Added Condensed Games Links to Video Section —> 2020 USSSA Columbus B.A.T.S. Dual tournament report!
Unfortunately due to time constraints I wasn't able to put in as much detail as usual.
MVP of Dual #2 Andy Purcell hits against MVP of Dual #1 Travis Clark
2020 Nationwide Conference USSSA
Columbus B.A.T.S.
Columbus, Ohio
August 6-9
Dan Smith SS Joe Joe Bennett hits a walk off homer to beat West Point to advance to the finals of Dual #2!
SoftballCenter Columbus #1 picture album link
SoftballCenter Columbus #2 picture album link
2020 Columbus bracket and results link
2020 Columbus Dual 1 stats link once available
2020 Columbus Dual 2 stats link once available
2020 Columbus archived games link
Note: the archives are missing a lot of games.
programmers are looking into why.
Video Highlights brought to you by:
2020 Columbus Dual #1 Condensed Game Link
2020 Columbus Dual #2 Condensed Game Link
Sunset pic – Dan Smith taking on Pure Sports
The 2020 Columbus Major was changed to a dual tournament after the Seattle Dual was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The first tournament began at 8 am on Thursday morning on 9 fields at the Lou Berliner park in Columbus, Ohio. 26 Conference teams were in attendance and the winners earned 254 points. Fields 14-17 are high school baseball sized fields and the Dudley Pro-M ball was not easy to hit for a home run on the big fields. Fields 1, 4, 5, 7, and 8 were regular softball fields with 305 to 315 foot fences. On Tuesday before the tournament it was announced that the #2 team in the country SIS/Thunder inexplicably folded and their players scrambled to join other teams. Most notably Kyle Pearson, Josh Riley, and Cory Briggs joined Resmondo to make them into what many consider one of the top offensive lineups in recent Major history. Most teams did not use their homers and over on Field 17 the scores were especially low. In the first round most of the favorites advanced with Riot/TG/Treedem (FL-AA) beating Smash It/Precision (IL-AA) 21-20 on a walk off homer by Zach Smith.
In the "round of 16" BadDraw/TDB/Rapid Fire (NC-M) run ruled Xtreme/Miken/Worth (MN-AA) 39-24. Worksteer (NC-A) outscored Pure Sports (SC-M) 23-0 early on and run ruled them 26-6 in the first shocking upset of the day. Anarchy/MPT (NJ-AA) came from behind to beat Bay Area Legends (CA-AA) 27-19 over on field #4. Dan Smith and Resmondo advanced with run rule victories. And 3 'A' teams Westpoint, Premier, and Seminoles all advanced with hard fought victories. Westpoint beating Sports Reach 16-15 on a walk off homer by Brandon Dillon on Field #17 where homers were hard to come by.
In the "round of 8" the 'A' teams struck again as Worksteer grabbed an early 5 run lead on BadDraw and fought their way to a 27-24 upset! Westpoint beat Premier in a pillow fight over on F17 16-8. And Seminoles scored crooked numbers in all but one inning and held on defensively behind the pitching of veteran David Romero to upset the #1 team in the nation Dan Smith 24-22! Dan Smith only out homered Seminoles by a 10-9 margin. And Resmondo beat Anarchy/MPT 21-11 over on F15.
In the "final 4" Resmondo made short work of Worksteer who was coming off beating two consecutive Major teams. And Westpoint took advantage of a Seminole mental error on defense to push their game into extra innings where they held Seminoles 1-2-3 and then won on a walk off base hit by Brock Morrison 16-15.
In the winner's bracket finals Resmondo who was almost at full strength for the first time this year won easily 29-13. Resmondo got back Wegman from injury, Yates coming back was able to pinch hit, and Canadian star Steele Lewis played for the first time in addition to the new additions from Thunder.
In the loser's bracket Maroadis/SNI (FL-A) made a nice run and even upset Anarchy/MPT 21-13 in the top half of the bracket but they were beaten by Bad Draw 27-24. And Bad Draw won the top half of the loser's bracket by beating Seminoles 36-21. In the bottom half Riot made a 3 game run until Dan Smith beat them. And Pure Sports had a 4 game winning streak snapped by Dan Smith 19-18 on a walk off homer by Andrew Collins who was 4-5 with 2 HR in the game. On Friday morning Dan Smith who looked fresh completed the loser's bracket run with a 40-25 run rule win over Bad Draw and a 26-25 comeback win over Westpoint in a game that ended with a Joe Joe Bennett walk off homer. It almost looked like Bennett won the game twice as his first homer was called just foul. Andy Purcell came in and shut down Westpoint in the late innings with his pitching. Ryan Harvey was 6-6 with 3 HR and Ben Dunn 5-5 in the win.
