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A look back at the —> 2021 USSSA “Battle at the Beach” – Myrtle Beach Major tournament report!

 

2021 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

"Battle at the Beach"

 

Myrtle Beach, SC

 

May 7-9

 

SNI MVP Jason Branch singles against Smash It Sports in the Championship game!

SoftballCenter Myrtle Beach picture album link

 

2021 Myrtle Beach bracket and results link

 

2021 Myrtle Beach Major stats link once available

 

2021 Myrtle Beach archived games link

 


 

Video Highlights brought to you by:

Condensed Game – Winner's bracket finals – Saturday, May 8th

Condensed Game – Loser's bracket finals – Sunday, May 9th

Condensed Game – Championship – Sunday, May 9th

Video Clips of the Myrtle Beach Major

 

Team Breakdown:
22 Teams Overall
16 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
3 Major Teams
3 'AA' Teams
7 'A' Teams
7 'B' Teams
2 'C/D' Teams

 

 

WM Roofing/Revolution Athletics (OH-B) opened the tournament by beating Carolina Gas/Scudz Sports (SC-D) 17-15 on a walk off homer by Richie Mast.

 

The 2021 "Battle at the Beach" men's Conference USSSA tournament began with 22 teams on Friday evening at the Grand Park artificial turf complex in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Although there was a lack of rental cars available at the airport all of the players seemed to make it to their games on time.  The weather was a perfect 65-75 degrees with no humidity or rain the entire weekend and the fields were 325 feet all the way around and they used the Dudley Pro-M ball with 240 bat compression testing.  16 of the 22 teams were from the Nationwide Conference USSSA league.  There were 7 "play in" games in the bracket and unlike the Texas Legends tournament last weekend there were some non-conference teams that won games.  D&S a Florida 'B' team knocked off Conference Florida 'B' team GTF 13-6.  FiftyFifty a Georgia non conference 'B' team beat Statewide/SMC/BKB a Conference 'B' team 30-18 as both teams hit 6 HR with the wind blowing out.  Tru/Mojo/Terry's/Eshore Sports a good Virginia non conference 'B' team gave Westpoint Softball (IN-A) all they could handle but Westpoint ended up winning 26-22.  WM Roofing (OH-B) Conference beat Carolina Gas (SC-D) 17-15 on a walk off homer by Richie Mast.  There were just 5 home runs hit in that game total as wind definitely cut down on the power and scores most of the weekend.  And Juno Athletics (NJ-A) and LSR (IN-B) a new Conference team playing in their first Conference tournament of 2021 both advanced into the "Round of 16".

 


 

Winner's Bracket "Round of 16"

In the "Round of 16" in the winner's bracket Friday night #2 seeded Smash It Sports/Newbreed/TDB/RF/BD/T3 the Major team made easy work of the Florida D&S team holding them to just 3 runs on the show field (20-3)

Over on field #6 it was a battle of Conference 'A' teams as Westpoint and Competitive Edge/Olmito Heat/Adiktiv (TX-A) played with the sun right in the batter's eyes.  Going into the top of the 7th the score was 5-4 Westpoint.  But the sun went down for the 7th inning and the Competitive Edge bats came alive as they put up 8 runs opening up the inning with 4 singles and then a 3 run homer by Tristan Montgomery.  Westpoint went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 7th.

On the show field at 8:30 PM #1 seeded Resmondo/Smash It/Menosse/Thunder the Major team took some batting practice against LSR and won 31-1 scoring 20 runs in the top of the 3rd in a "welcome to the conference" moment.  Josh Riley and Brian Wegman were each 4 for 4 in the game.  Wegman hit 3 HR.  

Back on field #4 in the most anticipated Friday game with the wind blowing out Albicocco/Riot/Klutch/Broughton (FL-AA) couldn't put away S&E Enterprise/Worsham (NC-A) but they did get them down big and won 32-22.

 

Meanwhile over on field #5 one of the biggest upsets of the year was brewing.  A flat MPT Rentals (NJ-Major) offense held just an 11-8 lead going into the 5th inning against WM Roofing.  Even though Flip Washington and Ryan Harvey at the top of the order were a combined 7-8 with 3 of the teams 4 HR MPT put up a zero in the top of the 5th.  WM Roofing then proceeded to score 5 in the bottom of the 5th to take a 13-11 lead.  In the top of the 6th Flip Washington hit a clutch 3 run homer to give MPT the lead back 14-13 but WM Roofing got a bases loaded double play to end the inning and responded with 5 more runs on 5 hits to go up 18-14.  In the top of the 7th MPT went 1-2-3 and the Ohio 'B' team had pulled off a huge upset! 

In the last game of the night Sports Reach/Worth/CT/Grizzy (KY-AA) tied at 6 in the 5th inning with Juno Athletics (NJ-A) put up 8 runs and went on to win 15-8 as Zach Watts went 4-4.

