Thursday March 28th, 2024
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A look back at the 2018 USSSA Easton Seattle Dual Invitational tournament report!

 

 

 

2018 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

Easton Seattle Dual Invitational

 

Kent, Washington 

 

June 21-24

Dan Smith closes out Smash It Sports to win the "if" game of the 1st Dual 31-30!

 

SoftballCenter Seattle Major picture album link

 

Hickok photos pictures of Seattle

 

2018 Seattle Major bracket and results link

 

2018 Seattle Dual 1 Major stats link

 

2018 Seattle Dual 2 Major stats link

 

Archived Game Links

 

 

 

Resmondo's Jeremy Yates hits a walk off gapper to beat Dan Smith

and Greg Connell hits a walk off run rule homer to beat Smash It Sports in Dual #2

Dual #1:

The Seattle Dual is a grueling 4 days of softball played in the beautiful Northwest.  The first Dual started with 11 Conference teams and 26 teams overall at 11 AM Pacific time on Thursday morning.  California Conference 'B' team Cheap Suits/Republic Realty/CDZ was upset in their play into the bracket game 24-19 by C&B Painting LLC.  But otherwise there were no other play in or first round upsets and the final 8 of the winner's bracket was all of the top 8 conference teams in the tournament – Smash It Sports (NY-Major), Dan Smith (CA-Major), Resmondo (FL-Major), Newbreed (WA-AA), Bay Area Legends (CA-TBD), Tradesmen (UT-A), Primetime (GA-A), and Classic Glass (CA-A).  This first dual was played with normal conference home run limits and the classic M ball on 300 foot fields  The weather was perfect but cooler than normal with temperatures in the 60's all 4 days. 

In the round of 8 in the winner's bracket for Dual #1, in the top part of the bracket Resmondo 20 run ruled Classic Glass 29-9 and Primetime pulled off their biggest upset in years as they beat Dan Smith 26-19 as Primetime outscored them 18-5 in the last 3 innings!   But Primetime lost in the semifinals to Resmondo 48-18.  In the lower part of the bracket Smash It Sports who won both Seattle Duals a year ago crushed Tradesmen 36-5 and Bay Area Legends beat rival Newbreed 41-37 before Smash It smoke Bay Area 29-5.  It was Smash Its 3rd game in a row holding their opponents to 10 runs or less!  The winner's bracket finals were then played the next day on Friday at 12:30 PM and Smash It Sports found themselves down 27-13 until they scored 15 runs in the top of the 6th inning.  Resmondo had many chances to make tough plays on hard linedrives and grounders at the end of the game but did not come up with them, although Resmondo shortstop Brett Rettenneier and Smash It Sports Luis Reyna both made great plays to keep their respective teams in the game.  In the bottom of the 7th Smash It Sports rallied again as Josh Riley tied the game with a big homer, and Brian McBryde hit a walkoff homer to win the game 31-29.

Meanwhile in the loser's bracket Dan Smith was making one of the all time epic runs after their loss to Primetime.  At 8 AM Friday morning they beat Exclusive 30-4, then Classic Glass 47-22, Bay Area Legends 33-29, got their revenge on Primetime 33-18, then outlasted Resmondo 47-44, and still had enough left in the tank to "double dip" Smash It Sports Friday evening 35-20 and 31-30.  In the "if" game they came up with great infield defensive plays from third baseman Dale Brungardt, 2 by first baseman Davis Bilardello, and a final play by middle infielder Joe Spaulding with Smash It having homers to hit and Dan Smith pulled off the victory!

