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2019 USSSA Las Vegas Major tournament report!

 

 

 

2019 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

9th Las Vegas "Sin City" Classic

 

Las Vegas, NV

 

March 29-31

 

The crowds seemed much larger this year and I was told the Friday gate was 3x normal

 

SoftballCenter Las Vegas Major picture album link

 

2019 Las Vegas Major bracket and results link

 

2019 Las Vegas Major stats link

 

2019 Las Vegas Major archived games link

 

Championship Sunday!

The Las Vegas Major opened the 2019 Conference season as it typically does.  There were a record 48 teams and a whopping 19 Conference teams in the double elimination bracket.  The tournament was played at the Big League Dreams park with its miniature replica MLB stadiums and turf infields.  The fences are the shortest in softball which made for high scores and loooooong games.  They used the Dudley Classic M Conference ball and 12-16 home run limits.  The weather was perfect during the day and cool at night and there wasn't near as much wind as in years past.

The tournament began on Friday at 2:30 PM Pacific time with a bunch of play in games with mostly the non-conference teams playing.  As the day progressed the 19 Conference teams took to the field but there were not many upsets.  It was all "chalk" to use an NCAA bracket term except for minor upsets like an L&S Glass 'B' team beating Regulators a newer 'A' team.  So even that isn't really considered an upset.  They played the play in round, the 1st round, and the round of 16 all on Friday night (late into the night).

The round of 16 is where the upsets began as APC/Athletics a 'B' team from California knocked off Xtreme (MN-AA) 25-22 on Wrigley field and TPJS/Seminoles/NACSF.Inc/Miken (OK-A) knocked off (MO-AA) Nightmare 39-24 on Fenway.  The rest of the top seeds, all 4 Major teams (Resmondo, Dan Smith, TDB, and Pure) and the final 2 'AA' teams Newbreed and Bay Area all advanced.

In the quarterfinals Saturday at 4 PM the games for the most part started late as Dan Smith put on a base hitting clinic early on against Seminoles.  Seminoles fought back from multiple run rule attempts to make it a 7 inning game but Dan Smith advanced to the "final 4" 50-39.  Jo Jo Bennett and Steven Lloyd were both 5-6 in the game.  Over on Wrigley, TDB run ruled APC 43-14.  On Dodger field Pure Sports barely survived a win over Newbreed 31-24 scoring late to win.  And on Yankee field (the show field) with the sun coming directly in the batter's eye, Resmondo fought past Bay Area Legends 30-18.

Quarterfinals – Resmondo's Kyle Pearson bats against Bay Area Legends.  Yes the ball was pitched, where is it?

In the semifinals that started well after their 8:30 PM scheduled time, TDB/Racks scored 12 runs in the 1st against Dan Smith and led the entire game as both teams scored at least 3 runs in every inning.  After the 16 home run limit was reached by both teams TDB had a 46-38 lead going into the 7th and held on to win 49-44.  Everett Williams was 7-7 with 4 HR and 11 RBI in the win and the difference was the defense of shortstop Daniel Cayton and Defensive MVP Luis Reyna as they both made diving and sliding catches fit for ESPN consumption and Brian Zirkle made a full speed diving catch in left center as well.

In the second semifinal Resmondo took on SIS/Pure Sports on Yankee field.  Pure got off to a slow start but grabbed a 16-13 lead going into the top of the 5th as Pure starter Justin Mucciarelli seemed to keep the potent Resmondo offense at bay.  In the top of the 5th that all changed as Resmondo scored 19 runs and Pure put in relief pitcher Frankie Longello about half way through that 25 minute inning.  But Pure never gave up and came all the way back.  In the 7th inning trailing by only 1 run and with 1 out and no home runs left, they got a clutch double from Filip Washington, a single from Zach Messer, and an intentional bouncer up the middle for a fielder's choice by Donnie Hammonds because he wanted to get the run in without hitting a home run for an out.  Then John Williams walked, and Tommy Melton hit a two out gap shot to right center field that stayed in the park and bounced up against the fence to score the winning run!