Not pictured is SNI/Thunder/Chosen/DeMarini's (FL-AA) 27-7 win over FiftyFifty.

 


 

Winner's Bracket "Round of 8"

 

The "Round of 8" started at 11 AM Saturday morning as WM Roofing had an unassisted double play against SNI/Thunder and then an inside the park 2 run homer with the wind gusting in to start the game but it was all down hill after that 1st inning as SNI outscored WM Roofing 22-1 the rest of the way and out hit them 27-5.  Austyn Dawe went 3-4 with 2 HR and 6 RBI in the win.

Austyn Dawe goes "backside bomb" into a stiff wind vs WM Roofing.

SNI knocked WM Roofing out of their 4 man outfield.

Sports Reach (in the white) went up 15-0 against Competitive Edge going into the bottom of the 3rd.  But Comp Edge never gave up and scored 6 in the bottom of the 6th and 6 more in the bottom of the 7th but lost 23-20.  Sports Reach's Ira Brown was 4-5 with a homer in the win.  Both teams hit 6 of their allotted 12 home runs.

 

In the 12:30 quarterfinal games Smash It Sports (in the green) with the wind blowing in hard on field #6 pulled out a 14-8 win over Chick-fil-a in a game I believe Buddy Wolf #94 hit the only home run.

In the final quarterfinal game Resmondo who scored 30 or more runs in 8 straight games beat Albicocco (in the white) 29-12 on the show field jumping out to a 14-0 lead.  Bubba Mack was 5-5 with 3 HR and 9 RBI.  

 


 

Winner's Bracket "Final 4"

In the semifinals SNI/Thunder jumped out to a 9-3 lead with the wind blowing in when they got a DP against Smash It Sports in the 3rd and put up a zero themselves in the 4th.  Smash It though never got their offense going with the wind blowing straight in and SNI pulled of the big win 14-5.

Meanwhile on the show field Resmondo's dominating offense (10 games in a row dating back to the Texas Legends Major) continued as they scored 11 runs in the 2nd inning and 11 more in the top of the 4th to beat Sports Reach by the 20 run rule 37-9.  Josh Riley and Greg Connell were each 5-5 in the game.  Riley had 5 home runs and 15 RBI from the lead off spot in the lineup.  They out homered Sports Reach 12-2.

 


 

Winner's Final

The winner's final which can be viewed in Condensed form here on the SW48 Youtube Channel began an hour late on Saturday night at around 9:30 PM.  SNI/Thunder scored crooked numbers in every inning except for the 3rd where they put up a zero and neither team was able to "bat around" in the game until the 7th where SNI scored 7 runs to add to their 19-17 lead including home runs by Brian Zirkle, Austyn Dawe, and Josh Fyffe, and a pinch hit homer by Cody Hatmaker.  Defensively they shut down Resmondo in the bottom of the 7th for the first time all game and won 26-17.  They out homered Resmondo 12-7 and Fyffe was 5-5 with 2 HR and 5 RBI in the win.

SNI center fielder Greg Downing robs Resmondo's Brian Wegman of extra bases!

 


 

Loser's Bracket

 

In the loser's bracket Competitive Edge beat MPT Rentals Major team 28-25 on a walk off homer by Ken Duby (pictured above).

Then Competitive Edge came from 14 runs down against Albicocco (in the grey) only to lose 37-36 grounding into a double play to end the game.  Then Albicocco ran into Smash It Sports who out slugged them 41-35 to win the top half of the loser's bracket after Albicocco took a 16-7 lead on a grand slam by Steve Edwards.  Smash Its Everett Williams hit the longest homer of the tournament in that game which went over the Riot Sports trailer in center field estimated at 425 feet.  And shortstop Tyler Marshburn wowed the crowed with his leaping line drive stabs and a multitude of strong arm throws from all over the left side of the infield.  This would be a good game to watch on the USSSALive.com archives.

In the lower half of the loser's bracket S&E beat Statewide, LSR, and Chick-fil-a and then lost to Westpoint who had just beaten Juno and WM Roofing.  Then Sports Reach dropped down and beat Westpoint 12-9 when Ira Brown went 4-4 again. 

And in the nightcap Smash It Sports scored 20 runs in the 1st inning against Sports Reach and cruised to a 32-5 win out homering Sports Reach 8-0 as Everett Williams went 4-4 with 3 HR and 5 RBI.

On Sunday morning at 8 am they played the loser's bracket finals between the two Major powerhouses Resmondo and Smash It Sports.  Resmondo grabbed an early 6-3 lead but Smash It scored 9 runs on zero homers in the top of the 3rd and 6 more including a grand slam by Dale Brungardt in the top of the 4th to go up 18-6.  Resmondo fought back in the 4th but Smash It scored 12 in the top of the 6th and held Resmondo scoreless in the bottom of the 6th to win by the run rule 37-20.  Collins and Marshburn each had 5 hits and Ben Dunn had 4 doubles in the win.