A Scuffle breaks out during the handshaking line between SIS and Dan Smith

 

Dual #2:

Dual #2 started well before the first Dual ended and even the 3 major teams still had to play a game on Friday night to get the first round completed.  The 2nd dual winner's bracket was played on the baseball field with no temp fence and its 330-370-395-375-370-330 dimensions, using the stadium ball (47/450), and unlimited homers.  The losers bracket was played with unlimited homers on field #3 with the classic M ball and its 300 foot fences.  And only 11 conference teams and 5 non conference teams played in this second dual.  In the first round all of the conference teams won as Classic Glass beat Infamous/Salt Riot 16-15.  Cheap Suits upset Primetime 26-19.  Tradesmen slipped past L&S Glass 15-12.  And Dan Smith, Bay Area Legends, and Smash It Sports all won by the run rule.  In the nightcap Resmondo trailed non-Confrerence 'A' team Dirty Sports 11-6 but shut down Dirty in the late innings and somehow came out on top 16-14 as Dirty scored just 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th.  Resmondo's Bubba Mack hit a big grand slam at the end of that one to help save Resmondo.

On Saturday the loser's bracket started over on field #3 and the winner's bracket final 8 played out on the baseball field.  Even though the temperatures were in the 60's, the scores were not that high as the big baseball field has some huge gaps.  Resmondo made short work of Classic Glass 23-2.  Dan Smith shut down Cheap Suits 22-8.  Smash It Sports struggled with Tradesmen and went to the 7th inning tied at 18-18, but Andy Purcells pitching shut down the Tradesmen and he came in and won the game himself with a walk off gapper to left center field and Smash It advanced 19-18.  The best game of the final 8 may have been Bay Area Legends and Newbreed as the Legends pulled out their 3rd straight win over Newbreed this year, 30-29.

In the semifinals Resmondo dominated a tired Dan Smith team 33-6 as Travis Clark hit 3 home runs.  And Smash It Sports beat Bay Area Legends by 20, 34-14.  In the winner's bracket finals on Saturday night it was Smash it Sports outlasting Resmondo in the highest scoring game on the baseball fields 42-37.

In the loser's bracket it was Cheap Suits the California 'B' team making an unlikely run over on field #3 with unlimited home runs as they beat Steel Sports/Vortex 33-24, fellow hometown California teams Classic Glass 22-6 and Bay Area Legends 34-31 as they made it to Sunday's Final 4!!!  On Sunday morning the magic run ended at the hands of Dan Smith 26-11 as Andrew Collins went 5-5 with 9 RBI.  In the loser's bracket finals Dan Smith trailed Resmondo 22-19 going into the 5th where they were outscored 12-3.  But Dan Smith scored 5 in the top of the 6th, blanked Resmondo in the bottom of the 6th, and scored 13 in the top of the 7th to take a 40-34 lead!  Steven Lloyd was 6-7 in the game and pitcher Mike Nino 6-6.  But Resmondo came back and scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 7th including a walkoff double by Jeremy Yates to win it 42-40.  Pitcher Travis Clark was 5-5 with 4 HR and Buddy Wolf was 4-4 with 3 HR and 8 RBI for Resmondo.  Resmondo out homered Dan Smith 16-14.

In the first championship game Resmondo batted around in top of 1st inning but led just 17-15 Resmondo after 3 complete innings.  Resmondo stretched their lead in the middle innings and went to the top of the 6th up 27-16.  Resmondo shut down Smash It in the bottom of the 6th and scored 7 more in the top of the 7th to take a 34-16 lead and won 34-18 to force the "if" necessary game.  In the "if" game Resmondo continued their offensive onslaught and led 10-1 Resmondo after 2 innings.  They stretched their lead to 21-11 going into the 4th and with victory in sight needing 10 to end it by the 20 run rule, they did exactly that and left Smash It on the field 31-11 to win their 4th tournament of the year!
 

  

Team Breakdown:
 26 Teams Overall
 11 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
3 Major Teams
1 'AA' Teams
9 'A' Teams
5 'B' Teams
8 'C/D' Teams

Smash Its Bryan McBryde hits a game winning homer to walk off Resmondo in the Dual #1 winners finals

Steve Whaley and Dan Smith wins Dual #1 – Some on Oldscout must be so upset…

Resmondo infield defense Umschied, Rettenmeier, Bazat, Reckart

Resmondo and Smash It Sports under the lights on a baseball field with unlimited homers!!!