This set up the championship against a fresh Resmondo team. That game was anticlimactic as Resmondo jumped out to a 9-0 lead when Dan Smith put up zeroes in the 1st and 2nd innings. Dan Smith would manage just 4 runs on 5 hits and 2 homers in a 4 inning mercy rule 24-4 loss. Resmondo's Travis Clark who was named MVP was 3-3 with 2 HR and 5 RBI in the game. It was Resmondo's first tournament win of the season.
After a short lunch break the 2nd dual started Friday afternoon and they played 2 rounds of the 32 team tournament that evening. There were no upsets to speak of in that first round. Although Anarchy/MPT used a walk off single by Dave Johnson to beat Levels who had scored 10 runs in the top of the 7th to take a 3 run lead on them. And Bad Draw the Major team beat Rebels a B team out of Michigan on a play where John Radich the right fielder threw a ball that hit some players standing outside the dugout which is an automatic out and the runs are taken off the board. Bad Draw won on that play 14-13! And an Ohio Amish 'B' team drew a big crowd on the show field when they took Dan Smith a full 7 innings in a 5 run loss.
In the "round of 16" SVC/Nager Law upset the Pure Sports Major team up on Field #8 31-16 in a blow out? Xtreme 20 run ruled Sport Reach as Curtis Stewart and Anninos each went 4-5. Resmondo beat Klutch Hubs by the run rule. Primetime advanced past Chick Fil A. In the lower half of the bracket Bad Draw beat Precision in a late night pillow fight 16-7. Bay Area beat MPT 22-15 which was the opposite of what happened in the 1st Dual. Dan Smith beat Riot by 30 as Harvey went 4-4 with 6 RBI. And in an upset the Belly's/Tropics a Cincinnati non Conference 'B' team upset Competitive Edge 26-23 to advance to the final 8 on Saturday.
The "final 8" was played at 3 PM Saturday as these winning teams got to sleep in while the loser's bracket was sending home 4 teams every hour and a half starting at 8 am. Xtreme who needed a good tournament found a way to win over SVC/Nager Law 19-17. Resmondo 20 run ruled Primetime 28-8 in a game where it looked to me like Primetime was getting squeezed on the strike zone. Bad Draw had a 20-9 win over Belly's/Tropics. And Dan Smith beat Bay Area 27-7 as Ben Dunn went 4-4 with 5 RBI.
After a short break they played the "final 4" at 6 PM Saturday. Resmondo beat Xtreme easily 38-14. And in what was the best game of the tournament and highest scoring Bad Draw came out on fire against Dan Smith scoring 30 runs in the first two innings on Field #14 in front of a good sized crowd. They kept the pressure on Dan Smith the entire game and to Smith's credit they pushed it the full 7 innings but never could quite dig themselves out of that initial hole and Bad Draw won 56-43. Adam Ussery, Buddy Wolf, and Bill Pinkham were all 6-7 in the game. Wolf hit 3 homers.
The winner's bracket finals was anticlimactic again as Resmondo smoked a tired Bad Draw team 29-9 in just a few minutes.
There were pillow fights all over the loser's bracket as low scores were the norm. Pure Sports won 5 straight in the top of the loser's backet and Seminoles 5 straight before Dan Smith beat Pure 28-8. In the lower half of the loser's bracket MPT won 4 straight including another win over Bay Area 20-13 before Xtreme beat them 29-25 and then Dan Smith beat Xtreme 29-25 to advance to Sunday. It is my understanding that 2 bad calls went against Xtreme in that late Saturday game and things got ugly there for a few minutes with controversy and managers being tossed.
On Sunday morning Dan Smith pulled away late and run ruled Bad Draw 34-19 to meet Resmondo in yet another championship. In the first game of the championship neither team really wanted to win it seemed. The game was tied after 4 innings 13-13 but Resmondo put up a zero in the pivotal 5th inning and Dan Smith scored 10 and held on at the end 25-24 to force the "if" game. MVP Andy Purcell playing with a bad back went 5-5 in the game. I do not think anyone but the Dan Smith team thought they could pull off the "double dip" since Dan Smith was playing their 17th game in 4 days. But Dan Smith led 11-0 after 2 complete innings making some great defensive plays and kept the pressure on the entire game outscoring Resmondo 12-5 in the 5th and 6th innings to win by the run rule 34-15 to complete their 3rd "double dip" of Resmondo this year! Harvey was 5-5 in the game and the bottom of the Dan Smith lineup Jones, Dodds, and Marshburn were a combined 12-15.
