Thursday March 28th, 2024
TEXT_SIZE

2019 USSSA Frank Webb Memorial – St. Louis Major tournament report!

 

 

 

2019 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

Frank Webb Memorial

 

presented by Worth

 

Bridgeton, Missouri

 

May 3-5

 

Resmondo's Greg Connell hits during the Championship game vs Pure Sports

 

SoftballCenter St Louis Major picture album link

 

2019 St Louis Major bracket and results link

 

2019 St Louis Major stats link once available

 

2019 St Louis archived games link

 

Shirl Webb thew out the ceremonial first pitch Friday night in honor of the late Frank Webb former Resmondo manager who this tournament is in honor of.

The first annual Frank Webb Memorial – St. Louis Major was played at the Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Center this past weekend.  After a week of torrential rains in the area caused flooding of local rivers the City did a great job getting the fields ready to play Friday night and the first 15 games of the tournament played to completion.  The local 'C' and 'B' teams all took a shot at upsetting the 13 Conference USSSA teams but only Showtime/HOU Homes/Neumayer a 'C' team from Missouri was able to upset Infamous (CO-B) in the 1st round.  In the 'round of 16' Rebel Sports (MI-AA) beat Regulators (CO-B) 26-12, Classic Glass (CA-AA) beat HDLNS/SVC/Miken (OH-B) 34-15, Premier (OH-AA) knocked off VIvid (TX-A) 27-7, and Headlines/Titan Trucking (OH-A) upset Smash It/Precision (IL-AA) 32-22.  The only other close game was Resmondo who separated late and beat local 'B' team Starkey/Gorillas 44-32.  Pure Sports, Classic Glass, Seminoles, and Riot Sports all advanced to the 'final 8' beating non conference teams.

Overnight Friday rains caused the City to close the park on Saturday even though we had all day sunshine and 70 degree temperatures.  This forced the Conference USSSA into a modified Sunday schedule where they had to drop the loser's bracket and only bring back the 8 winner's bracket teams to play in what is called a "Compass" bracket.  A compass bracket is where all 8 teams play 3 games each all in a row.  If you win your first game you continue on like normal.  If you lose your first game then the losers play other losers to determine 5th through 8th.  Meanwhile the winners continue on and determine 1st through 4th with the semifinal losers playing each other for 3rd and 4th and the winner's playing a final game for the championship.

In those Sunday games which started at 8 am Pure Sports used a huge mid game offensive explosion to put away Rebel Sports 31-16.  Premier used a walk off homer by Adam Kaminski to beat Riot Sports 23-22.  Resmondo shut out HDLNS/Titan Trucking 21-0 as Steele Lewis and Greg Connell each hit 3 homer's.  And TPJS/Seminoles advanced when Classic Glass no showed.  In the 'Final 4' Resmondo cruised past Premier 23-8 as Brian Wegman hit 2 homer's and had 6 RBI.  And Pure Sports came from a double digit deficit to take an 11 run lead on Seminoles going into the bottom of the 7th.  Seminoles would end up scoring 5 and losing by 6 after Pure Sports pitcher Justin Mucciareli was ejected for the "Mooch rule" which is using a certain finger while on the mound…the irony!

In the Championship game Resmondo jumped all over Pure Sports scoring 8 in the first on 4 home runs, 5 in the 2nd on 3 HR, and 14 in the 3rd inning on 8 HR to win 32-11.  Ellwanger, Briggs, Connell, and Yates didn't make an out.  Meanwhile in the remainder of the "Compass" bracket games Seminoles beat Premier by forfeit when Premier had to leave for flights so Seminoles finished 3rd and Premier 4th.  Headlines crushed Rebel Sports but lost to Riot to finish 6th (Riot 5th), and Rebel beat Classic Glass by forfeit to finish 7th.

The complex was beautiful and with 5 fields and the 310 foot fences was a great venue.  But there is no valid excuse for shutting the park down on Saturday so I don't know that it would be smart to return to the BMAC in the future without a contract in place to be able to work on the fields and get the tournament in at all costs.

