 Steeles Sports, Grafton, OH
1986 Steeles Sports, Grafton, OH
1985 Elite Coatings, Gordon, GA
1984 Elite Coatings, Gordon, GA
1983 Elite Coatings, Gordon, GA
1982 York/Ken Sanders, York, PA
1981 Howards Western Steer, Denver, NC
1980 Jerry's Caterers, Miami, FL.
1979 Campbell's Carpet, Concord, CA
1978 Dave Carroll Sports, Sherrills-Ford, NC
1977 Howards Furniture, Denver, NC
1976 Howards Furniture, Denver, NC
1975 Nelson Painting, Oklahoma City, OK
1974 Howards Furniture, Denver, NC

 

Smash Its Luis Reyna

A nice sunset

Fog rolled in for the late Saturday games

FBI and Albicocco locked in a game that had 58 homers!

Precisions Robert Blackburn congratulated by his new teammates

Field #4 Sandy Springs park Saturday night – TG Brand vs Precision

The big net on the short porch in right field on F4

The new fence installed at Everett #2

Denso field with Xtreme taking on Peak

Resmondo takes to the show field for the first time against local team Ecological

 

Before and after the rain.  This is only 1.5 hours after that torrential downpour

The ball is always a question on the bigger fiels.  The stadium ZN was used.

 

I estimated the largest crowd to be around 2,000 between the two fields

This was the crowd over at Everett to watch the 3 local teams play Friday.  About 250 people

 


 

Oldscout pollers were WRONG

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

 

Video Clips of the Smoky

Bryson Bakers final round at HR Derby

Lee Powers final round at HR Derby

Some other videos from fans:

 

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

 

Bryson Baker won the HR Derby.

Picture by Jolanda Jansma/Blount Press Row

Howie Krause been doing this bomb hitting for a long time

Precisions Davis Bilardello hit one 460 and was among the home run leaders

Jeremy Isenhower hit one 465 of the back tennis court fence according to eye witnesses.

FBI's Tim Bowser launches another homer

 


 

