Tuesday March 19th, 2024
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A look back at the 2021 USSSA Hall of Fame Classic tournament report!

 

2021 Nationwide Conference USSSA

 

Hall of Fame Classic Dual

 

Viera, FL

 

April 8-11

 

Sports Reach pitcher Dan Sanchez gives his team the lead in the top of the 8th, igniting a 14 run inning in the winner's bracket finals against SNI!

SoftballCenter HOF #1 picture album link

 

SoftballCenter HOF #2 picture album link

 

2021 HOF bracket and results link

 

2021 HOF #1 Major stats link once available

 

2021 HOF #2 Major stats link once available

 

2021 HOF archived games link


 

 


 

Video Highlites brought to you by:

Thursday Dual #1 Video Clips Link

Friday Dual #1 Video Clips Link

Saturday and Sunday Dual #2 Video Clips Link

Condensed Game HOF #1 – Resmondo vs SNI quarterfinal link

Condensed Game HOF #1 – MPT Rentals vs Xtreme quarterfinal link

Condensed Game HOF #1 – Proton vs SNI semifinal link

Condensed Game HOF #1 – Sports Reach vs SNI winner's final link

Condensed Game HOF #2 – S&E Worsham vs MPT Rentals semifinal link

Condensed Game HOF #2 – SmashItSports vs MPT Rentals winner's final

Condensed Game HOF #2 – Championship between Resmondo and SmashItSports

Video of all the Middle Shots from the Hall of Fame Classic!

Video of Long Bombs and Walk Off Hits from the Hall of Fame Classic!

Best Defensive plays from the HOF!

Dan Sanchez hits another clutch homer in the Dual #1 Championship game against Proton.

Sports Reach became the 1st 'AA' team in Conference history to win a Hall of Fame Dual tournament!

The previous 25 Dual tournaments were won by Major teams.

HOF Dual #1 (4/8 – 4/9)

The USSSA Hall of Fame Classic Dual tournament was held at the Space Coast Stadium Complex in Viera, Florida and all of the 140 games were held on the 5 all turf baseball fields with their 325-365-385-365-325 dimensions.  35 teams participated and 34 of them were from the Nationwide Conference USSSA league so every win meant bigger points towards the season long championship.  The weather was in the low 80's for a high and was great except for 3 short lightning delays on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon and players and pitchers did have to battle the wind some as they always do in April in Florida.

In the 1st Dual tournament which started at 8 am Thursday morning and ended Friday evening there was almost a "March Madness" sort of upset feeling in the air.  In the play in games WM Roofing/Revolution Athletics a new Ohio 'B' team beat Statewide/SMC/BKB a new North Carolina 'B' team 12-11 in the stadium when WM Roofing who plays a 4 man outfield scored 5 runs in the top of the 7th.  GTF a black American circuit team new to the Conference and run by Bryce Johnson beat a non Conference 'B' team called Young Guns 9-1.  Young Guns was the 2020 USSSA 'C' World champions.  And ABEYTU'/Salt Riot (UT-B) with veteran Duane Crisler as a player/manager beat GSP/Tri-State Services (WY-B) 23-3 in just 4 innings and hit just 2 home runs in the game.  The scores for both tournaments were down as the new bat testing standard of 240 compression was put into play this year and the wind blew in or across on 4 of the 5 baseball fields most of the 4 days.  The used the stadium zn ball.