In the winner's bracket finals late Saturday night on Yankee field, Pure Sports scored 8 runs in the top of the 1st inning and it would have been more if not for a great line drive stab at 1st base by Jason Martel who also picked a bad throw in the inning.  TDB answered with 12 runs in the bottom of the 1st and then scored 25 runs in the 2nd to give them a 37-8 lead.  Daniel Cayton at shortstop then put away TDB with an incredible popup slide stop of a hard grounder in the 5-6 hole and throw to 1st.  Pure didn't give up but TDB eventually won 44-24.

In the loser's bracket which played out all day Saturday starting at 7 AM and going well past midnight, a non-Conference 'B' team called Lazers Sportswear made an unlikely run as they beat Kleen Clothing 29-21, Exclusive 24-20, Classic Glass (AA) 33-30, APC Athletics 23-22, and Seminoles 45-29 after midnight before losing to Resmondo and finishing tied for 5th.  Meanwhile in the top part of the loser's bracket it came down to a little mini 'AA' tournament where Newbreed crushed Nightmare and then Bay Area crushed Newbreed before the Major team Dan Smith dropped down and sent Bay Area home 38-29.

On Sunday morning the final 4 teams were all Major teams.  Resmondo outslugged Dan Smith 54-46 (yes 100 runs) in a two hour long contest even though Dan Smith second baseman Steven Lloyd made a diving stop and turned a double play in the 1st inning and Dan Smith turned another double play in the 4th.  For Resmondo Greg Connell, Jeremy Yates, and Cory Briggs were all 6-7.  Then in the loser's bracket finals Resmondo led Pure Sports 25-20 after 3 complete innings and came from behind in the bottom of the 7th with home runs left to hit and Travis Clark hit a walk off homer to win 45-43.

In the championship Resmondo and TDB combined for just 6 runs in the first two innings before Resmondo took control offensively and run ruled TDB 34-19 with an 11 run 3rd and a 7 run 4th to force the "if" game.  The top of the Resmondo order reached base safely almost 100% in that game.  In the final game the scoring went back and forth as both teams grabbed leads and then gave them away with poor defense.  TDB would prevail 40-36 though as Jason Branch and Daniel Cayton each hit 4 home runs and lead-off hitter Bryson Baker went 5-6 negating a big performance from Resmondo's Kyle Pearson who was 5-5 with a walk.  Resmondo put up a zero in the 6th which was really the turning point.

Congratulations to TDB who won the tournament after being ranked 3rd in the pre-season rankings.  And a big thank you to the umpires who put in some of the longest days in Conference history.  The Conference season is off to an interesting start.  The Major division appears to have some good parity as most of the Major teams beat each other without losing to any 'AA' teams and for the most part competed for 7 innings.  The 'AA' division and 'A' division appear to be down a little bit based off of what we have seen in Las Vegas and the fact that the Major division expanded by one team thus taking some of the top talent away from the lower divisions.

TDB finishes off Resmondo in the "if" game

Resmondo's Bubba Mack slides in ahead of the tag.  I think the catcher is supposed to be on the other side of the play?

Random Vegas thoughts:
The balls were too hard.  Pitcher Nate Newman from Classic Glass was knocked out of the tournament.  Players need to slide to the bag and not through the bag.  Your back foot needs to start even with the front of the plate or you could be called out of the box.  This rule is in the Conference rule book.  The seeding was wrong.  Players need to hustle at all times.  There is too much money being spent on travel for players to give away any outs.  A number of players I watched assumed they would be out at 2nd or 1st and didn't run fast and errant throws could have made them safe but instead the defense caught the ball and went back and tagged the base.  TDB earned 226 points for their tournament win.  Maybe when there are that many teams the tournament could start earlier?   Conference will be in Houston this Friday, April 5-7 for the Space City Classic and over 60 teams!

 

Team Breakdown:
48 Teams Overall
19 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
4 Major Teams
4 'AA' Teams
8 'A' Teams
13 'B' Teams
19 'C' Teams

 


 

Key Winner's Bracket Games

Dan Smith takes on TDB in the semifinals.  This ball was hit past the pitcher before the pitcher could react.

Check it out in the video clips.  TDB won a long game where Dan Smith came back a number of times.

Tommy Melton of SIS/Pure hits a walk off gap shot to beat Resmondo in the bottom of the 7th!

