A look back at the 2019 USSSA Houston – Space City Classic tournament report!
2019 Nationwide Conference USSSA
13th Annual Space City Classic
League City, TX
April 5-7
Friday night with Smash It/Pure Sports/OA playing
SoftballCenter Houston picture album link
2019 Houston bracket and results link
2019 Houston Major stats link once available
2019 Houston archived games link
Championship Sunday, Smash It/Pure Sports/OA's Filip Washington hits against Bay Area/Rapid Fire/Bad Draw/Easton
The 13th annual Houston Major began with 56 teams in a double elimination tournament at Big League Dreams sports park with their MLB replica fields on Friday night at 7 PM Central. There were 14 Conference teams battling for points trying to avoid the upset by those pesky Texas 'B' and 'C' teams. For the most part they did survive although Infamous (CO-B) lost in the 2nd round to MVP 27-19 on Crosley field, Beckham Brothers (FL-TBD) had a scare beating Old School (TX-B) 35-34 in extra innings on Fenway, Wood Law got a timely double play to win 28-25 with the tying run at the plate against Dirty Vegas (TX-B) on Sportsmans, Mestizo (TX-C) knocked off L&S Glass (CA-B) 19-12, and a really scrappy and pumped up Scared Hitless (TX-D) team beat Competitive Edge (FL-A) 36-28 after jumping out to a 12-0 lead in the first inning.
In the "final 16" of the winner's bracket there were 11 Conference teams remaining and 8 of them won the 8-3rd round games as Primetime (GA-A) run ruled MVP 29-6, Baugh Ford (AL-TBD) scored 15 runs in the 2nd inning to beat Beckham Brothers 36-19, Wood Law (TX-B) beat Vivid (TX-A) 23-21 on Fenway, Riot Sports (FL-AA) beat upstart NTX BrewCrew (TX-B) 32-26, Bay Area (CA-AA) outslugged Mestizo (TX-C) 43-28, Nightmare (MO-AA) crushed Big Apple (TX-B) 24-6, Smash It Pure (SC-Major) took batting practice against Steel Sports 44-13 on Yankee field, and Thunder (NY-A) won their 3rd game of the morning 32-15 over Chanticlear Pizza (MN-A).
In the "final 8" which started late around 4 PM Saturday afternoon, Primetime went up 23-13 scoring 17 runs on just 2 homers against Baugh Ford after 3 innings and then in the top of the 4th Detorren Means hit a 2 run pinch hit homer to put them up 29-13. Primetime went on to win 37-25. Riot Sports hung on to beat Wood Law 35-29 over on Ebbets field. Bay Area run ruled fellow 'AA' team Nightmare on Yankee field, and Smash It/Pure outscored Thunder 32-24 on Crosley where the wind was blowing straight in.
The "final 4" also started past its scheduled time on Saturday evening and Riot Sports got off to an early lead on Primetime over on Fenway as Bay Area Legends got off to an early lead against the tournament favorite Smash It Sports/Pure on Yankee. The weather was perfect for these games by the way and really for the entire weekend until we had to fly home and a big thunderstorm hit and delayed or cancelled all of the flights. Riot pulled away on Primetime though and finally put them away 33-19 and Smash It/Pure overmatched Bay Area offensively and Bay Area quit hitting and Pure won 34-21. For Pure Sports, MVP John Williams was 5-5 in the game with a walk and their outfield pickup Robbie Fow was 5-5.
The winner's bracket finals was played on Fenway where the livestream worked better for the viewers at home. Smash It/Pure had big innings in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th scoring 9, 10, and 12 respectively. Riot answered with 11 of their own in the 3rd but couldn't keep up and lost 47-28 as Pure kept up the offensive pressure although Riot much like Bay Area the game before never gave up. Riot leadoff hitter Tre' Campbell was 5-6 in the loss. For Pure Sports Filip Washington and Brett McCollum were on base 6 out of 7 plate appearances, and 7 starters reached safely in all but one plate appearance.