There will be a quick turnaround this week as Conference USSSA heads to the 51st Annual Smoky Mountain Classic which starts this Friday morning.
Observations: We need a better definition and umpire training on what is a full swing. Teams are starting to call homer's like they are basketball shots. A free throw is a solo they want you to hit. A 2 pointer and 3 pointer are self explanatory. Many teams need to clean out their dugouts after the game.
Dual #1 Championship Game Box Score
Dual #2 Championship Game Box Score
Dual #2 "if" Championship Game Box Score
Team Breakdown:
28 (2nd dual had 32) Teams Overall
26 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
5 Major Teams
6 'AA' Teams
13 'A' Teams
4 'B' Teams
Key Winner's Bracket Games
Westpoint's Brock Morrison hits a walk off gapper to beat Seminoles in the 8th inning of the semis Dual #1
Dual #2 Winner's Semi Final Box Score
Premiers Steve Hendrickson gets an inside the park homer against Westpoint
Worksteer upset Bad Draw in Dual #1 27-24 in the quarter finals
The Ohio Amish team WM Comm Roofing played 7 innings against Dan Smith and only lost by 5 runs.
They were out homered 8-1 but still made it interesting.
Resmondo beats Xtreme 38-14 in the semifinals of Dual #2
On field #1 you had to hit it over the entire fence for a homer and Bubba from Derby Girls did it at least twice.
The outfields on Fields 14-17 are high school baseball sized
Dudley Pro M
Dan Smith and Resmondo had the most votes and won a tournament each
Long Bombers of the Week
Harvey hit the longest ball a missile Saturday night into left center on F14.
I heard Nelson hit the building on F15 which at its shortest point is 458 feet.
Columbus Major Dual #1 Final Standings and Awards
Resmondo Pitcher and Lead off hitter Travis Clark was MVP of Dual #1
Resmondo MI Kevin Bazat was Defensive MVP
Dan Smith pitcher Dan Sanchez was Offensive MVP
Columbus Major Dual #2 Final Standings and Awards
Andy Purcell won his 4th MVP of the season in Dual #2
Joe Joe Bennett was Defensive MVP
Team by team notes brought to you by:
1st – Dan Smith/Menosse/Steven Smith/FAI CA-M (14-3)
Avg Finish: 1.5
Dual #1 – 2nd – (6-2)
Dual #2 – 1st – (8-1)
Avg Runs: 28.6
Avg Allowed: 19.2
Dan Smith showed incredible heart in double dipping the "unbeatable" new Resmondo lineup in the second dual playing their 17th game of the tournament! They take a 40+ point lead into the Smoky. Dan Sanchez was .826 and Collins .730 with 11 HR in the 1st dual. Harvey had 14 HR and 29 RBI. In the 2nd Dual the Dan Smith hitters put up big numbers led by Harvey, Bennett, and Bradley Jones. Dan Smith is losing to too many 'A' teams though.
Phill Matte robs a homer in left field
3B Bradley Jones, SS Joe Joe Bennett (yes I spelled it right this time), MI Luis Reyna
1st – Resmondo/Smash IT/Sonny's/JJ's/RDD/ FL-M (10-2)
Avg Finish: 1.5
Dual #1 – 1st – (5-0)
Dual #2 – 2nd – (5-2)
Avg Runs: 25.6
Avg Allowed: 11.9
Resmondo could have shown domination if they had pulled ahead in that first championship game of the 2nd dual but went flat on Sunday. The new pickups and players back from injury make them one of the deepest (is that a word) teams in modern Major history. I thought Riley, Pearson, Briggs, and Lewis played well in their returns. Magnum was .846 in the 1st dual.
Kyle Pearson and Josh Riley are with Resmondo now as well as Cory Briggs.
Jeremy Yates was back from injury as a pinch hitter. Should be ready for the Smoky.
3rd – BadDraw/TDB/RapidFire/T2/BAF/Pauer NC-M (8-4)
Avg Finish: 3.5
Dual #1 – 4th – (4-2)
Dual #2 – 3rd – (4-2)
Avg Runs: 25.9
Avg Allowed: 24.6
Bad Draw won that high scoring game over Dan Smith in the semis of Dual #2 showing that they can turn that corner and win those long slugfest games. Check that one out in the archives as it had some great defensive plays as well. Bad Draw has released Vitcak.