In the "round of 32" there weren't a whole lot of upsets as the higher seeds won most of the games.  Premier/BAF/Easton (OH-A) beat L & S Glass 11-10 when veteran slugger Cory Boothe hit a walk off homer after L&S blanked in the 6th and 7th innings.  Again there were just 3 home runs hit in the game between the two teams.  Precision/3rd St./Red Athlete/Pure (IL-AA) handled Cheap Suits/Republic Realty/Express (CA-B) 17-8.  Classic Glass/Easton (CA-A) scored 3 in the top of the 7th to beat Levels (CO-A) 9-7 as Sal Formosa and Marc Wik hit home runs and Sal Formosa went 4-4.  The new Proton/Sonnys Major team out homered the new Thunder/Chosen/Competitive Edge/SOG (TX-B) team 6-2 and won 15-7.  Baugh Ford (AL-A) beat Chick-fil-A/BAF Sports from Virginia who moved up to 'A' this year 22-10.  Resmondo/Menosse/Thunder/AA/SIS/RDD the defending Major World Series champions beat WM Roofing 16-5 in the stadium holding them to just 10 hits over 7 innings.  SNI/Thunder/Chosen/DeMarini (FL-AA) beat the new Texas 'A' team Envy/Lifetime Diamonds/Legendary 13-2 in a game that was 2-0 going into the top of the 5th inning.  Albicocco/Riot/Klutch/Broughton (FL-AA) topped MAJ/Knell/Dirty Sports/DTS/DOMN8 (WA-A) 15-9 scoring 8 runs in the 3rd.  Westpoint Softball (IN-A) beat Slugger/SVC/Atrium (OH-A) 13-6 in a bit of a grudge match since the two teams are from the same region of the country and have players that swapped teams this year.  Xtreme/ASP/Athlon/Miken/Worth (MN-AA) spoiled Nightmare/Benefit the Badge/Mikens return to the Conference 14-7.  MPT Rentals/Juno Athletics (NJ-M) who stepped up to the Major division this year struggled past a feisty GTF team 19-11.  In a battle of 'A' teams Seminoles/TPS/NACSF.inc (OK-A) knocked off PrimeTime Easton/F.A.I/RIOT (GA-A) 23-9 as Justin Beal hit 2 home runs and collected 7 RBI.  CompetitiveEdge/OlmitoHeat/Adiktiv (FL-A) beat S & E ENTERPRISE/WORSHAM (NC-A) 17-15 after S&E scored 11 runs in the 2nd inning.  Brandon Jackson went 4-4 in the win.  Bay Area Legends/Easton (CA-A) missing 5 starters beat the new conference 'A' team Juno Athletics/MPT Rentals (NJ-A) 17-16 in a great game over on Red Rawlings with the wind blowing in.  Juno is the team that won the 2020 USSSA 'B' Worlds.  And Sports Reach/Worth/CT/Grizzy (KY-AA) who won the 2020 'A' Worlds and moved up to 'AA' knocked off Cornerstone/LSR/Midstate/Suncoast (KY-A) 18-7 as pitcher Dan Sanchez went 3-4 with a homer and 4 RBI.

In the "Round of 16" the higher seeds again prevailed as Precision beat Premier 7-6 with the wind blowing in.  Shortstop Heath Barnes made an incredible diving play in the 5-6 hole in the 6th inning to preserve the win.  Proton in the stadium held off Classic Glass 25-24 with the aid of a tough catch/no catch call that went against Classic Glass.  Resmondo smoked Baugh Ford 25-0 in the stadium and SNI/Thunder beat Albicocco 21-11 over on Red Marucci with the wind blowing in.  Xtreme put up the highest score of the tournament scoring 31 to beat Westpoint.  MPT Rentals run ruled Seminoles 24-9 as Ryan Harvey went 4-5 with 3 HR and 6 RBI.  Sports Reach held Bay Area to just 4 runs in a 14-4 victory as leadoff hitter Robert Blackburn went 4 for 4.  And in the 1st real upset of the tournament Competitive Edge knocked off #2 seeded SmashitSports (the Major team) 11-9 holding SIS scoreless in the top of the 6th and 7th.  The veteran pitcher Donald "Buckshot" Plaisance not only pitched a great game but he was 3 for 3 at the plate with a triple!

In the "Round of 8" which was all played back to back in the stadium with the wind blowing in or swirling for the most part, Proton run ruled Precision 23-6.  Precision just did not have the offense this week.  SNI/Thunder held down Resmondo with some great defense and beat them 24-12.  You can watch that game in condensed form on the SW48 Youtube Channel.  Xtreme upset MPT Rentals 19-11 as their new lefty power hitter Ryan Honeycutt hit 2 big home runs and Shannon Smith got an inside the parker known as a "little league homer".  ðŸ™‚  And Sports Reach scored 6 in the top of the 7th to separate and beat Competitive Edge 19-13 even though they out hit Comp Edge 24-13.

In the semifinals on Friday morning Sports Reach scored 8 in the top of the 6th on a "no doubter" homer by Dan Sanchez.  In the bottom of the 6th Xtreme answered with 5 runs as Brandon Hooks had a bases loaded pinch hit 2 run single.  Then in the top of the 7th Sports Reach scored 3 on a 2 run homer by Ira Brown and a solo by Chris Scott and held on to win by 1 run 15-14 even though Xtremes Steve Whaley hit an inside the park homer.  Ira Brown was 4-4 in the win.  In the other semifinal SNI/Thunder put up 7 runs in the 2nd inning all with 2 outs and their outfield defense of Colin Baartman robbing homers in left field and center fielder Brian Zirkle closing the gaps shut down Proton for an 11-5 win.