Resmondo finishes off Pure Sports

Team Breakdown:
23 Teams Overall
13 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
2 Major Teams
5 'AA' Teams
4 'A' Teams
7 'B' Teams
5 'C/D' Teams

 


 

Pure Sports Dan Kirkwood singles off of Rebel pitcher Jeff Graus glove in a 31-16 win

Trey Campbell hitting against B&B Drywall Friday in a 21-19 win

Frankie Andriola is charged with a 4 base award as he touched this home run

Resmondo's Brad Reckart stabs a line drive.  There are a few clips in the videos that show how fast the batted ball speeds were.

Smash It/Precision tried to come from behind a couple of times Friday night against Headlines but took the 'L' 32-22.

Zach Dillman of Headlines adds to their huge lead in a 35-11 victory over Rebel Sports Sunday.

Shirl Webb with the winner's trophy which is taller than her!

Directors, UIC, and Wegs discuss the future of the event

 

Most of us were inside Friday night with the rain and cooler temperatures

The few local fans that made it out in the rain Friday came to see Resmondo vs Starkey/Gorillas which was a close gam

Fan favorite BJ Fulk returned to the Conference with Riot Sports

  

Resmondo players with signature bats pose for a photo. 

Steele Lewis, Greg Connell, Cory Briggs, and Kyle Pearson

Fences were 310 on all 5 fields.  8 Foot high HR Fence.  And Dudley Classic M balls 

 


 

Old Scout pollers were correct

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

Cory Briggs is the Long Bomber of the week for that shot he hit in the Championship game.

 


 

St. Louis Major Final Standings and Awards

Resmondo outfielder Patrick Ellwanger was MVP

Resmondo MI Kevin Bazat was Defensive MVP

 

Pure Sports shortstop Tommy Melton was Offensive MVP and made some great plays with the glove as well.

Resmondo all tournament selections MI Kevin Bazat-Defensive MVP, 3B Brad Reckart, SS Cory Briggs, LF Jeremy Yates, P Travis Clark, OF Patrick Ellwanger-MVP, and 2B Greg Connell

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:

 

 

1st Place – Resmondo/SIS/Thunder/RDD/H.Auto/Sprizzi/S&S

Conf Major from FL  4-0 Record

Resmondo came from behind to win after a slow start against Starkey/Gorillas a local 'B' team Friday night in the rain and mud.  On Sunday they dismantled each of their opponents with 3 run homer's and only allowed 19 runs in 3 games on their way to the Championship, winning it for Frank Webb who many of these players played for or against for more than a decade.  The offense was in full swing as the stats will show.  Ellwanger led the charge and everyone in the lineup seemed to be collecting RBI like they were free.  Resmondo played without Bubba Mack but dominated the event and will look to carry that momentum into the Myrtle Beach Major next weekend where there will be 19 Conference teams.   Resmondo is now 2nd in the Conference points standings and has 3 scores of over 200 points.

Trending Up!

Resmondo Championship Game Lineup:
1B Kyle Pearson
LF Jeremy Yates
EH Brian Wegman
2B Greg Connell
P Travis Clark
CF Steele Lewis
RF Pat Ellwanger
SS Cory Briggs
C Neil Haglund
3B Brad Reckart
MI Kevin Bazat

 

Pearson and Connell

 

Briggs and Haglund

Travis Clark held Headlines scoreless, Premier to 8, and Pure Sports to 11

  

3B Reckart, SS Briggs, MI Bazat

Have to get the Steele Lewis picture for the Canadian fans!

 

 


 

2nd Place – Pure Sports

Conf Major from SC  3-1 Record

 

Pure Sports again played without Parfitt, Dillon, and Carlsen, and then their new pickup Rich Racobaldo pulled a muscle before the first game Sunday morning.  This was their first tournament after releasing Washington, Messer, Greinert, and Williams to Thunder.  With a skeleton crew they still managed 2nd place due to a big comeback against Seminoles in their first game Sunday morning, and that puts them 1st in the Conference point standings.

Trending Even

 

Mitschke and McCollum

 

Rich Racobaldo joined Pure Sports but was hurt on Sunday

  

3B Ramirez, SS Melton, MI Brown

Managers Craigh Shaw and Justin Mucciarelli give the signals…

 


 

3rd Place – TPJS/Seminoles/NACSF.Inc/Miken/SIS

Conf 'A' from OK  2-1 Record

 

Seminoles took care of business with a 20-9 win over Showtime on Friday night.  Then won by forfeit on Sunday morning when Classic Glass no showed.  In the semifinals they had a huge lead against Pure Sports and then lost it 33-22 and then almost came back in the bottom of the 7th but lost 33-27.  Then they started their 3rd/4th place game against Premier when Premier forfeited mid game giving Seminoles a 3rd place finish.  Sort of an odd weekend for Seminoles. 