Martel and Mullins were all tournament
Bad Draw picked up Smith from Westpoint and Ryan Stovall
4th – Pure Sports/ Infamous/ EB SC-M (9-4)
Avg Finish: 6.0
Dual #1 – 7th – (4-2)
Dual #2 – 5th – (5-2)
Avg Runs: 19.4
Avg Allowed: 14.7
Pure played 13 games but kept stumbling as they have all year and never really got to the big winner's bracket games.
Brungardt, Flood, and Migues
Thomas a new masher for Pure
4th – SEMINOLES/TPS/NACSF.INC/ELITE/MIKEN OK-A (7-4)
Avg Finish: 6.0
Dual #1 – 5th – (3-2)
Dual #2 – 7th – (4-2)
Avg Runs: 22.4
Avg Allowed: 20.6
Seminoles put themselves back into contention for a Major World Series berth with an incredible 7-4 week and that huge win over Dan Smith.
Ramirez would have robbed this homer if not for the fair pole
Oliver Odle has powered Seminoles for years now
4th – WestPoint IN-A (7-4)
Avg Finish: 6.0
Dual #1 – 3rd – (4-2)
Dual #2 – 9th – (3-2)
Avg Runs: 19.1
Avg Allowed: 19.5
Westpoint continues to roll as I've said before with the perfect mix of veterans and young and hungry players.
Dawe and Dale
7th – ANARCHY/MPT RENTALS NJ-AA (7-4)
Avg Finish: 7.0
Dual #1 – 9th – (2-2)
Dual #2 – 5th – (5-2)
Avg Runs: 20.1
Avg Allowed: 16.5
MPT won 2 of 3 against Bay Area and played a lot of softball. But like Pure they never got to the big winner's bracket games. They released Keske and McCollum and picke up John Williams and Brian McBryde.
Dave Johnson hits against Bay Area
Woody Darling scores an inside the park homer and MI Jeff Keske is a free agent
8th – Xtreme/Miken/Worth/Athlon/ASP MN-AA (6-4)
Avg Finish: 8.5
Dual #1 – 13th – (2-2)
Dual #2 – 4th – (4-2)
Avg Runs: 23.4
Avg Allowed: 23.1
Xtreme played a solid tournament but left with a bad taste in their mouth over some bad calls late Saturday night in the Dan Smith game. That is understandable. But an Xtreme racing horse won in Delaware!
Smith and Stewart were all tournament
Kanaby leads off against BadDraw
9th – Riot/TG/Treedem/Pure FL-AA (5-4)
Avg Finish: 11.0
Dual #1 – 9th – (3-2)
Dual #2 – 13th – (2-2)
Avg Runs: 13.4
Avg Allowed: 19.3
Riot added points but didn't make any real noise. They picked up Vitcak though.
Smith hit a walk off to beat beat Precision
10th – Svc/Nager Law/Atrium/Grizzy/Easton OH-A (4-4)
Avg Finish: 11.0
Dual #1 – 13th – (2-2)
Dual #2 – 9th – (2-2)
Avg Runs: 17.1
Avg Allowed: 17.1
SVC was one of the 'A' teams that upset a major team when they beat Pure. Nice!
10th – WorkSteer NC-A (4-4)
Avg Finish: 11.0
Dual #1 – 5th – (3-2)
Dual #2 – 17th – (1-2)
Avg Runs: 19.5
Avg Allowed: 21.3
Worksteer beat Major teams in consecutive games! That is huge!
Marquez was racking up the extra bases for Worksteer
12th – Bay Area Legends/Easton CA-AA (4-4)
Avg Finish: 12.0
Dual #1 – 17th – (1-2)
Dual #2 – 7th – (3-2)
Avg Runs: 17.7
Avg Allowed: 17.8
Bay Area didn't get over the hump against MPT losing 2 out of 3.
Chente joined Bay Area
Lunda adds a big lefty bat
12th – Maroadi/SNI/Easton FL-A (5-4)
Avg Finish: 12.0
Dual #1 – 7th – (4-2)
Dual #2 – 17th – (1-2)
Avg Runs: 17.7
Avg Allowed: 15.2
Fyffe came over from Thunder to play SS
14th – Premier/T&W/Easton/BAF OH-A (3-4)
Avg Finish: 13.0
Dual #1 – 9th – (2-2)
Dual #2 – 17th – (1-2)
Avg Runs: 17.3
Avg Allowed: 20.0
Clay Norton robs a homer. Check it out in the video clips.