Dan Smith's Argen Dodds hits against Resmondo in the semifinals

Smash It takes on Bay Area Legends in the Dual #2 semifinals

Newbreed and Primetime in the 2nd Dual

 

Smash Its Andy Purcell hits a walk off gap shot to beat Tradesmen 19-18

Newbreed kept running into Bay Area Legends

The baseball field had 330-370-395-375-370-330 dimensions

Stadium ZN's for the 2nd Dual

Lots of bats failing

 


 

Oldscout pollers had Smash It in Dual #1 and Resmondo in Dual #2

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

 

Harvey and Pearson seemed like they were trying to see who would hit the longest home run!

They were hitting BOMBS!

Matt Fox from Bay Area crushed a long one over on field #4.

And a shout out to Tradesmen slugger Kyle Hartz I think it was for that nasty line drive homer over the 395 mark into the playground, yikes!

 


 

 Seattle Major Final Standings and Awards

Dual #1

 

Dual #2

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:

 

 

Dan Smith/Menosse/Steven Smith  CA-Major
Dual #1 1st 8-1
Dual #2 3rd 4-2

Dan Smith had some hiccups here and there but played with a ton of heart and gutted out a 7 game winning streak in the first dual to win it and secure the #2 seed going into the Smoky Mountain Classic.  They lost to Primetime and got smoked once by Resmondo but also came up with 3 wins over Major teams and had a great 4 days.  Losson White had to leave for a family reunion so Nino did most of the pitching and did an incredible job.  He may be in line for the Conference rookie of the year award.  Collins was clutch.  Bilardello probably added to his home run lead and made some nice plays at 1st base.  Brungardt made that huge play against Dedonatis to help win the first tournament, Spaulding filled in at middle infield nicely (Rulli out with arm injury), Whaley shut up the oldscout haters, and Steven Lloyd, Dodds, the tireless Ben Dunn in center (how many miles has that guy run this year and how about that almost diver in the championship game!), and Stovall may have found a home in left field.  This team took another step forward and it is refreshing to see.

Dan Smith Lineup:
Lloyd
Bilardello
Brungardt
Collins
Spaulding
Dodds
Kanaby
Stovall
Dunn
Whaley
Nino

Mike Nino was a workhorse on the mound

 

Collins runs one down.  Joe Spaulding was moved to middle infield where he did a nice job.

 

Sponsors Dan Smith and Ed Menosse.  Steven Lloyd with his signature bat!

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CF Ben Dunn and Dale Brungardt

Davis Bilardello led the league in home runs coming into Seattle

 



Resmondo/RDD/H.auto/All IN/Sprizzi/  FL-Major
Dual #1 3rd 3-2
Dual #2 1st 6-1

Resmondo made it to the winner's bracket finals twice but got beat by Smash It Sports both times.  In the 1st dual they then came up short against Dan Smith in the loser's final, but in the 2nd dual they came from 6 down in the bottom of the 7th to beat Dan Smith on a Jeremy Yates walk off gap shot, and then beat Smash It Sports by the run rule twice!  Resmondo played without Neil Haglund and Scott Kirby, and Jeremy Yates missed most of the first tournament with a high ankle sprain but smashed in the 2nd dual.  Brian Wegman missed Sunday of the 2nd dual for work.  Reckart had a nice tournament and played 1st base.  Wegman and Clark were probably leading the team in homer's.  Yates seemed unaffected by the ankle and hit well along with Wolf in the 2nd tournament.  The whole team played well with different defensive lineups throughout the 4 days.  In the first tournament they struggled with home run management.

Resmondo really took to that format of unlimited homers on the baseball field and are a better defensive team on the turf.  They will be the #1 seed for the Smoky!

