Sunday March 24th, 2024
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2018 USSSA Hoosier Classic Major tournament report!

 

I want to give a shout out to all of the umpires at the Chattanooga and Hoosier Classic

who did such a great job of giving the scores to the livestream!

Thank You!

 

 

2018 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

Hoosier Classic

 

Columbus, Indiana

 

May 12-13

 

Precision's tournament co-MVP Dan Bean blasts a homer against Resmondo in the championship game!

SoftballCenter Hoosier Classic picture album link

 

2018 Hoosier Classic bracket and results link

 

2018 Hoosier Classic player stats link

Racks Astros John Nelson hits against Dan Bean and Precision in the winners semifinals

The Hoosier Classic Major began at 8 AM at Columbus, Indiana's Lincoln Park and the main quad of 300-foot fields.  It was a beautiful weekend for softball as temperatures only reached the mid 80's with partly cloudy skies.  17 teams took to the fields with 10 of them from the Nationwide Conference USSSA and the heavy favorite was Resmondo/RDD/H.Auto/All-In/Easton a Major team that had only lost one conference game all season and had won all 3 tournaments they played in (Las Vegas, and the Hall of Fame Classic Duals).  The upsets started early in the round of 16 as T&W/Miken a 'B' team from Cincinnati, Ohio crushed Conference team La Famiglia/Easton (PA-B) 29-4 on field #3.  And Floors Unlimited (IN-B) at 9:30 AM smoked Conference team Stars/VSP/Miken/Thunder (CO-A) 40-18.  These two non-conference teams were representative of the tough group of B and C teams from Indiana and Ohio that filled out this tournament.  In the rest of the round of 16 it was all Conference teams advancing as Precision/3rd Street/Bull Dawg (IL-AA) run ruled fellow HDLNS team Headlines Sportswear/CSB 39-22, TG Brand (MI-A) beat Titans/Truckin/CashHouse ATM (OH-B) 34-21, Pauer Sports/JBL/Tailgaters/B&E (OH-A) jumped out to a 45-15 lead on Rebel Sports/Dirty Sports/Miken and won 45-26, Racks/Worth Astros/Klutch/Troupe (IN-AA) 20-run ruled Westpoint Softball (IN-C) 32-12, and Resmondo 20-run ruled Bertie's/Slayer/DDGrocery/Miken/Worth (IN-B) 32-12.  And in the final game of the round of 16, Sports Reach (KY-B) scored 9 runs in the bottom of the 7th and used a walk off grand slam by Ben Gambil to beat Premier/Easton/HDLNS (OH-A) 35-31!

In the round of 8 in the winner's bracket, Precision silenced the red-hot TG Brand team who had finished 2nd last weekend in Chattanooga 36-21.  Rack's Astros completely shut down Pauer Sports 25-12 after Pauer had just scored 45 in their first game.  Pauer scoring the 12 while using 6 solo homers?  Resmondo crushed Sports Reach 39-12 as Bubba Mack and Neil Haglund launched some of the longest home runs of the tournament.  And in the battle of the non-conference teams T&W/Miken led by veteran pitcher Bobby Noeth knocked off Floors Unlimited 35-20.

In the semifinals Resmondo 20-run ruled T&W/Miken 34-14.  And in the heavyweight battle between top 'AA' teams Racks Astros and Precision, it was Racks who finally pulled away and won 36-25 after a few innings where the team that was batting would take the lead.

The winner's bracket finals were moved up to 6 PM instead of its scheduled time of 8 PM because of an incoming weather system which never materialized.  And in that game, it was all Resmondo led by eventual offensive MVP Brian Wegman as they made quick work of Racks Astros 34-3.