In the loser's bracket Playoff Performance a Texas 'A' team made a short run before Chanticlear beat them and Dirty Vegas won 2 games before Steel Sports beat them and then Chanticlear won the upper half of the loser's bracket by beating Steel Sports, Baugh Ford and Wood Law to finish tied for 5th. In the lower half CBS won 3 straight before losing to Vivid and then Nightmare sent Vivid home and Thunder dropped down and beat Beckham Brothers and Nightmare. So the late late late loser's bracket games to determine the last two teams to make the final 4 on Sunday was Thunder who scored 14 in the first inning against Primetime and went on to score the first 24 runs of the game in a 29-2 route, and Bay Area Legends who went up 17-0 and 27-7 on Chanticlear before beating them 52-29!
On Sunday with thunderstorms threatening the tournament somehow was completed when we all thought it would be washed out. Bay Area beat Thunder 21-14 when their pitcher was ejected for saying the 'F' word and they claimed they didn't have any pitchers left. Isn't Therkildsen a pitcher? I guess they wanted to forfeit and you know how I feel about forfeits…sigh. Then Bay Area beat a depleted and legitimately injured Riot Sports team to go to the Championship.
In the Championship game SIS/Pure Sports once again had superior offense with the wind blowing in and held a steady but small lead most of the game in a 24-18 win. SIS/Pure played without outfielders Brandon Dillon, Ryan Parfitt, and Bradley Carlsen because of their work, and Washington, Robbie Fow, Dan Kirkwood, and Nick Mitschke did fine in their absence. Pure gets a tournament win and 207 big Conference points which will go a long way in the seeding after the Hall of Fame Classic.
Pure Sports manager Craig Shaw and Bay Area manager Rob Humphrey
Team Breakdown:
56 Teams Overall
14 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
1 Major Teams
3 'AA' Teams
9 'A' Teams
15 'B' Teams
28 'C/D/E' Teams
Key Winner's Bracket Games
Winner's Semifinal on Fenway between SIS/Pure and Riot Sports – Pure won 32-24
Beckham Brothers beats Old School/MVP 35-34 in extra innings for the best game of Friday night
Primetime's Roderick Armour hits against Riots Buckshot Plaisance in the semi finals. Riot won 33-19.
Thunder beats Primetime to advance to Sunday
Bay Area knocks off Riot Sports 30-15 to advance to the championship Sunday
A big loser's bracket matchup between Thunder and Beckham Brothers. Thunder pulled it out 37-35 after blowing a big lead.
Tommie Baugh of Baugh Ford had the shortest double in slowpitch history when he hit it off the pitchers knee and it ricocheted out of play.
Thunder Hycor .52's were the perfect ball for these fields and the turf
Vivid playing at Wrigley Friday night (pano)
Pano shot of Riot playing at Fenway Friday. It was foggy at night in Houston this year. (pano)
Riot vs SIS/Pure in the Winners final on Fenway (pano)
SoftballCenter chat room wanted a picture of what they called the "sick" OA uniforms that Pure Sports was wearing Friday
Hammonds who was out with a pulled muscle and Kirkwood
Weather came in Sunday just after the Championship game
The mini green monster may be the highest wall in Conference play now that we don't use Osceola Field #1
Old Scout pollers were correct
Video Highlites brought to you by:
Video Clips
Long Bombers of the Week
SIS/Pure's Chris Greinert almost put a hole through the Yankee field wall in left and Jared Hunt hit one of the nastiest high fly line drive knuckleballs I have ever seen.
It went up and over the right fielder swimming left and right and left and right and hit the base of the fence.