 Smoky Major Awards and Final Standings

Player Tournament Awards Players Name Plays For
Tournament MVP Bryson Baker Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/
Defensive Tournament MVP Ryan Parfitt Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/
All Tournament Team Brett Helmer Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/
All Tournament Team Kevin Filby Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/
All Tournament Team Brian Wegman Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/
All Tournament Team Travis Clark Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/
All Tournament Team Scott Kirby Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/
All Tournament Team Luis Reyna Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/
Place State Team Team
Class
Wins Losses Ties Runs
Scored
Runs
Allow
Avg
Runs
Avg
Allow
Avg
Diff
Max
Runs
USSSA
Points
1 NYU – Cicero, NY smash it sports/compound athletics/ USSSA-SPMensMajor 6 0 0 236 127 39.3 21.1 18.1 50 300
2 IL – Chicago Precision/Easton/DO USSSA-Mens-A 7 2 0 236 198 26.2 22 4.22 43 225
3 FL – Winter Haven resmondo specialty tank worth USSSA-SPMensMajor 4 2 0 221 150 36.8 25 11.8 44 200
4 IN – LAWRENCEBURG backman/shoppe/louisville slugger USSSA-SPMensMajor 4 2 0 174 149 29 24.8 4.16 39 175
5 MI – Flint TG Brand USSSA-Mens-B 5 2 0 195 166 27.8 23.7 4.14 39 155
5 WA – KENT team combat/baugh ford/softball.com USSSA-SPMensMajor 3 2 0 136 123 27.2 24.6 2.6 34 155
7 WY – Casper TEAM RACKS EASTON USSSA-Mens-A 4 2 0 111 92 18.5 15.3 3.16 41 130
7 MN – Dayton Xtreme/Miken USSSA-Mens-A 3 2 0 164 143 32.8 28.6 4.2 41 130
9 WA – Kent combat/northwest athletics USSSA-Mens-A 3 2 0 126 110 25.2 22 3.2 34 110
9 CAS – Yorba Linda oc swats doerflinger/miken/lcp USSSA-Mens-B 3 2 0 117 121 23.4 24.2 -0.8 35 110
9 IN – Indianapolis red's astros/louisville slugger USSSA-Mens-A 2 2 0 136 139 34 34.7 -0.7 51 110
9 NYU – Commack albicocco/the scene/easton USSSA-SPMensMajor 2 2 0 118 118 29.5 29.5 0 56 110
13 OH – Cincinnati pure romance/foulks adjusting/headl USSSA-Mens-B 2 2 0 101 112 25.2 28 -2.7 35 70
13 IL – CHICAGO COMPOUND ATHLETICS/EASTON USSSA-Mens-B 2 2 0 81 47 20.2 11.7 8.5 37 70
13 MN – Champlin encompass / eurotech / easton / ca USSSA-Mens-B 2 2 0 123 108 30.7 27 3.75 48 70
13 DC – Washington Semper Athletics/Demarini USSSA-Mens-B 2 2 0 93 71 23.2 17.7 5.5 34 70
17 TN – KNOXVILLE tapout/ecological pest management USSSA-Mens-C 2 2 0 81 106 20.2 26.5 -6.2 29 0
17 VA – Sutherland SFI/SAL/Easton USSSA-Mens-B 2 2 0 88 79 22 19.7 2.25 40 40
17 GA – Macon Primetime/Easton USSSA-Mens-B 1 2 0 56 88 18.6 29.3 -10. 20 40
17 NC – Fletcher worshamathletics/klutchbrand/worth/ USSSA-Mens-C 1 2 0 48 68 16 22.6 -6.6 25 40
17 OH – West Chester 3rd street/hubs pub/louisville slug USSSA-Mens-B 1 2 0 53 60 17.6 20 -2.3 25 40
17 NJ – Jackson above all landscaping/evo9x USSSA-Mens-B 1 2 0 55 76 18.3 25.3 -7 29 40
17 AR – Bryant fence brokers inc/buzini/worth USSSA-Mens-A 1 2 0 103 109 34.3 36.3 -2 37 40
17 GA – Peachtree City oi livingston/tnt hauling/brother's USSSA-Mens-B 1 2 0 47 69 15.6 23 -7.3 23 40
25 NC – Greenville broughton pharmacy/bad draw/worth USSSA-Mens-A 1 2 0 59 69 19.6 23 -3.3 26 40
25 TN – Solway Solway Hardware USSSA-Mens-D 1 2 0 31 67 10.3 22.3 -12 16 40
25 WI – Eau Claire The Sportsman Shop USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 11 59 5.5 29.5 -24 8 40
25 OH – Middletown rsc/tom wood honda/ combat USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 8 66 4 33 -29 7 40
25 MO – St. Louis precision recovery/hooters USSSA-Mens-C 0 2 0 37 48 18.5 24 -5.5 24 40
25 IN – Lanesville kg/slayer/wilson/louisvilleslugger USSSA-Mens-B 0 2 0 24 54 12 27 -15 14 40
25 AR – Rogers bear hollow ranch/cl/buzini/easton USSSA-Mens-B 0 2 0 40 66 20 33 -13 21 40
25 CO – Colorado Springs peak softball/rockland llc USSSA-Mens-B 0 2 0 34 72 17 36 -19 26 40
33 TXN – Dallas VCH Worth USSSA-Mens-B 0 2 0 30 35 15 17.5 -2.5 17 40
33 TN – Rutledge DeadEnd BBQ/GoTeez USSSA-Mens-D 0 2 0 36 44 18 22 -4 19 0

 

Smash It Sports Ryan Parfitt was defensive MVP

Precisions Dan Kirkwood had the running diver of the tournament on Saturday against Backman

He climbs the fence here.

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:


 

 

1st Place Smash It Sports/Compound/H Auto/Laservision/ASP/Easton

Conf 'M' from NY  6-0 Record

Smash It Sports moves into first place in the points by 40 over Resmondo.  They stretch out their lead in the computer rankings and add a Smoky Championship to their resume.  Smash It won every game by the run rule and wasn't really challenged in any of their games.  Xtreme actually probably gave them their best challenge 50-34.  They outscored their opponents 236-127.  The defense was sound, the home runs were plentiful (154), and everyone pretty much deserved all tournament.  Travis Clark played with a deep bruise on his foot and had a hard time running.  

Trending Up!