The loser's bracket then played out on Saturday evening as Titans ran through 3 non-conference teams including a walk off home run by pitcher Sport Williams to beat Floors Unlimited 27-26.  Then Rebel Sports who had just won two in a row in the loser's bracket beat them 30-29 as they came from a 19-run deficit to win on a walk off infield hit to end the game.  In the lower part of the loser's bracket La Famiglia sent home Stars who was "two and q" before losing to TG Brand 16-12.  And Pauer Sports knocked off Premier 36-20 before losing to TG Brand 15-14 on a bases loaded bad hop grounder with 2 outs.  In the loser's quarterfinals Precision dropped down to hammer Rebel Sports 35-7 in a quick game, and T&W Miken dropped down to shock TG Brand 34-19 after scoring 13 runs on 1 homer to come back from a 17-run deficit in the 4th and then they run ruled TG Brand the next inning!  In the last game of the night which may have been the best game of the tournament, the hot hitting Precision team took on T&W who matched them hit for hit.  The game lasted almost 2 hours and both teams were hitting line to line and gap to gap.  T&W scored 11 runs on 3 HR in the top of the 1st inning and led 22-13 after 3 innings after a great play by Precision shortstop Kyle Kannenberg ended the T&W rally.  Precision methodically climbed back into the game though and with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th and the bases loaded and no homer's left, Dave Kessler punched a base hit over shortstop to win the game 40-39 to advance to Sunday.

On Sunday in perfect softball weather Precision came out at 8 AM and avenged an earlier loss to Racks Astros by sending them home 45-12 as they scored 17 runs in the first inning and an incredible 27 runs in the 2nd!  This win put them in the championship against undefeated Resmondo who was 4-0 with 4 run rule wins.  Precision grabbed an early 17-7 lead on Resmondo and leading 17-12 in the bottom of the 5th were able to get the 10 runs they needed to win by the mercy rule and force an "if" game 27-12.  In the "if" game it was 17-15 Resmondo after 3 complete innings.  In the top of the 4th Resmondo threw out a Precision runner at the plate to end the inning but Precision was up 19-17.  In the bottom of the 5th Resmondo got a 2 out grand slam from Bubba Mack to grab a 24-21 lead.  In the top of the 6th Precision grabbed the lead back on two run homers from Jeff Flood, Jason Hoynowski, and Dan Bean.  With the lead seesawing back and forth Resmondo used homers from Brian Wegman and Jeremy Yates to get their last lead 29-28.  With 2 HR left to hit Chad Durick hit a solo to tie the game for Precision, Flood singled to right with 1 out, and Kessler hit a 2-run homer to give them the lead 31-29 but they were unable to score anymore.  In the bottom of the 7th for Resmondo with 1 homer left – Steele Lewis mashed the first pitch for a single to left, Bubba Mack singled to right on the first pitch, and after a Todd Ankney managerial delay Buddy Wolf walked.  So Resmondo was down 2 with the bases loaded, no outs, and one homer to hit!  It was not meant to be though as Precision changed pitchers to ice the batter and got a ground ball to 1st base where Brett McCollum tagged the runner for out #1, stepped on first base for out #2, and threw home and nearly got the runner scoring.  Then they walked Rettenmeier and got a fly out to end the game!  Precision had done the unthinkable, they had double dipped a Resmondo team who had only lost one conference game all year!

    

 

Precisions Jeff Flood and Brad Tabler mash as they score 44 runs in 2 innings agasint Racks Sunday morning!

 

Team Breakdown:
17 Teams Overall
10 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
1 Major Teams
2 'AA' Teams
5 'A' Teams
6 'B' Teams
3 'C' Teams

Precision getting ready for the Sunday run

My only Sunday picture of Resmondo as I left for my 4.5 hour drive home for Mother's Day dinner!

Precision's Dave Kessler hits a walk off single Saturday night to beat T&W by 1 run.

Winner's bracket finals Saturday as Resmondo hammered Racks Astros 34-3

 

Floors Unlimited upsets Stars 40-18

Walk off homer grand slam by Sports Reach's Ben Gambil over Premier

 

TG Brands John Franklin hits a walk off bad hop to beat Pauer Sports

Wegman gets his bat tested by UIC/Director Tony Walczak

 

By the end of the day the batters box mats were showing

 


 

Oldscout pollers had Precision at just 6%. 

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

Video Clips of the Hoosier Classic

Playlist of archived games from the Hoosier Classic

Note: not all games recorded. 

We will have to test the recording feature this week and find out what is wrong.