In the winner's final Friday afternoon Sports Reach went up 11-2 on SNI/Thunder going into the bottom of the 4th when SNI's Austyn Dawe hit a backside 3 run homer to cut the lead to 3.  Then in the bottom of the 7th Jason Branch hit a clutch 2 out homer to right center field to tie the game at 11 and they went to extra innings.  In extra innings SNI had burned their starting pitcher Brandon Jonas by pinch hitting for him a 2nd time and backup Dawe allowed too many walks and Sports Reach went on an adrenaline fueled 14 run top of the 8th to win 25-15.  

The loser's bracket on Thursday night and Friday was a war of attrition as Resmondo knocked off Seminoles, SmashItSports by the run rule 24-9, and Xtreme to finish 4th.  And Proton beat Resmondo 23-12 and SNI/Thunder 19-12 to get back to Sports Reach in the championship.  In the final game Proton scored 9 runs in the top of the 1st inning on zero homers but Sports Reach trailing 16-9 going into the bottom of the 6th put up what may have been the biggest inning of Dual #1 as they scored 15 runs to go up 24-16 and they pulled off the comeback with a 24-17 win.  They are the 1st 'AA' team in the history of the HOF Dual to win a dual tournament in Florida.  Sports Reach scored all of those runs on just 2 homers.  Ira Brown was 4-5,  Chris Scott was 4-4, and Defensive MVP CF Mitch Lendenski was 4-5 in the win.

 

Sunday morning Dual #2 Resmondo in the red takes on Proton in the blue

 

HOF Dual #2 (4/9 – 4/11)

Dual #2 began as Dual #1 was ending.  In fact every team played their 1st round game of dual #2 on Friday night so as a reporter I was unable to cover those games.  Also because Sports Reach wasn't expected to win dual #1 they were unable to make their game time for dual #2 so the schedule had to be changed around which cause problems for teams like Seminoles who were scheduled to play at 10 pm and then was made to play at 7 PM.  There was also controversy as SmashItSports who was scheduled to play their 2nd game at 8 AM Saturday morning somehow had their game rescheduled for noon and they ended up winning the tournament so it isn't the best look and teams were not happy.  To top it off there was a verbal altercation between a player and a heckler in the stands that will probably be sent to the new USSSA ethics committee.  

So Dual #2 started on Friday night where Westpoint beat Competitive Edge by 21 runs as Jess Maloney knocked in 5.  Xtreme put up the highest score of the tournament again as they beat Cheap Suits 41-13.  A fresh S&E Enterprise team 20 run ruled Nightmare.  Primetime, MPT Rentals, Resmondo, and Premier all advanced with low scoring wins.  Thunder/Chosen the young Texas 'B' team upset Precision 14-5 as Precisions offensive woes continued.  Sports Reach won a high scoring game over Chick-fil-a and Bay Area escaped a 29-27 win over MAJ.  Albicocco defeated Seminoles on a walk off single by Ricardo Lizcano 15-14.  SNI beat Slugger/SVC 27-20.  SmashItSports Major team just got by WM Roofing and their 4 man outfield 12-8.    Cornerstone beat Baugh Ford 14-4.  Proton run ruled GSP 28-13.  And in the battle of Northern California 'A' teams L&S Glass beat Classic Glass 35-13.

In the "Round of 16" Xtreme and MPT Rentals advanced in low scoring wins as the wind blew mostly in on 4 of the 5 fields.  S&E Enterprises upset Resmondo 21-14 in the stadium.  Sports Reach shut down Bay Area Legends 14-4.  Thunder/Chosen beat Premier on a walk off homer by Nicholas Perez in the bottom of the 8th.  Rocha from L&S Glass hit a 2 run homer to tie Proton in the top of the 7th only to be walked off by Bryson Baker in the bottom of the 7th.  Smash It Sports separated late to beat an upset minded Cornerstone team 19-12.  And SNI/Thunder won a pillow fight over Albicocco 10-6 when Austyn Dawe hit a walk off back side grand slam with the wind blowing straight in on Red Marucci.