 

Ryan Mcclanahan went in defensively at 3rd base in the bottom of the 6th and made two nice plays to end the game.

 


 

Championship

SNI pinch runner Pedro Sanchez gets a face full of dirt in the championship.  Drop the hat!

In the championship game both teams were playing solid softball and it looked like Smash It Sports might force the dreaded "if" game when Dale Brungardt hit a game tying homer in the bottom of the 6th.  But SNI put up a big 7th inning as Brian McBryde tied the game on a solo homer and then they walked Jeff Roxby to load the bases to get to Brad Sheffield who hit a bases clearing double.  They batted around in the inning and held on defensively shutting down Smash It in the bottom of the 7th to win the Myrtle Beach Major 38-29!  SNI went an undefeated 5-0 on the weekend and earned their tournament victory by beating both #1 Resmondo and #2 Smash It Sports!

SNI pitcher Brandon Jonas paused the game to remove his protective body armour under his shirt just before stabbing this 100 mph shot up the middle.  lol

 

SNI middle infielder Brian McBryde bare hands this grounder and also hit the game tying homer in the top of the 7th.  He had two hits in the inning.

 


 

 

240 bat compression testing and Dudley Pro-M balls

Grand Park has 7-325 foot fields with artificial turf everywhere but the pitchers mound and home plate.

 


 

Oldscout Polers gave SNI/Thunder a 5% chance

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

 

Everett Williams probably hit the furthest ball.  Bubba Mack hit the most consistent long bombs.

Austyn Dawes homer went into Field #1 which was about 410.

 


 

Myrtle Beach Major Final Standings and Awards

SNI lead off hitter Jason Branch was MVP

SNI pitcher Brandon Jonas was Defensive MVP

Smash Its Ben "Doubles" Dunn was Offensive MVP

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:

 

 

1st Place – SNI/Thunder/Chosen/DeMarini

Conf 'AA' from FL  5-0 Record

SNI/Thunder has been knocking on the door of winning one of these tournaments all year but to do it by beating the top two Major teams is impressive.  A great team effort where teammates picked each other up, the defense was very solid, pinch hitters got key hits, power hitters slumped then came through in the same game, and the team went undefeated!  WOW!  SNI has all the pieces to compete every weekend and to do this on 325 foot fences in conditions similar to Space Coast sends a message to the rest of the Conference.  

Colin Baartman almost robbed this hit and ran into the fence with his face leaving fence marks on his head.

  

Fyffe gets on streaky offensive binges

 

Roxby and Sheffield were two of the players from SNI that remain from the 2020 USSSA 'AA' Championship team!

 

That is a new style team selfie

 


 

2nd Place – SmashItSports/Newbreed/TDB/RF/BD/T3

Conf 'M' from NC  5-2 Record

 

Smash It looked like they might roll through the Sunday games after run ruling Resmondo but it wasn't meant to be as SNI had their number and beat them twice.  Marshburn probably would have been Defensive MVP or MVP had SIS won.  Ben Dunn in center field also robbed Resmondo and SNI of a number of singles coming straight in and making great catches.

3B Brungardt, SS Tyler Marshburn, CF Ben Dunn

 

Buddy Wolf had them howling and Collins was all tourny.

    

Jason Martel

Two former Conference Defensive Players of the year Reyna and Mcclanahan

 


 

3rd Place – Resmondo/Smash It/Menosse/Thunder

Conf 'M' from FL  3-2 Record

 

Resmondo played without pitcher Travis Clark (family illness), Nic Santana (one tournament suspension), and Steele Lewis who remained in Canada.  But their offense easily put them in the winner's bracket finals where they then failed to score more than 20 runs in either of their last two games.  The roller coaster continues but I doubt they are worried.  Greg Connell probably would have been Defensive MVP had Resmondo won.  And how about that 5-5 with 5 HR game Josh Riley had.  He had as many homers in that one game as some teams had in the tournament.  Mack and Bazat had over .800 onbase percentages.

  

Brad Reckart did all of the pitching

 

Pearson at first had a bunch of nice picks

 

 


 

4th Place – Sports Reach/Worth/CT/Grizzy

Conf 'AA' from KY  3-2 Record

 

The team batted just .468 and hit 12 home runs in 5 games in the windy conditions but as usual they found a way to win.

Big Brown, Ira Brown was an all tournament selection again.

 

Curtis Cornett was all tournament and Tre Porter has been the super utility man for Sports Reach this year.