Matt Cochran

  

CF Tristan Metcalf made the best catch of the tournament, a spinning leaping stab of a Dan Kirkwood liner

 

 


 

4th Place – Premier/TG/HDLNS/4With.com/Easton

Conf 'AA' from OH  3-1 Record

 

Premier hammered a local 'C' team BNS on Friday night 38-12 and then made short work of Vivid 27-7.  On Sunday they used an Adam Kaminski walk off homer (which I missed, sorry) to beat Riot Sports 23-22 and lost by 15 to Resmondo before forfeiting mid game to Seminoles due to flights and finished 4th.  They played without Disbennett and Carter (injured).

Tyler "Snake" Kincaid pitched and hit Premier past Riot

Kyle Center hits against Buckshot Sunday morning

Fireball shots to get the tournament started!

At least they played loose.

 


 

5th Place – Riot Sports/Hubs Pub/Klutch/Showtime

Conf 'AA' from FL  3-1 Record

Riot beat a good local 'B' team called B&B Drywall 21-19 in their opener Friday.  Then on Sunday they won by forfeit over Classic Glass, lost to Premier on a walk off homer, and beat Headlines 21-20 with the gloves in the bottom of the 7th to finish 5th.  Cory Newman, BJ Fulk, and Keith Laski played for the 1st time this year.  Those guys should definitely extend the Riot lineup.

 

CF Cory Newman and Evan Gallmeier are from the St Louis area

  

Trey Campbell and the return of Keith Laski

Gallmeier, Utley, and Thornton

 


 

6th Place – Headlines/Titan/CSB/Easton

Conf 'A' from OH  3-2 Record

Headlines got their moneys worth with 5 games.  They beat Synergy Sports a Missouri 'C' team 21-10 and then shocked Smash It/Precision 32-22, leading the whole way on Friday night.  In the final 8 they laid an egg against Resmondo, literally scoring 0.  Then in their second game Sunday they jumped all over Rebel Sports winning 35-11 before Riot Sports beat them by a run and Headlines had the bats in their hands in the bottom of the 7th.  A good weekend overall beating 2 'AA' teams and almost a 3rd.

 

 


 

Other top finishing Conference teams

 


 

7th Place – Rebel Sports/TN/Troupe/M24/Game Brand

Conf 'AA' from MI  2-2 Record

Rebel was playing short handed missing Nuss and Rettenmeier.  They beat Regulators by 14 on Friday night.  On Saturday Pure Sports put up a big inning and beat them 31-16 then lost to Headlines 35-11?  They wind up 7th after Classic Glass forfeited to them. 

 

3B Aldora, SS Lizcano, MI Bellamy

 

Rebel jerseys have the Freddie Budnarowski patch in his memory and Bellamy wears #33 for the late Ryan Noe


 


 

Hot Links section brought to you by:

I would like to thank USSSA, Mike Odonnell, and the SoftballCenter advertisers for their support!

Send corrections to dw@softballcenter.com

Link to the SoftballCenter.com Youtube channel

Link to the SoftballCenter.com Facebook page

Link to all 2009 to 2019 Tournament Reports and Previews

Nationwide Conference USSSA Points and information link

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

Swiing Kiingz pitcher Shannon Arnold went without a mask on Friday night?

HDLNS/SVC/Miken knocked off a local team RPM 24-11 before Classic Glass sent them home 34-15

Infamous lost to a Missouri team called Showtime 23-18

Concession stand had some giant beers

This picture shows why the safety bag is needed.  Big players and a tiny base.

 

They are calling the high strike more

Kenny got tossed

Super fan has his Houseman jersey.  Travis who was injured at the Hall of Fame Dual in a collision with an infielder should be back to playing in Atlanta or Chicago!

They made Shaw's uniform with his first and last name.  This got me thinking.  All new conference teams should have first and last name for one year while I learn who they are.  LOL

Umpires enjoying an off day

 

Weather hit Friday night but Saturday was perfect

Players enjoying a tour on the "rainout" day

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.