2020 USSSA 21st Annual Cincinnati Major tournament report!

2020 Nationwide Conference USSSA

21st Annual Cincinnati Major

Cincinnati, OH

July 17-19

Dan Smith pitcher and MVP of the tournament Andy Purcell stabs a hot shot off the bat of MPT's Mike Williams!

SoftballCenter Cincy picture album link

2020 Cincy bracket and results link

2020 Cincy Major stats link once available

2020 Cincy archived games link

Video Links brought to you by:

Anarchy/MPT pitcher Jon Dombrowski fielded the middle like he was Rocky Staton!

In the winner's final he snapped off 3 hot shots and held Dan Smith to 9 runs Saturday night!

Friday and Saturday Video Clips Link

Sunday Video Clips Link

Condensed Game – Winner's Bracket Finals

Condensed Game – Championship

Condensed Game – "if" Game of Championship

Sunday's "if" Game Boxscore

The 21st Annual Cincinnati Major featured 25 Conference USSSA teams including all 5 Major teams and all 6 'AA' teams as well as most of the top 'A' teams!  The tournament was STACKED.  The hard hitting action began at 4 PM on Friday afternoon as the temperatures climbed into the low 90's.  There were 38 teams overall and they played at the Mid America Ballyard on their 300 foot fields.  The dirt infields can be a bit treacherous but the amount of great plays by infielders as you will see in my youtube video clips was quite amazing.  There were 12 local 'B' and 'C' teams that played into the main bracket and two of those teams broke through into the round of 16.  Bellys/Tropics/HDLNS/Durbinbo an Ohio 'B' team upset Smash It/Precision (IL-AA) 27-21 on field #2.  And the Liberty Softball Ohio 'C' team knocked off Welman Construction and then upset Competitive Edge (FL-A) 28-24 in the last game Friday night!  Those games as well as the entire "round of 32" was played on Friday.  Maroadi/SNI/Easton (FL-A) knocked off Vivid/FBI/PTG/Worth (AL-A) 21-5 in a game both teams needed to win badly.  Riot/TG/Treedem Sports (FL-AA) squeaked past Sports Reach/Crunchtime (KY-A) 31-29.  Anarchy/MPT Rentals (NJ-AA) beat Chick-fil-a (VA-B) 32-22 although I thought Chick-fil-a played pretty well.  Another game where both teams needed a win desperately was Premier/T&W (OH-A) playing in their home park vs Klutch/Hubs Pub/Worth (MO-AA).  Premier scored 16 runs in the top of the second inning and were led by newcomer Bryan Dunson who was 4-5 with 3 HR and 8 RBI as they knocked off Klutch 33-13!  And to round out the top half of the bracket Major teams Resmondo, Bad Draw, and Smash It Thunder all won easily by the run rule.  In the bottom half of the bracket Xtreme/Miken/Worth (MN-AA) run ruled Classic Glass (CA-A).  SVC/Nager Law (OH-A) run ruled Cheap Suits (CA-A) 30-15.  Baugh Ford (AL-A) made Primetime (GA-A) pay for defensive errors run ruling them 33-12.  Westpoint (IN-A) got off to another hot start with a 39-12 trouncing of Express Athletics (OR-B).  And top seeds Dan Smith (CA-M), Bay Area Legends (CA-AA), and Pures Sports (SC-M) all won by the run rule.

In the "round of 16" Maroadis started things off at 8 AM on the show field with a 26-11 win over local Belly's in a game that Maroadis absolutely had to win to give them a shot at the top 17 in points this year.  And also at 8 AM Pure Sports run ruled Westpoint 33-18.  They were using fields 1 and 2 exclusively for the winner's bracket.  At 9:30 AM there were two of the biggest upsets of the tournament as Riot/TG scored 15 runs on 4 HR to start the game and knocked off SIS/Thunder 39-30 and Anarchy/MPT beat Bad Draw 27-19.  Bad Draw was down 8 with 5 homer's left and went 1-2-3.  And at 11 AM when the temperatures started to heat up they played the last 4 games of the round of 16 as Xtreme knocked off the local Liberty team, Bay Area just got by SVC 35-32, Resmondo rolled through Premier 39-12 scoring 16 runs in the 3rd inning as Jon Nelson went 5-5 with 3 HR and 9 RBI, and Dan Smith scored 31 runs in the first two innings in what looked like batting practice against Baugh Ford and won 38-16 out homering Baugh 12-7. 