Player   G PA R OB 1B 2B 3B HR RBI BB OBA
                         
Bryson Baker   6 33 30 30 5 1 0 23 38 1 0.909
Brian Wegman   6 28 23 25 8 1 0 15 21 1 0.893
Scott Kirby   6 31 21 25 3 2 0 20 31 0 0.806
Brett Helmer   4 20 14 16 2 0 0 9 10 5 0.800
Luis Reyna   6 28 19 22 8 7 0 6 12 1 0.786
Travis Clark   6 28 21 22 4 0 0 17 28 1 0.786
Dale Brungardt   5 24 16 18 6 1 0 10 13 1 0.750
Ryan Parfitt   6 28 21 21 4 3 0 13 16 1 0.750
Kevin Filby   6 31 23 23 7 0 0 14 20 2 0.742
Steven Lloyd   5 25 17 18 4 2 0 8 12 4 0.720
Mike Umscheid   6 27 14 18 5 0 1 12 19 0 0.667
Kevin Bazat   5 23 14 14 4 0 0 6 15 4 0.609

Brian Wegman homering at another Smoky!

Bryson Baker won Derby, MVP, and he hit the most homers!

Smash middle man Kevin Bazat dives for a ball.

 

Umschied and Reyna on the left side.  Clark pitched and played with a bad bruise on his foot.

 


 

2nd Place – Precision/Easton/DO

Conf 'A' from IL  7-2 Record

Precision became the first 'A' team to make the finals of ths Smoky Mountain Classic since the Major division was formed I believe.  I hope I am not rewriting history when I say this…

Precision beat the who's who of softball.  They beat a hot OC Swats team.  A hot TG Brand.  They knocked of Team Racks, Team Combat, Backman, and the mighty Resmondo!

A true team effort.  Kirkwood was a machine in center field, Bilardello was a home run machine at the plate, and Andy Vitcak was a warrior on the mound.  They used guys in different positions and different lineups, it did not matter who played or where, they just stepped up and performed.  This team has a lot of talented players and a lot of moving parts and they all buy in to what the leadership is doing, they go with the flow, and they play the game the right way.  I gave Precision a hard time on the classification chat last year, but I am a fan and as I've said before Conference sponsors need to take notice of how this team is run and was built with the nucleus of players from the same area.

Trending Way Up!

One of Precisions lineups
3B Matt Rear
CF Dan Kirkwood
1B Brett McCollum
LF Keith Laski
2B Tristan Reimolds
LF Davis Bilardello
SS Denis Fisher
EH Curtis Stewart
C Robert Blackburn
MI Jeff Keske
P Andy Vitcak

The win over Resmondo.  Yellow is a homer

Right side Tristan Reimolds and Brett McCollum

 

Precision moved veteran Denis Fisher to shortstop and shortstop Keith Laski to RF

Robo walked off run ruled his former team Backman

 


 

3rd Place – Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth

Conf 'M' from FL  4-2 Record

 

Resmondo had their 11 game winning streak snapped by Smash It Sports on Saturday night when their defense was just a step slow.  It wasn't they necessarily made errors but more that they just didn't come up with their usual great plays.  Resmondo beat OI Livingston, Red's Astros, and Backman soundly before the winner's final loss to Smash It Sports 45-27.  On Sunday morning they may have taken Precision a little too lightly and needed 12 runs in the bottom of the 7th and only got 6.  Resmondo was just a little "unsharp" in the final two games to get accomplished what they needed.

Trending Down some

Purcell hit 5 homers in his first 5 at bats against Precision

Nic Santana had a couple of clutch hits to extend their game against Precision

Resmondo left side Salas, Dedonatis, Rulli

 


 

4th Place – Backman/Shoppe/Louisville Slugger

Conf 'M' from IN  4-2 Record

 

Backman had a nice win over Precision in the quarter finals 39-19 and then lost to Remsondo and Precision with a win over TG Brand sandwiched in between.  They got the injured players Sam Lopez and Brian Rainwater back. The injury to Neil Haglund (broken arm) hurt them at the Smoky.  Best of luck to Neil in his rehab of the arm and recovery.  There seems to be some unrest with this team I don't want to ask about.  They are still a valid threat in the Major division if everyone could buy in like Precision does…

Trending Even

Backman left side Lopez, Lenz, and Castillo

 

The core of Albicocco who finished #3 last year is now the core of Backman.