Resmondo Lineup Sunday:
Baker
Connell
Yates
Clark
Lewis
Mack
Wolf
Reckart
Bazat
Rettenmeier

 

Travis Clark and Brian Wegman had the home run stroke going

 

Kevin Bazat

 

Bubba Mack and Brad Reckart

 

Steele Lewis was showing some great range in CF and Brett Rettenmeier

Watson, Mack, and Yates

Mike Umschied

 



Smash It/Thunder/Backman/TDB/Miken  NY-Major
Dual #1 2nd 4-2
Dual #2 2nd 4-2

 

Smash It was undefeated in the winner's bracket in both duals but could not close when it counted, which closing is something this team is used to doing.  And they got run ruled twice by Resmondo on a baseball field that is artificial turf and had very similar dimensions to the one the Major World Series will be played on this year at Space Coast Stadium.  The "double – double dip" is the first of its kind in Conference history and won't sit well with the players on this team that will use it as motivation going forward into the Smoky Mountain Classic.  There have now been 6 tournaments where all 3 major teams were present and Smash It has only won one of them.

Harvey in the first tournament had 15 homers and 32 RBI.  Pearson in the 2nd dual with all games on the big baseball field was .862 with 14 HR and 20 RBI.  Wow!  Luis Reyna was spectacular with the glove and made great plays in almost every game and would be Defensive MVP if Smash It had won either tournament in my opinion.  Filip Washington did not play, he was in North Dakota at the McQuades with Monsta.

 

Smash It Lineup for first dual finals:
Purcell
Pearson
Harvey
Reyna
McBryde/Riley
Santana
Ussery
Dillon
Dedonatis
Williams
Briggs

Smash It middle man Luis Reyna was picking everything.  This throw was from the knees at the back of the baseball infield to first base!

 

Santana and Briggs

Dedonatis hits a clutch 2 out double that could have set up the tying run



Cheap Suits/Republic Realty/ CDZ  CA-B
Dual #1 9th 3-2
Dual #2 4th 4-2

Cheap Suits went an impressive 7-4 at the Dual after struggling most of the year as a conference team.  I don't think any of these guys played conference until this year and I apologize for not knowing who they are.  They beat Primetime, Bay Area Legends, Classic Glass, and L&S Glass.  Interestingly enough Bay Area, L&S, and Classic are all from the same part of California as Cheap Suits!  Cheap Suits in 4 days put themselves on the map in Conference play for the first time and most of those big wins came on 300 foot fields with unlimited homers!

 

Cheap Suits collage (sorry I don't know these guys)

 

 

 



Newbreed/Steel Sports/DeMarini  WA-AA
Dual #1 5th 3-2
Dual #2 5th 3-2

Newbreed was 6-4 and played a lot of softball but lost to Primetime once and Bay Area twice.  After their tournament win in the "mini AA" Tulsa event af few weekd ago and geting back Cole Patterson from injury to pitch, I think Newbreed was expecting a better weekend in what is considered their home tournament.

 

Pitcher Cole Patterson was back from injury.  Nick Utley

 

Everett Williams and Rolando Rodriguez.  Everett hits those Jeremy Isenhower type moon shots on baseball fields!

 

Reno Malay and Matt Vasquez

 



Primetime/Easton/Evolution  GA-A
Dual #1 4th 4-2
Dual #2 9th 1-2

Primetime upset Dan Smith in the first dual and Newbreed to finish 4th, and they did it without Roderick Armour their normal starting pitcher.  Detorren Means did a great job on the mound and the team finally finished those upsets that they have come so close to winning in many of the past conference seasons.  A strong BSC team coming all the way from Georgia to Seattle and having good success was a great thing to see!  They are now 6-2 vs 'A' teams and knocking on the door of a Major World Series berth!  I want to give a shout out to Ira Brown the long time Primetime slugger who is out with a broken leg.  See you soon big guy.

 

Pitcher Detorren Means made all tournament.

 

Austin

 



Bay Area Legends/Miken  CA-TBD
Dual #1 5th 2-2
Dual #2 5th 2-2

Bay Area beat Newbreed twice and played well against Dan Smith only losing by 4.  They also competed for awhile against Smash It Sport.  They are now 6-0 vs 'A' teams and 5-7 vs 'AA' teams.