In the quarterfinals up on the stadium MPT Rentals beat Xtreme 21-12 (condensed game will be out soon).  S&E Enterprises shut down a tired Sports Reach team 14-3 out homering them 3-0.  Proton beat Thunder/Chosen 24-21 when Proton scored 14 runs in the top of the 6th.  And SmashItSports run ruled Albicocco 16-1 to advance to the semifinals.

In the semifinals Ryan Harvey hit 2 grand slams in MPT's 13 run 3rd inning to go up 17-2 against S&E Worshams and won easily 25-2.  And SmashItSports beat Proton 26-19.

In the winner's final which you will see in condensed form on the SW48 youtube channel, SmashItSports beat MPT Rentals 23-14 out powering them and out defensing them throughout the game.  In the middle of the game a middle war broke out where the MPT pitcher Mike Nino snapped off a hard shot and waved his finger as if to say, "the middles closed".  SmashIt didn't like it and said something to Nino and Nino crossed the 1st base chalk line which should have been an automatic ejection.  Instead the benches cleared, social distancing was not observed, and lots of spittle flew into the faces of the angry mob…but no punches were thrown (as usual).

In the loser's bracket it was all Resmondo starting at 2 pm eastern time on Saturday they beat Envy, Competitive Edge, Thunder/Chosen, SNI/Thunder, and Kyle Pearson hit a walk off homer to beat S&E Worsham 31-30 well after midnight.  At 8 AM the wind died and they were back in the stadium surviving a 9 run Proton 2nd inning and they took advantage of 4 Proton miscues in the 4th inning to score 17 runs and go up 31-22 and win 43-26.  In the loser's bracket finals the wind blew out to right at 10 mph and the Resmondo offense was in full juggernaut mode scoring 20 runs in the 2nd to go up 36-4 against MPT Rentals prompting someone from MPT to say "we just need 40 on 2, we got this"…lol

In the Championship Resmondo got out to a 6-4 lead even though SmashItSports hit 4 straight homers to start the game.  Then after a lightning delay of 30 minutes the wind blew straight out and Resmondo scored 11 runs in the top of the 2nd to go up 17-4 before a 2nd lightning delay and subsequent storm ended the day with the two teams agreeing to split the 1st and 2nd place points.

 


 

The Dual #2 Championship was split between Resmondo and Smash It Sports when a second lightning delay and than a huge rain storm washed out the finals.

Resmondo led the 1st game 17-4 and looked like they might force an "if" game.

Team Breakdown:
35 Teams Overall
34 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
4 Major Teams
5 'AA' Teams
17 'A' Teams
8 'B' Teams

 


 

Key Games

Xtreme takes on Sports Reach in the semi finals

SNI's Jason Branch hits a clutch homer to RC against Sports Reach with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th to tie.

SNI Pitcher Brandon Jonas knocked down a liner then dove and pushed it to 2nd for a force play

SNI CF Brian Zirkle lays out for one!

 

SNI's Brian Zirkle homer's just out of the reach of Proton LF Joe Joe Bennett

SNI's Colin Baartman makes a spectacular catch

The agony of defeat as MPT CF Donald Hollingsworth laid out for a Shannon Smith liner and injured his shoulder leading to an inside the park homer.

Play the best!


Josh Riley makes it a 30 run lead against MPT

Resmondo's offense crushed many a team in the loser's bracket.

Besides the upsets and Sports Reach winning dual #1, the talk of the tournament was the new Conference 'B' team WM Roofing.  They play a 4 man outfield and won 7 games including a victory over Sports Reach.  They also went 7 innings with both Resmondo and Smash It Sports and lost to Albicocco by 1.  They allowed just 117 runs in 11 games.  That's 10 runs a game.

 

 

 


 

 

Oldscout pollers had Sports Reach at 2% to win Dual #1

 

 


 

Long Bombers of the Week

The Long Bomber's of the week are Everett Williams from Smash It Sports (above)

and Ryan Harvey of MPT Rentals (below)

  

An honorable mention goes to Xtreme's Brandon Hooks who hit the only homer out of center field that I witnessed on Thursday!