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

T&W/Miken's Alonzo Fields hit 3 creatures in a row over a two game span late Saturday afternoon

 

Resmondo's Bubba Mack may have had the longest right hander homer and Neil Haglund for the lefties

 


 

  Hoosier Classic Major Awards and Final Standings

 

Co-MVP's were Precisions Dan Bean and Travis Houseman

Defensive MVP was Precisions Roger Drake

Brian Wegman was Offensive MVP – 24-27 .889 using just 5 HR


 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:

 

1st Place Precision/3rd Street/Bull Dawg

Conf 'AA' from   7-1 Record

Too bad those night team photos don't come out very well…  Anyways Precision is one of those veteran conference teams that is not fazed by playing Major teams and are capable of doing exactly what they did, making a deep run in the loser's bracket against high quality teams.  This run just happened to end up with a tournament championship!  Everyone chipped in offensively including the pitchers.  Remember Dan Bean once hit lead off for Jean Shoppe.  Kannenberg and Houseman are making big contributions in their sophomore seasons, Rear had the power stroke going.  And they build their lineup off of who is hot and who is not.  The pitching and defense was very solid and when you look out in the outfield Houseman, Lunda, and Hoynowski have all played center field for Conference teams.  Todd worked his stall tactics to perfection and somehow they got out of a bases loaded situation at the end of the "if" game that they can tell their grandkids about…

Congratulations to Precision, I actually picked Racks in my pickem to win the tournament, but Precision came through big on Sunday and those 195 points will be big for seeding at the end of the season.  A true team effort and the Saturday night game against T&W and the "if" game are worth watching as well as that 27 run 2nd inning against Racks… 

Trending Up!

Precision Lineup:
2B Jeff Flood
C Dave Kessler
CF Travis Houseman
OF Brad Lunda
EH/C/1B Brett McCollum/Brad Tabler
3B Matt Rear
OF/C Jason Hoynowski
SS Kyle Kannenberg
C/1B Jason Magnum/ Chad Durick
MI Jeff Keske
P Dan Bean/Roger Drake

 

Bill Wax and Todd Ankney have consistently out performed in the 'AA' division

 

SS Kyle Kanneberg

 

Matt Rear and Brad Lunda

 

1B Chad Durick and MI Jeff Keske

 


 

2nd Place Resmondo/RDD/H.Auto/All In/Sprizzi/Easton

Conf Major from FL  4-2 Record

 

Resmondo cruised through their first 4 games to improve their Conference record to 22-1 on the season.  But it was all downhill on Sunday as the offense, defense, and clutch hitting all went down the drain.  If you count the Corky's last week, they are now just 11-5 in their last 16 games.  Brett Helmer was not there, Bazat was back from his back injury and made all tournament, Scott Kirby was not there, and both Yates and Connell were fighting illnesses.  But those are not excuses as they missed on a couple of 40 point swings at the end of that last game.  Resmondo will try to regroup in Chicago in a couple of weeks.

Trending Down

Resmondo Lineup:
1B Bryson Baker
2B/C Greg Connnell
LF/CF/C Brian Wegman
LF Jeremy Yates
P Travis Clark
CF Steele Lewis
3B Bubba Mack
RF/C Buddy Wolf
RF Neil Haglund
MI Brett Rettenmeier
SS Kevin Bazat
Mike Umschied and Brad Reckart also played.

 

Bryson Baker and Greg Connell

 

Travis Clark and Steele Lewis

  

Buddy Wolf and Jeremy Yates

 

Brett Rettenmeier and Kevin Bazat

Mike Umschied

 


 

3rd Place Racks/Worth Astros/Klutch/Troupe

Conf 'AA' from IN  3-2 Record

Racks had that great Saturday afternoon semifinal win over Precision in a game that could have gone either way, and then the wheels came off and they were outscored by Resmondo and Precision 78-15.  They played with utility man Alexis Ramirez, pitcher Bill Pinkham (broken arm), and center fielder Cory Newman.  But those aren't excuses for 78-15?  Edwards was over .800 onbase for the weekend again and Krider was over .800 as well.

Trending Even

Racks Worth Astros Lineup:
2B Steve Edwards
RF Sid Stephany
1B Mike Brambilla
CF Dan Kirkwood
MI Brian Faria
C John Nelson
LF/3B Troy Krider
C Chad Mullins
3B/P Rob Roop
SS Ricardo Lizcano
P Carl Blank

Stephany attacked by bees!