Houston Major Final Standings and Awards
Big John Williams was MVP for SIS/Pure
SIS/Pure pitcher Justin Mucciarelli won Defensive MVP
Bay Area Legends Tyler Marshburn (left) won Offensvive MVP
Team by team notes brought to you by:
1st Place – Smash It/Pure Sports/OA
Conf Major from SC 6-0 Record
Smash It/Pure without 3 of their top outfielders just played solid winning softball in all of the different conditions (wind, sun, day, night, Sunday) to win their first tournament of the year. A true team effort and professional softball play out of a team that is starting to come together. Pure was clearly the best team on offense and defense in the tournament.
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Smash It/Pure lineup example:
LF Washington
2B Melton
1B McCollum
3B J Williams
RF Hunt
SS Messer
C Greinert
CF Fow
RF Mitschke
EH Ramirez
P Mucciarelli
Tommy Melton and Brett McCollum
Ramirez and Messer
Mitschke and Fow
The band is back together. Former Combat and Monsta teammates Greinert, Washington, Messer, and Williams
2nd Place Bay Area/Rapid Fire/Bad Draw/Easton
Conf 'AA' from CA 6-2 Record
Bay Area beat Nightmare and Riot their fellow 'AA' teams and only lost to the Major team Smash It/Pure and even those losses went 7 innings both times. The top of the lineup was brutally good, Marshburn earned Offensive MVP, and Granados and Mcclanahan continue to play great defense. Pinkham was diving all over the place from the pitchers mound whose painted rubber was like 5 feet wide (lol). Joel Gonzalez is one of the best, if not the best hitting sponsor in the game. The future is bright for this team which may be the smallest "size wise" in the Conference.
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Bay Area Lineup example
Johnson
Edwards
Mullins
Wilson
Stewart
Marshburn
Miller
Gonzalez
Granados
Mcclanahan
Pinkham
Edwards and Mullins hit 1-2
Bynum played CF and 2B. Bay Area picked up Jeff Renno
Left side of the Bay Area infield – Stewart at 3B, Miller, and Mcclanahan
Pinkham could have been defensive mvp as he made about 10 great divers up the middle. And David Johnson moved up to the leadoff and continues to take the conference by storm.
3rd Place Riot Sports/Hubs Pub/Klutch/Showtim
Conf 'AA' from FL 4-2 Record
Riot was playing without Keith Laski (injury), Evan Gallmeier (sickness), BJ Fulk (recovery from injury), and then during the Houston Major about 5 players got injured including Keith Martin one of their best hitters. Riot played with a "next man up" attitude and kept their nose to the grindstone and won their first 4 games including beating conference teams Wood Law and Primetime to make it to the winner's final. In that game they went 6 innings with Smash It Pure and never gave up but was overmatched. Buckshot is a difference maker on the mound. Campbell and Ortiz set the table nicely for Utley and others. An interesting bunch but the injuries will really hurt at the dual with a short week to recover.
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Center fielder had some speed!
The Ortiz family came to see Mike!
Marcus Thornton SS and Ian Sidebottom MI. Plaisance pitching.
4th Place Thunder/Chosen/Riot/Miken/Worth
Conf 'TBD' from NY 6-2 Record
Thunder played all day on Saturday going 6-1 and beating Chanticlear, Beckham Brothers, Nightmare, and Primetime. Durso and Yankee give them serious speed in the outfield. Olsen is ready to take the next step with the stick. Stuckly came in at 3B and lead off. Therkildsen held down the 4 hole, and McBryde and Fyffe fired up the defense for veteran pitcher Danny Evans who has been there and done that.
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Thunder lineup example
Stuckly
Durso
Olsen
Therkildsen
McBryde
Fyffe
R Snyder
Yankee
Downing
Snyder
Evans
McBryde tees off on a cookie
Josh Fyffe the former La Famiglia shortstop made the most incredible diving stop in the 5-6 hole Saturday night and throw out at first
Tied 5th Place Chanticlear/Eurotech/J&H/Miken/Worth
Conf 'A' from MN 5-2 Record
Chanticlear who is an exclusively Minnesota 'A' team finally got outside to play and play they did. On Saturday they played 7 games including wins over Baugh Ford and Wood Law to finish tied for 5th. Lewicki is a nice addition on the mound. The O'Connell brothers always seem to hit well. Thorbrogger provided some serious power. Gessell and Hassler have always been gritty defensive types and the team is off to their best Conference start in either Chanticlear or Eurotechs history.