Bay Areas left side – Matt Fox, Carlos "Stick Boy" Vasquez, and Dameon Smith

 

Gonzalez crushed a homer off of Purcell.  So did Fox.

Corey Gilbert did most of the pitching


 

 



Classic Glass / Easton  CA-A
Dual #1 7th 2-2
Dual #2 7th 2-2

Classic won 4 games, all against conference teams in the two tournaments but didn't upset anyone.  Classic is a solid 'A' team that still hasn't peaked.

 

Cameron Cox and shortstop Daniel "Bama" Cayton

  

Brandon Traylor turns two.  Ryan Ramirez leads the team with a .780 on base percentage

 

Ben Falcone crushes one over the 370 mark.

 



Tradesmen/louisville Slugger/SavOn  UT-A
Dual #1 7th 3-2
Dual #2 9th 1-2

Tradesmen beat L&S Glass twice and nearly pulled off what would have been their greatest win over Smash It Sports Major team but came up short.  In the second tournament they were beating Dirty Sports when one of their players were ejected and they didn't have anyone on the bench and forfeited.  The team seemed to gell.  The pickups of Arredondo and Tallent helped the team and they had guys that really wanted to be there and played hard.  A step forward for Tradesmen that we have been waiting for.  Rauma was playing for Monsta at the McQuades and their new pitcher PJ Garcia had a family emergency and couldn't make the trip.

 

Tradesmen picked up free agent Chris Arredondo.  Pitcher Josh Tallent

 

Reggie Barkers shot blew up the 3rd baseman and bounced off his knee into center field.

 

 



 

Steel Sports/Vortex  WA-A
Dual #1 13th 2-2
Dual #2 9th 1-2

Steel had some veterans like Donovan Pokraka of GTL fame, Danny Connell a former pitcher with Newbreed and other teams, and Kaeo Rubin who once played for GTL.  They weren't an easy out but only beat non conference teams. 

Former Newbreed pitcher Danny Connell was pitching for Vortex

 



L & S Glass  CA-B
Dual #1 17th 1-2
Dual #2 9th 1-2

L&S Glass won 2 games over non conference opponents but struggled in all of their games.  This team is still looking for some of the magic they had at last years Seattle dual.

 

? and Kelleher

 

CF Tyler Espland and Chris Hoshaw hits a bomb

 



Dirty Sports  WA-A
Dual #1 17th 0-2
Dual #2 7th 2-2

T

Pitcher Chris "Bingo" Benigno once won both ends of the Seattle Dual with Albicocco  🙂

Dirty Sports almost pulled off an upset of Resmondo to start the 2nd dual but couldn't score much in the closing innings and lost an 11-6 lead and went down 16-14.  They are 5-1 vs 'A' teams this year though.

 

Assist!


 

INFAMOUS/ Salt Riot/Double Cup  CO-B
Dual #1 17th 1-2
Dual #2 13th 0-2

Infamous went 1-4 and was a nonfactor in the dual.

Infamous takes on Classic Glass

 


 

Other top finishing Conference teams

 


 

Hot Links section brought to you by:

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

Send corrections to dw@softballcenter.com

Link to the SoftballCenter.com Youtube channel

Link to all 2009 to 2018 Tournament Reports and Previews

Nationwide Conference USSSA Points and information link

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

 

Legends

 

Former GTL manager Jose Sanchez, Seattle director Strojan Kennison, and Demarinis Mike Cornell

Former Seattle softball legends Kerm Stricklin and Brendt Newbill

Legend turned director Chuck Shimels.  Sorry I didn't get a picture of California director Sean Melvin.  🙂

Conference umps, the best travelling umps in the country

Usually this is where I say "this isn't as bad as it looks", but this looks bad…

 

Smash It Sports was selling some great merch

Billy Mchales had the best burgers and toasted my bun!

The Last Ride #29…

 

 

 

 

 

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