Castillo, Baggs, and Harvey

Backman pitcher Billy Barrett after being hit in the forearm Saturday night.  

Apparently he caught the bounce off his arm behind his back and made the play.

 


 

Tied 5th Place – TG Brand

Conf 'B' from MI  5-2 Record

TG Brand dropped the scarlett letter 'A' and low and behold they played very well as we thought they would.  After an early loss to Precision, TG Brand beat Worsham, PRI, Albicocco by the run rule, and had an epic win over Xtreme 39-35 late on Saturday night.  They played well over on that field #4.  They lost the last game Saturday to Backman by just 9.  They played without recent pickup Jeff Payton.  The infield defense made a lot of great plays (at least when I was watching) and they also had that 9th inning win over 3rd Street.  TG has a great team, they just don't know it.

Trending Up (got rid of the scarlett letter)

TG Brand middle infielders shortstop Josh Masden, MI Steve Whaley, 2B Justin Evans

Adam Kaminski hits a walk off homer to beat 3rd Street in the 9th inning

 


 

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

Conf 'M' from WA  3-2 Record

Combat won their first 3 games, barely getting by Semper 26-19 and man handeling Albicocco in the quarterfinals 34-14.  But then got beat by Smash It in the semis and Precision sent them home Saturday night.  It felt like this team was ready to take the next step when pitcher Tommie Baugh and the defense shut down Albicocco but they slipped back a notch and didn't over power Precision to make it to Sunday.  Combat is not playing Cincinnati which I think hurts them for the stretch run.  They are now 5th in the point standings.

Trending Even

Combat 3B Frank Yeilding, SS Jeff McGavin, MI Kyle Pearson

 


 

 

More pictures below

 


 

Other top finishing Conference teams

Tied 7th Place – Team Racks Easton

Conf 'A' from WY  4-2 Record

Racks Nick Price

It is great that Racks is going to finish the season.  This is a fun team to watch.  Jason Kreider took over the managerial duties for Rob Humphrey.  They beat Swats, Above All, Compound 8-7?, and came from 12 down to beat Red's Astros 41-40 in maybe the best game on the show field.  It looked like they had their whole team there and those first 3 wins they gave up just 24 runs with new pitcher Tyson Steele.  Pretty impressive.

Trending Up – good to see them at the tournament!

 


 

Tied 7th Place – Xtreme/Miken

Conf 'A' from   3-2 Record

 

Xtreme brings a lot of family members to the big tournaments

Xtreme had a great Friday winning games over Peak 41-26 and Racks 28-15.  In the final 8 on Saturday on the show field they had a lead over Smash It and gave them a run for their money eventhough the final score of 50-34 doesn't reflect the closeness of the game.  Hopefully that one is archived from the livestream because it was a good game.  Xtreme had Geno Buck on the mound and with Geno, Miller, Shannon Smith, Newton, and Palm and the younger guys stepping up their game, they are a deep team.  Could be a dark horse in 'A'.   Another team with good chemistry and a nucleus from the same region.

Trending Up

 


 

Hot Links section brought to you by:

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

I would like to also thank directors Joe Huff and Chris Clark for their help

USSSA Smoky tournament info link

Link to Softballcenter.com pictures of the Smoky Major

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

Nationwide Conference USSSA Points Link

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

 

Albicocco was hot for 3 games then wilted

Albicocco left side Genter, Faria, and Flood

Red's Astros center fielder Ben Dunn makes an incredible attempt on a ball

Peak shortstop just misses.

3rd Streets Jason Matusik robs a homer.

Red's Astros Travis Dale hits a walk off to beat Encompass 51-48

 

Oc Swats Chente Granados and his brother Mario had back to back walk off hits to beat FBI and Semper

Semper fighting hard to get to the Major World Series

 

FBI picked up Billy Maggard and Colby Hughes and jumped to the 'A' division.

Pure Romance Stacy Mizelle walked off Combat NWA

Above All Landscaping picked up David Miller


Some interesting release points of the top pitchers.  These guys are releasing pretty low which means the pitch only has to go about 6 feet.

The rule is 3 feet from the release.

 


Legend

"Smoky Mountain" Chad helping the ladies!

 

 

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