 

Kirkwood moved to CF and Krider to LF in the absence of Newman

 

Nelson and Mullins were providing power

 

Infield – SS Lizcano, MI Faria, 2B Edwards, 1B Brambilla

 

Carl Blank and Rob Roop did the pitching

 


 

4th Place T&W/Miken

'B' from OH  3-2 Record

 

T&W reminds me of the California 'B' team Product Factory with the line drive hitting and speedsters on the bases except they have a veteran pitcher in Bobby Noeth that seemed to tie the whole team chemistry together.  Rosenbalm at short has all the throws, Lonzo "Chew" Fields free swinging is a great thing, and the leadoff man Lendenski's eyes lit up when he got a cookie which he seemed to hammer at will.

T&W/Miken Lineup:
Mitchell Lendenski
3B Bobby Noeth IV
C Alonzo Fields
Dustin Hinken
Jordan Rosenbalm
Corey Pelle
Francis Russo
Todd Roush
LF Nick Burrus
P Bobby Noeth

 

Bobby Noeth and his son Bobby IV both contributed to a great run

  

T&W collage

 

 


 


 

Tied 5th Place TG Brand

Conf 'A' from MI  3-2 Record

TG Brand had a low scoring win over Pauer Sports 15-14 showing that the wind blowing in and heat did affect the classic m ball.  They didn't play their best softball overall.

Trending Up!

TG Brand Lineup:
OF Ryan Morrow
OF Josh Kirsten
1B Adam Kaminski
2B Justin Geiner
3B John Franklin
IF Justin Evans
MI Jesse Solomon
P Tyler Kincaid
SS Tony Payne
LF Brady Hightchew

 

Pitchers Tyler Kincaid and Todd Fairbanks

Tyler is part of a CincySoftball live softball show on facebook – Tuesdays at 8 PM eastern

 

Infielders Evans, Payne, Solomon

 


 

Tied 5th Place Rebel Sports/Dirty Sports/Miken

Conf 'A' from MI  3-2 Record

Rebel had some new faces and got smoked at 8 am by Pauer Sports and then played some solid softball winning 3 straight before Precision sent them home. 

Trending Up!

 

Rebel picked up pitcher Brandon Jonas and SS Branden Blake

 

Robert Hendren homers.  Will Weakley playing 2B

 


 

Other top finishing Conference teams

 


 

Tied 7th Place – Titans/Truckin/CashHouse ATM

'B' from OH  3-2 Record

The Titan Cash House team had 3 nice wins in the loser's bracket and only lost by 1 to Rebel.  Sport Williams the pitcher above had a walk off homer to beat Floors Unlimited but I missed it because of the lack of scoreboards at this park and of course that game didn't record on the livestream...ugh

 

 


 

Tied 7th Place – Pauer Sports/JBL/Tailgaters/B&E

Conf 'A' from OH  2-2 Record

Pauer was up and down and did have nice wins over fellow 'A' teams Rebel and Premier before losing a very winnable game against TG Brand.  Their offense was very inconsistent on the day.

Trending Even

Outfielder Fiorilli

 


 

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:

Tied 9th – Sports Reach (KY-B) – had that nice walk off win over Premier

Tied 9th – Premier/Easton/HDLNS (OH-A) – wasn't Premiers day

Tied 9th – La Famiglia/Easton/Elite Sports (PA-B) – 4 runs against T&W?

Tied 13th – Berties/Slayer/DDGrocery/Miken/Worth (IN-B) – Solid addition to the 'B' division

Tied 13th Stars/VSP/Miken/Thunder (CO-A) – Ouch, bad weekend.

'B' team Cincy Softball went 0-2 – Those Headlines uniforms looked good though.  Where's Menke?

 

OH-C team Association went 0-2 but seemed to have a lot of young baseball types

West Point IN-C

Those huge warning tracks!

Kirkwoods view in center field for the winner's final against Resmondo

Keep in the dugouts

Umpires

 

Slim worked a long day and got in some Z's

 

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