Sunday morning Resmondo taking on Dan Smith in the loser's semi

Lazer Sportswear beat TPJS/Seminoles 45-29 to finish tied for 5th!

Newbreed smoked Nightmare 26-9 in a battle of 'AA' teams

My Auto Jack upset Xtreme 32-25

Bay Area Legends crushed Newbreed 23-3 in the shortest game of the tournament

A nice pano of MPT playing at Dodger

One Mpt Lineup:
Dunn
Z Smith
Slootmaker
Ulmer
Darling
Wilson
Shupe
Mcminn
Sanchez
Dombrowski

 

APC Athletics Mario Granados takes on Lazer Sportswear at Wrigley

 

Most of the BLD fields come in from 285 to 265 on the corners.

 

The back foot must start even with home plate or you could be called out.

Chuck saved my life (long story) and tested bats.  🙂

 

Lots of failed bats.  They used the Classic M ZN ball

  

Home run robbing catches by Resmondo's Steele Lewis who played center field THE WHOLE WEEKEND.  And a nice catch by Bay Area Left fielder Miller?

 

 


 

Oldscout pollers had Resmondo to win 55% to 16% over TDB.  Oops! 

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

Day 1 and Day 2 Las Vegas Major Videos

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

Long Bomber of the week goes to the Women's Conference as I heard there were 13 homer's hit in one game!

 


 

  Las Vegas Major Final Standings and Awards

 

All tournament awards will be posted once available

 

TDB's Andy "The GOAT" Purcell was MVP at age 49 and playing with a pulled hamstring

TDB's Luis Reyna was Defensive MVP

 

Offensive MVP went to ?  We don't know yet.

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:

 

 

1st Place – TDB/Racks

Conf Major from NC  6-1 Record

TDB avoided an upset attempt by My Auto Jack Friday night in their second game when it was tied at 38-38 late and TDB won 45-38.  Then after run ruling APC 43-14 early Saturday evening they held off a number of runs from Dan Smith in a 49-44 win and beat Smash It Pure 44-24 late Saturday night in the winner's final.  On Sunday they lost the first championship game to Resmondo 34-19 but came back and won the "if" game 40-36 in a game that could have gone either way.  MVP Andy Purcell pitched most of the tournament with a pulled hamstring, Bryson Baker led off and played 3B, 1B, and DH, Daniel Cayton looked good on offense and defense in his sophomore year at a new level, Reyna made some of those great sliding "side saddle" plays, and for the most part the entire team contributed to a great tournament win and start for this new Major team.  Someone on oldscout posted that this team reminded him of the 2017 Smash It Sports team that came together fast and won 10 tournaments including the Major.   

Trending Up!

One TDB Lineup:
Baker
Purcell
Branch
Harvey
Reyna
Riley
E Williams
Cayton
Pearson
Nelson/Martel
Zirkle

Getting ready to close it out

 

Everett Williams at LF and Josh Riley DH

AJ Montano makes a nice backhanded stop and gets a DP in the championship

  

Ryan Harvey and Brian Zirkle, Zirk with the patented basket catch

Zirkle bounces one through the middle against Dan Smith

 

Jason Branch and Daniel Cayton

 

Bryson Baker and Kyle Pearson

Nice team pic in the sun so you can see everyones face.

 

 


 

2nd Place Resmondo/SIS/RDD/H.Auto/Sprizzi/S&S

Conf Major from FL  7-2 Record

 

Resmondo fought back through the loser's bracket and forced the "if" game losing by just 4 runs to TDB.  Really their entire tournament came down to the 6th inning of the "if" game when they put up a zero, otherwise they win the tournament.  Resmondo is the best Stadium team and playing on the small fields is an excuse, but they have had success there in the past and came so close this year.  Travis Clark did most of the pitching.  Wegman, Wolf, Yates, and sometimes Ellwanger rotated in the outfield with Lewis playing most if not all of the time in center field.  Bubba Mack has found a home at 3rd.  Briggs was a little rusty on the throws at shortstop and Bazat had some uncharacterstic trouble on the turf but all in all Resmondo had a good weekend and it should all come together for them at at least one of the Duals in Florida in two weeks.  Resmondo beat every major team in Las Vegas once.

Trending Even

One Resmondo Lineup:
Pearson
Connell
Wegman
Yates
Clark
Lewis
Mack
Wolf
Haglund
Briggs
Bazat

Travis Clark walks off TDB in Championship game #1

  

Kyle Pearson returns to Resmondo and Greg Connell 2B

  

Bubba Mack 3B, Cory Briggs SS, Kevin Bazat MI, Buddy Wolf RF

 

LC Watson came in to relieve and Jeremy Yates hits a line drive

 


 

3rd Place Smash It/Pure Sports/OA

Conf Major from SC  4-2 Record

 

Pure Sports pulled that huge upset over Resmondo in the 7th inning of the semifinals and then dropped two straight to finish 3rd.  A good weekend considering they were missing Brad Carlsen, Ryan Parfitt, and Brandon Dillon, and Donnie Hammonds got hurt.  Pure should compete weekly on the smaller fields.  It is the stadiums where they will need all of their starters healthy. 

Trending Up!

One Pure Lineup:
Washington
Messer
Hammonds
J Williams
Melton
Kirkwood
Hunt
McCollum
Mitschke
Brown
Mucciareli/Longello

 

Pitcher Justin Mucciarelli, 3B John Williams, SS Zach Messer, MI Tommy Melton

  

Tommy Melton MI, and Josh Brown 2B

 

Filip Washington got the clutch double and scored to tie and Zach Messer set the table for Meltons walkoff gapper

 

 


 

4th Place Dan Smith/Menosse/Steven Smith/FAI

Conf Major from CA  4-2 Record

 

Dan Smith handled their business to get to the semi finals and then just could never quite get the lead against TDB.  After falling to the loser's bracket they sent home a 'AA' team but lost to Resmondo Sunday morning.  Starting pitcher Mike Nino was injured at some point and didn't play much, he was on base 10-10 when he got hurt.  Steven Lloyd was making incredible plays.  Santana played some catcher as he recovers from surgery on his foot.  Stovall and Matusik seemed to be sharing a spot.  And Lloyd, Collins, and Bennett were over .800 on base, the team was .737 on base, and Brungardt knocked in 39 RBI.

Trending Even

One Dan Smith Lineup
Lloyd
Bilardello
Brungardt
Collins
Dodds
Santana
Bennett
Stovall/Matusik
Dunn
Spaulding
Nino/White

Steven Lloyd made the most incredible diving stops

 

Benn Dunn CF, Davis Bilardell 1B, Andrew Collins RF

 

Jo Jo Bennett SS and Jordan Spaulding MI

Dan Smith had a practice in throw back uniforms.  Yep they nailed it.  Thats what teams looked like in the 90's

 

Pitcher Losson White pitched a lot after Nino was injured.  Brungardt and Collins combined for 

 

 


 

Tied 5th Place LazerSportsWear/FIG/Bennett Homes

'B' from Utah  7-2 Record

Lazer Sports played one of the longest days in Conference history as they won 6 games in the loser's bracket to finish 5th as a non-conference 'B' team!  I don't really recognize any of the players on their roster but they were a very entertaining team to watch as they just seemed to stay in every game no matter what the level of the opponent.

 

 

Mike Aviles who plays middle infield for the Lazers played Major League Baseball for 5 teams and had over 3,000 at bats and hit .325 his rookie year.  He was collecting a lot of hits when I watched even though he was swinging at some bad pitches.  His defense was stellar as he turned double plays and used the turf to make throws.  Welcome to the game Mike.  Hopefully that brutally long day was fun.  I was impressed.  Aviles was on base 32-49 with 7 HR and 26 RBI.

 


 

Tied 5th Place Bay Area/Bad Draw/Easton

Conf 'AA' from CA  4-2 Record

Bay Area Legends beat Classic Glass, My Auto Jack, and Newbreed (23-3).  They only lost to the Major teams Resmondo by 12 in the sun in your face game, and Dan Smith 38-29.  I would say Bay Area showed they were the best 'AA' team at the tournmaent.  Edwards and Mullins lead the offense at the top of the order and Granados, Pinkham, Bynum, and Mcclanahan lead the defense.  A great mix and a good start to the season.

Trending Up!