3B Brady Stewart, SS Kaden Watson, MI Aaron Miller, 2B Curtis Cornett

 

 


 

Tied 5th Place – WestPoint Softball

Conf 'A' from IN  4-2 Record

I read on the internet that Westpoint couldn't beat a 'C' team and then they showed up to Myrtle and beat Tru (B), Juno (A), WM Roofing (B), and S&E (the top A team).  They lost to Competitive Edge in the "sun" game and Sports Reach late Saturday to finish as the highest 'A' team in the tournament.

 

P Johnson, 3B Edwards

 


 

Tied 5th Place – Albicocco/Riot/Klutch/Broughton

Conf 'AA' from FL  3-2 Record

Albicocco put up the most average runs per game (30.4) in the tournament but they let up 31.6.  So we know they have a very good 'AA' level offense, just need to work on the D.

Albicocco's speedy center fielder rookie Robert Duncan

 


 

Tied 7th Place – S&E Enterprise/Worsham NC

Conf 'A' from NC  3-2 Record

S&E got Welborn back but didn't beat Albicocco in their opener like they had hoped.  They won 3 straight in the loser's bracket on Saturday but lost to Westpoint in a battle to be the highest finishing 'A' team. 

Edmund Locklear has become that savy veteran hitter


 

 


 

Tied 7th Place – Competitive Edge/OlmitoHeat/Adiktiv

Conf 'A' from FL  2-2 Record

2B Tyler Ervine, Taylor Cobb, SS Logan Rogers, and Tristan Montgomery had big weekends offensively as Competitive Edge beat Westpoint and MPT Rentals but lost close ones to Sports Reach and Albicocco.  This team is knocking on the door of a final 4 finish in one of these big tournaments and it could happen soon and the 4 long tough games they played in Myrtle Beach will help this young team grow.  They averaged 24.3 runs per game in some tough conditions.

James Delagarza did the pitching since Buckshot left

 

Brandon Jackson and Angel Ibanez a couple of lefty hitters for Comp Edge

 


 

Hot Links section brought to you by:

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

Link to the SoftballCenter.com Youtube channel

Link to the SoftballCenter.com Facebook page

Link to all 2009 to 2021 Tournament Reports and Previews

Nationwide Conference USSSA Points and information link

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

Tied for 9th – WM Roofing/Revolution Athletics (OH-B) 2-2 – WM Roofing had just a .459 on base percentage as a team and hit just 5 homers but won their play in game on a walk off homer and pulled one of the biggest upsets of the season using their gloves and their sticks to beat MPT Rentals.  Then on Saturday their offense when into hibernation…

 


 

Tied for 9th – D&S (FL-B) 3-2 – D&S was the highest finishing non conference team as they beat GTF and Prime Time and stuck around somehow against Albicocco.  Steve Wilson, Brad Marlette, Cameron Newhouse, Chris Waterman, and Kydrich Doggett are all players that have played conference.  I'm not sure if all of them were at the tournament or not.  Just looking at the roster.  

 


 

Tied for 9th – MPT Rentals/Juno Athletics (NJ-M) 2-2 – MPT was without pitcher Mike Nino (suspension) and John Dombrowski (bicep) and they picked up AA championship pitcher Dustin Midyette to pitch.  They lost to WM Roofing though Friday night on the same field that MPT's 'A' team beat TDB a couple of years ago and then they beat Lewis Lawn and FiftyFifty before Comp Edge sent them home on a walk off homer.  A weekend to forget for MPT who is trending down…

 


 

Tied for 9th – Chick-fil-a/BAF Sports (VA-A) 1-2 – Beat Prime Time 38-30 in their opener with the wind blowing out and went 7 innings with Smash It losing 14-8 then was run ruled by S&E.

 


 

PrimeTime/FAI/Riot only beat the Bad Draw 'C' team.  They were missing a lot of players including Potts, Thorton, and Mitschke.

 


 

LSR went 2-2 in their debut as a conference team beating two non conference team and losing to Resmondo and S&E.

 


 

 

Statewide went 2 and beach.

 


Juno Athletics 'A' team did not hit well or adjust to the windy conditions which reminded most teams of Viera's Space Coast Complex.

Tru went 0-2.  Played Westpoint tough.

Conference USSSA Commissioner Stro Kennison talks to Sports Reach sponsor Robby Speer

SNI 3rd base coach Mark McMorrison lost $100 when he failed to get a hit.  It was a nice swing though and was a sacrifice fly.

Yates lost his glove over the fence trying to rob this homer.

Dan Smith was in attendance talking to Pure's Craig Shaw and Proton's Charles Darling

 

Yates and Branch were correctly called safe.

Anthony Champion and Rob Mantlo did the championship game.

Rob Mantlo umpired with his son Garrett

 

JJ and John Norman the Virginia State director

Schiffhaur Strong – Rick received some good news this weekend on his battle with cancer.

This is as close as I got to what looked like a nice beach.

 

 

 

 

 

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