The "round of 8" was played at 2:30 PM in brutal heat but the Dudley Pro-M ball is not as temperature sensitive as balls the Conference has used in the past so it was still flying and the wind when the clouds came over the fields picked up and blew out on F1 and F4 and in on F2 and F3.  Riot/TG robbed Maroadi/SNI of a game winning homer to hold on to a 22-21 victory.  Anarchy/MPT came from 14 runs down to beat Resmondo 45-39 in a marathon game over on F3.  Bay Area Legends held off a Xtreme 32-27.  And Dan Smith crushed Pure Sports 41-13 as Pure Sports used an unusual lineup that had Mcclanahan at pitcher and a new guy Owen Price playing his first game at that level at shortstop?  Anyways Dan Smith out homered Pure 12-7 and 4 different players were a perfect 4 for 4 (Dodds, Bennett, Matte, Marshburn).

The semifinals began at 7 PM Saturday evening as the sun went down and surprisingly the games were on time and the super high scores we witnessed at the River City Major a month ago at this same park never really materialized as umpires also did a good job of keeping games ontime by limiting the down time in between.  Anarchy/MPT up on field #2 never really felt challenged by Riot/TG but the score was pretty close 23-19.  And Dan Smith knocked off a defensive minded Bay Area Legends team 34-23 as some chirping during the game saw the benches clear for some wholesome "jawing"…  Argen Dodds was 4-4 with 3 HR and 8 RBI in the win.  

With no other Major teams in the winners bracket it looked like Dan Smith would cruise to another tournament win but Anarchy/MPT Rentals had other plans.  In the winner's bracket finals MPT shut down Dan Smith and grabbed a huge 23-4 lead in the bottom of the 4th.  With just one run needed to end the game with the 20 run "mercy rule" they popped out and Dan Smith got a second chance.  MPT built their lead with some unbelievable defensive plays by their pitcher Jon Dombrowski who snapped off  3-100+ mile per hour shots up the middle including one by Ryan Harvey and kick saved another that he picked up and turned a double play on.  They also had some great stops by third baseman Dave Johnson, shortstop Orlando Castillo, and at least one great diving catch by second baseman Billy Wright to shut down the powerful Dan Smith lineup.  In the top of the 5th Dan Smith scored enough to extend the game but Dombrowski got a strike out looking against Harvey to end the inning and in the bottom of the 5th Chris Greinert hit the first pitch out of the park to give MPT a 15 run mercy rule win over Dan Smith!  Center fielder Woodrow Darling was 3-3 with 2 big homers and 5 RBI and McCollum, Mike Williams, and Orlando Castillo also chipped in with 2 homers each.  A true team win and impressive defensive performance worth watching in the archives or on my Condensed game coming out on youtube this week!

The loser's bracket was one long hot drawn out day for a lot of teams and much of it was played over at another complex called the River City West.  In the top of the loser's bracket Klutch Hubs Pub beat two local teams and then Baugh Ford, and Westpoint before Maroadi dropped down and ended their run.  Sports Reach beat Old Bag, Fly's Guys, SVC, and Seminoles before Resmondo dropped down and beat them and Maroadis to win the top half of the loser's bracket.  In the bottom half Primetime beat two local teams and then upset the major team Bad Draw 36-35 on a walk off by Robert Lee 36-35 over at River City West.  Then they came back to Mid America Ballyard and beat Premier before running out of gas against Xtreme 37-10.  In the Premier game Primetime's Tory Means was 4-4 with 3 HR and 10 RBI!  Also in the lower half of the loser's bracket Smash It Thunder beat Classic Glass on a walk off homer 25-22 and then beat local team Cornerstone who had knocked off a bunch of other local teams that were all gathered in that part of the bracket.  And then SIS/Thunder went on a run beating Pure Sports, Xtreme, and Resmondo to make the loser's bracket finals on Sunday morning.  In the Pure Sports game which may have been the best game of the tournament, SIS/Thunder got Pure to hit 2 homers for outs in the bottom of the 7th after Dale Brungardt hit a gap tying double that bounced over the fence for a ground rule double sending they tying run Jason Branch back to 3rd base.  So instead of tying it Pure was still down 1 and lost on a homer for an out.  And in the Resmondo win, SIS Thunder scored 36 runs in one inning and went on to win 51-31 in a game that had some middle wars and chirping going on.