One Bay Area Lineup
Edwards
Mullins
Wilson
Johnson
Stewart
Marshburn
Gonzalez
Bynum
Granados
Mcclanahan
Pinkham

 

Gold Glover Mcclanahan

Bay Area managers Toby Williams, Gary Perez, and Rob Humphrey

 

 


 

Other top finishing Conference teams

 


 

Tied 7th Place – Newbreed/Cutter LLC/Thunder

Conf 'AA' from WA  3-2 Record

Newbreed struggled past SNI, hung with Smash It/Pure losing 31-24, crushed Nightmare 26-9, and then was crushed by Bay Area 23-3.  I'm not sure that last game is the way you want to go out.  Newbreed is deep on both sides of the ball and have Dan Sanchez pitching.  They were missing Kevin Filby who I understand was in a car accident at work and hopefully will be alright and can play later in the season.

Trending Even

 

Ussery at SS and Cordova at MI

 

Gastineau and Hollingsworth set the table


 

 


 

Tied 7th Place – TPJS/Seminoles/NACSF.Inc/Miken/SIS

Conf 'A' from OK  3-2 Record

Seminoles beat a very good Lazers team 38-37 on Friday night and followed that up with a 39-24 win over 'AA' Nightmare.  Then they kept from getting run ruled against Dan Smith most of the game and lost 50-39.  On Saturday they beat a good Lockdown team and then lost to Lazers 45-29.  Four long hard fought games which this team needs to get used to and fared well.

Trending Up!


 

Derrick Roland who normally plays outfield played a nice shortstop


 

 


 

Hot Links section brought to you by:

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Send corrections to dw@softballcenter.com

Link to the SoftballCenter.com Youtube channel

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Link to all 2009 to 2019 Tournament Reports and Previews

Nationwide Conference USSSA Points and information link

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

Tied for 9th – MyAutoJack/DownTimeSports/Sonny's (AZ-A) 3-2 – They surprised everyone and gave TDB a run for their money on Friday night.  The score was tied in the 30's late in the game.  On Saturday they beat Xtreme to finish tied for 9th.

 

Tied for 9th – Nightmare/Miken (MO-AA) 3-2 – They had the "come to Barnes/Fogle" meeting

 

Tied for 9th – Lockdown Sports Lawmen (VA-B) 5-2 – Lockdown is the Police team that always does well at upper tournaments.  They have some big boys on that team and they beat MPT and SNI – 2 'A' teams.

 

Tied for 9th – APC Athletics (CA-B) 3-2 – This team had Johnny Bailey, Mario Granados, Brandon Newton, Gary Carrillo, Robert Lee, Daniel McClement and others on the roster with upper level experience.  They upset Xtreme and almost beat Lazers which would have put them 7th.

Xtreme had tough battles in all 4 of their games.  They were upset by APC and MAJ and won a close one agaisnt Shut-D
 

SNI went 1-2 as they failed to score down the stretch in their upset bid of Newbreed

L&S Glass went 2-2

 

Regulators is run by Dustin Wager who doubled here.  They went 2-2 including a 54-47 win over Team Kava coming from 18 runs down.

 

Smith Softball a Conference 'B' team from California went 2-2.  Team is run by Dan Smiths grand son.

It is great to see another generation take up the game.

Classic Glass went 1-2 and fell victim to the hot Lazer Sports team

One Classic Glass lineup:
Falcone
Genter
Larsen
Gilliland
Hansen
Cox
Amaya
Eaton
Russell
Newman

There were two Cheap Suits teams and the Conference team went 3-2

New Jersey Conference team MPT went 2-2

Trademen had the best uniforms but went 0-2

Source One from Arizona went 0-2

4 The Fallen went 2-2

This leadoff hitter for Product got a hit every time I watched

The lady in the first row got hit by a homer

Dunn and Collins with the throwback 90's uniforms

We wore out the turf on Angel field

Cal Ford with Kelly the livestream icon

Mike Cornell and Dennis Turner

Shea Nation who does the picks for the previews has his own ASP trailer!

Chuck and Rich.  Chuck was saying the pledge and Rich has a picture of General George Armstrong Custer on his shirt.

This guy stayed in Vegas

 

 

One response to “2019 USSSA Las Vegas Major tournament report!”

  1. Curious says:

    How long does it typically take for the tournament stats to be posted?

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