Chanticlear lineup example
R Occonnell
Thorbrogger
E Oconnell
Olson
Hines
Bixler
Casey
Charboneau
Hassler
Gessell
Lewicki
Oconnor
MI Ryan Hassler is back in Conference with Chanticlear
Ryan O'Connell was all tournament around .900 on base
Eurotech knocks off Wood Law after midnight Saturday
Tied 5th Place Primetime/Evolution/FAI/Easton
Conf 'AA' from GA 3-2 Record
Primetime used a soft spot in the bracket to win their first 2 games and then outslugged Baugh Ford 37-35. Then in the winner's semis the lost big to Riot Sports and then after a long delay laid an egg against Thunder losing 29-2. Armour works hard on the mound. Means, Brown, Clark provide a lot of the power. The new center fielder made some nice plays on the fence. JB Jennings is back and Jarvis Riggins and Kenny Hare are entertaining players. A nice run overall for Primetime.
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Armour, Clark, and the new center fielder
Other top finishing Conference teams
Tied 7th Place – Wood Law/Olmito Heat/Club Chill
Conf 'B' from TX 4-2 Record
Wood Law joined the conference late but got off to a nice start in Houston beating a good Dirty Vegas team by 3, Vivid by 2, and then Old School by 3 in the loser's bracket. They even showed some good stamina fighting to try and beat Chanticlear late Saturday night but lost.
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Shrum
Salazar
Tied 7th Place – Nightmare/Miken
Conf 'AA' from MO 3-2 Record
Nightmare continues to have a slow start to the year. The lineup is impressive as they stagger good base hitters in front of premier power hitters. But after beating two local teams holding them to 17 runs total, they put up just 12 runs against Bay Area Legends? Then they beat Vivid 32-30 and then lost 24-17 to Thunder.
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Some more pictures for you:
Tied for 9th – Old School/MVP Sports (TX-B) 5-2 – Old School lost to Beckham in extra innings Friday night then beat 4 non conference teams in the loser's bracket before Wood Law sent them home.
Tied for 9th – Beckham Brothers/Pure/Exclusive (SC-TBD) 4-2 – Beckham Brothers won a late extra innings game against Old School on Friday. On Saturday they lost big to Baugh Ford, then beat a couple local teams before Thunder sent them home 37-35 even though Beckham came from a huge deficit.
Tied for 9th – Vivid (TX-A) 3-2 – Vivid lost to Wood Law by 2 then beat CBS by 4 before Nightmare sent them home 32-30.
Lots of young up and coming players mixed with veterans.
Tied for 9th – Baugh Ford/Kut4Sports/Worth/Miken (AL-TBD) 2-2 – Baugh had a huge early run rule win over Beckham Brothers then dropped games to Primetime and Chanticlear. The key to Baugh's success is shortstop Johnathan Raspberry and the defense of middle infielder John Sullivan.
Steel Sports was a tough team to beat.
L&S Glass went 3-2
My pick for highest finishing non conference team was Big Apple. They went 2-2
Deluxe Athletic Brand/EAS had a nice team from Colorado and went 2-2
That kid in the first row is so disappointed
Fans moved indoors for the championship when it started to sprinkle
Kyle Olsens high school grad pic was randomly placed around the park…lol
The umpires worked some LOOONG days and did a great job
If I ran into you at the airport and didn't stop to chat during the delays it was because I was watching my son William and his Akron Universtiy Esports teammates on my phone win the Rocket League National Championship!
350+ teams paired down to a 64 team single elimination bracket and the final 4 got a trip to Minneapolis to play for the championship just like the NCAA basketball teams.
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