14th – PrimeTime Easton/F.A.I/RIOT/KLUTCH GA-A (3-4)
Avg Finish: 13.0
Dual #1 – 17th – (1-2)
Dual #2 – 9th – (2-2)
Avg Runs: 17.1
Avg Allowed: 19.1
Ty Mingle
14th – Smash It/Precision/3rd St/Bulldawg IL-AA (3-4)
Avg Finish: 13.0
Dual #1 – 9th – (2-2)
Dual #2 – 17th – (1-2)
Avg Runs: 19.6
Avg Allowed: 17.1
SoftballCenter Free Agent Jacob Boggess played with Precision
17th – Chick-fil-A / HB Sports / Shepherds VA-B (3-4)
Avg Finish: 15.0
Dual #1 – 13th – (2-2)
Dual #2 – 17th – (1-2)
Avg Runs: 17.0
Avg Allowed: 21.7
17th – COMPETITIVE EDGE/M&T BLDRS/ADIKTIV FL-A (3-4)
Avg Finish: 15.0
Dual #1 – 17th – (1-2)
Dual #2 – 13th – (2-2)
Avg Runs: 19.9
Avg Allowed: 21.4
Competitve Edge left some points on the table again but also had a tough time with some questionable calls.
Apparently Competitive hasn't turned many DP's this year
17th – Klutch/Hubs Pub/Worth MO-A (2-4)
Avg Finish: 15.0
Dual #1 – 17th – (0-2)
Dual #2 – 13th – (2-2)
Avg Runs: 11.3
Avg Allowed: 17.9
Hubs folded and some of their players went to Baugh Ford. Buckshot threw the worst pitch of 2020 against Seminoles
Buckshot pitched for Hubs Pub who folded after the tournament. Some of their players went to Baugh Ford
17th – L & S Glass CA-A (3-4)
Avg Finish: 15.0
Dual #1 – 13th – (2-2)
Dual #2 – 17th – (1-2)
Avg Runs: 16.2
Avg Allowed: 20.7
17th – Sports Reach/Crunchtime/H&H/Grizzy KY-A (2-4)
Avg Finish: 15.0
Dual #1 – 17th – (0-2)
Dual #2 – 13th – (2-2)
Avg Runs: 18.4
Avg Allowed: 23.7
Gilfillan
Aaron Miller hits one over the mini monster in left
22nd – BaughFord/HDLNS/CSB/Easton AL-A (1-4)
Avg Finish: 17.0
Dual #1 – 17th – (0-2)
Dual #2 – 17th – (1-2)
Avg Runs: 11.9
Avg Allowed: 14.4
Baugh struggled and then picked up/merged with Hubs Pub
22nd – Bellys/Tropics/HDLNS/Durbin bowl OH-B (2-4)
Avg Finish: 17.0
Dual #1 – 25th – (0-2)
Dual #2 – 9th – (2-2)
Avg Runs: 13.9
Avg Allowed: 17.5
22nd – Vivid/FBI/PTG/Worth AR-A (1-4)
Avg Finish: 17.0
Dual #1 – 17th – (0-2)
Dual #2 – 17th – (1-2)
Avg Runs: 18.4
Avg Allowed: 24.7
25th – Rebel Sports/Brotherhood Sports/G2 MI-B (1-4)
Avg Finish: 21.0
Dual #1 – 17th – (1-2)
Dual #2 – 25th – (0-2)
Avg Runs: 11.1
Avg Allowed: 15.9
26th – Express Athletics OR-B (0-4)
Avg Finish: 25.0
Dual #1 – 25th – (0-2)
Dual #2 – 25th – (0-2)
Avg Runs: 18.3
Avg Allowed: 26.8
Express hasn't won a game against a 'B' or higher opponent in Conference play this year.
26th – LEVELS CO-A (0-4)
Avg Finish: 25.0
Dual #1 – 25th – (0-2)
Dual #2 – 25th – (0-2)
Avg Runs: 17.8
Avg Allowed: 28.5
Levels has been granted an appeal to 'B' after another rough showing.
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Some more pictures for you:
Sunset pic
Can't really tell if Travis had control
You can follow Dan Smith, Sports Reach, and Premier on gamechanger.com – live scoring
Dual 1 Umps Dallas Magg and Slim Rice Dual 2 Umps Bill Geatches and Steve Milani
Stro, the hardest working man in the Conference
Pauer Sports sponsors our pickem game
Hague was my favorite team of all time
The view from 355 feet away on the show field
Lou Berliner park has the Columbus Slow Pitch Hall of Fame wall
I thought the livestream on all 9 fields was the best at a remote location in softball history.
But I am a koolaid drinker…
Former Astros sponsor Herb and Pat Price made it out to the games
The high green screens on F1, F4, and F5 made it hard to put the cameras up.
I guess Ohio State vs Michigan won't happen this year.
Lucky for Michigan
Great job as always Sir…real nice seeing you DW!