On Sunday SIS/Thunder was out of gas and Dan Smith ended their misery 34-7.  The top of the Dan Smith order (Purcell, Collins, Harvey, Matusik) were a combined 18-18 with 6 HR, 15 RBI, and 18 runs scored!

Then the championship began around 9:15 AM as the temperatures once again climbed towards the 90's.  Dan Smith catcher Ryan Harvey stayed perfect on the day as he went 4-4 with 3 more HR and 6 RBI and Dan Smith scored 10 runs in the 4th and 11 in the 5th while the defense of center fielder Ben Dunn, the pitching of Purcell, and the defense of middle infielder Luis Reyna and shortstop Jo Jo Bennett among others absolutely shut down Anarchy/MPT in a 26-5 victory forcing the "if" necessary game to decide the tournament.  In that game Anarchy/MPT found a second wind.  Both teams scored in every inning of the game and neither team scored more than 6 in an inning as the defenses tightened up and the pitching was outstanding.  MPT got out to a 12-8 lead after two innings as lefty Jeff Keske hit a clutch grand slam.  But Dan Smith outscored MPT 10-2 in the 3rd and 4th innings combined and 12-10 down the stretch to hold on to a 32-25 win and the tournament championship!  Argen Dodds was 5-5 with 2 HR in the game and Tyler Marshburn the last hitter in their lineup was 4-4 with 4 runs scored.

Dan Smith won their 3rd tournament of the season and this solidifies them as the clear #1 team in the nation.  They have a perfect blend of youth and veteran leadership, defense, and power.  The tournament featured most all of the current conference umpires, bat bucket compression testing, and the Dudley Pro-M ball which is still considered to be too good for the 300 foot fields but performed better than it did last time we were at this park.  In talking with a lot of players we all think the Dudley Hycor ball should be used at the Big League Dreams fields.  The Classic M at 300 foot fields.  The Pro-M at the Smoky, Columbus Ohio, Myrtle Beach, and any 325 fields like the Viera White Quad.  And the Stadium ZN or the Pro-M should be usded on the baseball fields at Viera.

I would like to thank Slim Rice the Conference UIC, Dave Maury the National UIC, Strojan Kennison the Conference Commissioner, and all of the great work the umpires did this weekend.  This was definitely the best umpiring of the year so far.

Conference USSSA continues first thing this coming Saturday morning in Glen Burnie, Maryland!

Championship Sunday morning it was a tired SIS/Thunder team taking on Dan Smith in the loser's final

Dan Smith gets ready for the championship game on Sunday

Anarchy/MPT's Filip Washington hits a bomb to center field

Anarchy MPT's Jeff Keske hits a grand slam to extend the MPT lead in the "if" game

Team Breakdown:
38 Teams Overall
25 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
5 Major Teams
6 'AA' Teams
13 'A' Teams
5 'B' Teams
9 'C' Teams

Anarchy/MPT's Chris Greinert hits a walk off run rule homer to beat Dan Smith in the Winner's Final

Let the record show Andy was nowhere near the Bay Area vs Dan Smith bench clearing shouting match

Anarchy MPT was off just a little bit on Sunday as this ball goes off the glove for a 4 base award.

The night before it was Dan Smith who was just a little off as they couldn't haul this one in.

Purcell gives the no look pitch.

Dombrowski kick saves one and starts a double play

This ball went off of Bad Draw pitcher Aaron Lewickis shoulder/hand? and popped into Adam Ussery's glove

Oldscout pollers had Dan Smith to win by a 35% to 33% margin over Resmondo

Long Bombers of the Week!

Ryan Harvey hit one to the garbage can on the hill (Field #1) on a line drive which google earth says is 440 feet.

For the lefty's Bad Draw's Buddy Wolf hit one through the top of the trees in right field on Field #1.

Low Release of the Week!

Bay Area Pitcher Jose Flores gets the low release of the week.  Of course he had a lot of competition from Aaron Lewicki (Bad Draw), Justin Mucciarelli (Pure), and Jon Dombrowski (MPT).

Flores also made this leaping stab of a high hopper off Ryan Harvey.

Cincy Major Final Standings and Awards

Dan Smith pitcher Andy Purcell was named MVP

The co-Defensive MVP's were Dan Smith MI Luis Reyna and CF Ben Dunn

Reyna makes another great diving stop

Ben Dunn finishes off a long run with a sliding catch

Team by team notes brought to you by: