2019 USSSA Convention report!
The 2019 USSSA Convention was held November 17-21 at the Sanibel Island Marriot in Florida.
My apologies for mispelling of any names. You can send corrections to dw@usssa.com
Also the banquet rooms are dark so pictures don't always come out great.
Former MLB star Dale Murphy gave the keynote speech
Link to Dale Murphy's speech on Facebook
There were 458 registered attendees at the convention!
Link to the General Assembly on Facebook Monday
4.5 million participants in USSSA
3,473 games were played at Space Coast Complex
34,318 participants at Space Coast Complex
264,201 was the total attendance at SpaceCoast Complex
There were 118,000 room nights in 2018 in Brevard County
4 plays at Space Coast Stadium made the ESPN top 10 plays of the day!
The USSSA Pride won the National Pro Fastpitch Championship
The Pride pitched a perfect game
There were 13,400 USSSA events Nationwide
Slow-pitch Open Meeting – committee is Sean Melvin, Strojan Kennison, Gary Godden, Brian Wegman, Andy Purcell, Greg Huchingson, Doc Beckwell, and John Hickey
The By Laws were rewritten so each sport could vote on its own rules changes. Rule Book Orders were discussed. A new NCC Map is being created. They Added 1 HR to E, 1-3-5-8-10-12-16. They talked about what drop downs should Mixed teams be allowed. GSL went from 2700 to 12,000 in 4 years and it is "business as usual going forward with GSL". Wegs told us about the new Bat Lab – NTS Manufacturing – which is a certified bat lab for manufacturers. The old Bat Stamp will be good forever. Bat Lab is creating a new tester. Dudley Pro M ball will be available around June. World tournaments in Florida had drastically reduced complaints about the ball and rosters. Everyone loved the new Pro-M ball. Chicago ball for men and 12 inch women's ball at worlds sold out the beer. Challenge Cup could be 80 to 100 teams this year. It will start at 8 am Friday morning. Military and Civil Service and Senior Challenge Cup will be earlier in the week. Roster deadline coming. Challenge Cup is $315, 3 game guarantee.
GSL East Director was announced as Brian Mayfield
GSL West Director was announced as Vic Rivera
There will be only one roster per team for USSSA and GSL
One or two USSSA World tournaments will rotate out of Viera, Florida each year. World announcements and the bump list will come out soon.
Players will have 48 hours to deny when added to a roster.
Guest players allowed for some tournaments.
Link to Conference USSSA Notes and Schedule!
Celebrating Don Dedonatis Sr's Retirement
Don Dedonatis Sr. as he is known was CEO for 20 years and pushed USSSA new new levels of success.
I would like to personally thank Don for supporting myself and SoftballCenter.com.
Without his support and vision upper level softball would have ceased to exist.
CEO Don Dedonatis Jr. speaks at the Don Sr retirement celebration!
Views
Great views in Sanibel, Florida and a special thanks to Laurie Timmons and her staff for putting on a 1st class Convention
Wednesday Exhibitors Night!
Big Time Softball Magazines Stafford Connor
Easton Booth
Miken/Worth Booth
Conference Umpire Ken Hawk interviews Miken/Worth marketeer Jason Kendrick
Thursday's General Assembly Awards
Rick Brockwell and Jim Swint received 40 year service awards
Board of Directors – Don Dedonatis Jr, Rick Fortuna, Joey Odom, Kevin Naegle, and they added Craig Scrivens VP from Soccer and Billy Lofton for business development and legal
Baseball Director of the Year – Less Bulliar (Spelling ?)
Slow-pitch Director of the Year – Richie Soley – Louisiana
Fastpitch Director of the Year – Gordon Patterson
Soccer Director of the Year – Robert Merriweather – Kansas City
Award of Merit – Tony Parker and Angie Castro
Distinguished Service Award – Judd Teague
National Headquarters Award of Excellence – State Director Award – Kelly Thorne
Complex of the Year – Hogan Park at Russell Road in Kent, WA – David Heldt
USSSA Umpire of the Year – Phillip Taylor from Arkansas
USSSA Official of the Year – Mark Dallenbach
UIC of the Year – Bill Harper – Colorado 40 years
GSL Umpire of the Year – Todd Kitlin from Ohio
Fastpitch Umpire of the Year – Kiana Turner
Dave Maury is now the director of officials for diamond sports (Slowpitch, Fastpitch, Baseball)
Doc Beckwell is the Slow-Pitch National UIC
Baseball
Sparkplug of the Year – Steve Hassett – Florida
Fastpitch
Sparkplug of the Year – Lorie Schroder – Kentucky
Slow-pitch
Sparkplug of the Year – Bob Fuller – Arizona
Soccer
Sparkplug of the Year – Scott Armstrong
Link to article about the 2019 USSSA Hall of Fame Inductions!
Slow pitch player Brian Rainwater led the 2019 inductees into the Hall of Fame!
Donald Dedonatis CEO Achievement Award – Wendy Anderson – General Counsel
The 2020 USSSA Convention will be November 15-19 at the DoubleTree Hotel at the entrance to Universal Studios!
2020 Hall of Fame Inductees
Tracey Bucerif (I don't know how to spell this name)
Chic Downing
Frank Griffin
Gary Godden
Dennis Turner
Brian Wegman
Map – The DoubleTree Hotel is in the upper right. Universal Studio and Islands of Adventure to the left.
Also City Walk with all of its restaurants are just outside of the theme parks there in Florida.
3 responses to “2019 USSSA Convention report!”
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DW, i see in this article it says the existing/old thumprint USSSA stamp will be allowed even after the new standard is established. Can you clarify pleae. Everything i read was they would not be allowed after 2023. Can we swing bats with the thumbprint stamp in 2023 and after?
From the meeting I was in, they said the current bat stamp would be good forever.
Who is Tony Parker ??? hahaha