 


 

Hall of Fame Classic Major Final Standings and Awards

DUAL #1

Dual #1 MVP – Dan Sanchez from Sports Reach

Dual #1 Defensive MVP – CF Mitch Lendenski

Proton's Joe Joe Bennett was Offensive MVP of Dual #1

 

 

DUAL #2

 


 

Team by team notes brought to you by:

 

Resmondo/Menosse/Thunder/AA/SIS/RDD

Tied 1st – Avg Finish: 3.0   (13-3)   FL-Major
Dual #1  4th (5-2)   Runs: 21.6  Allowed: 13.4  Diff: 8.1
Dual #2  2nd (8-1)   Runs: 29.6  Allowed: 14.7  Diff: 14.9

You have to hand it to Resmondo after playing poorly for the better part of 2 and a half days they turned it on in the last 24 hours and salvaged their shot at the points championship with what can only be described as dominating offense!

 

Jones and Clark

 

Pearson and Briggs

 

Bazat and Yates

Bubba Mack was hitting tree limb breakers on Sunday morning

Resmondo played surprisingly fresh after hardly leaving the field for 24 hours

 


 

Proton/Sonny’s

Tied 1st – Avg Finish: 3.0  (10-4)   AZ-Major
Dual #1  2nd  (6-2)  Runs: 19.9  Allowed: 14.5  Diff: 5.4
Dual #2  4th  (4-2)  Runs: 25.7  Allowed: 26.3  Diff: -0.7

Proton had a nice debut and at times the offense went away or the defense let them down but in the end they had an average finish of 3.  They did not use the Proton bats as the first batches of those come in this week.

Bryson Baker walks off L&S Glass

 

John Nelson is part of the new Proton company and rookie Willy Dooley was all tourny Dual #2

 

Phil Matte and Argen Dodds

Charles Darling and Sonny Pilcher are the sponsors

Moose!

Pinkham stabs another one

 


 

SmashItSports/Newbreed/TDB/RF/BD/T3

3rd – Avg Finish: 4.0  (9-2)   NC-Major
Dual #1  7th  (4-2)  Runs: 19.7  Allowed: 10.3  Diff: 9.3
Dual #2  1st  (5-0)  Runs: 19.2  Allowed: 10.8  Diff: 8.4

The word around the park is that SmashItSports has too many "outs" at the end of the lineup.  I guess they are talking about Dunn, Purcell, Reyna, and Mcclanahan?  But in reality they now have a tournament win on the smallest park Las Vegas and the biggest park Space Coast Stadium.

3B Brungardt, SS Marshburn, MI Reyna

 

Tyler Wilson and P Andy Purcell

Marshburn hits a key homer against MPT in the Dual #2 winner's final

 


 

Sports Reach/Worth/CT/Grizzy

Tied 4th – Avg Finish: 5.0  (8-2)  KY-AA
Dual #1  1st (6-0)   Runs: 19.2  Allowed: 11.7  Diff: 7.5
Dual #2  9th (2-2)   Runs: 14.5  Allowed: 14.8  Diff: -0.3

Sports Reach played as a team like they always do and were led by veteran pitcher Dan Sanchez who may have been the most deserving HOF MVP in the tournaments history.  He made clutch plays, had clutch hits, and hit homers when no one else was everytime his team needed it.  Gilfillan was placing the ball wherever he wanted.  Lendenski, Brady Stewart, and Ira Brown seem to be perfect free agent pickups.  And Robo adjusted his game to the conditions and the rest of the team seemed to follow his lead.  An incredible performance and when you think back to what manager Frank McFarland, sponsor Robbie Speer, and this team has done in Viera their last two trips (winning 'A' Worlds and finishing 3rd at 'AA') it is pretty incredible.  And they did it without Robbie Fow who is off serving a military obligation.  Thank you Robbie for your service.

Watts had a .750 onbase and Dan Sanchez led the team with 7 HR and 23 RBI.

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

 

CF Mitch Lendenski played with Premier last year.   1B Chris Scott

  

Gilfillan and Tre Porter

Ira Brown came over from Primetime and was 8-9 in the final 2 games of Dual #1

 


 

SNI/Thunder/Chosen/DeMarini

Tied 4th – Avg Finish: 5.0 (7-4) FL-AA
Dual #1  3rd  (4-2)  Runs: 16  Allowed: 12.3  Diff: 3.7
Dual #2  7th  (3-2)  Runs: 15  Allowed: 20.0  Diff: -5

Another solid week for SNI who appears to be a stacked team in a stacked 'AA' division.  Some of the defensive plays this team made, Roxby at 3rd, Baartman in left, Jonas at pitcher, and Zirkle in center particularly were ESPN worthy!

Colin "Power Ranger" Baartman celebrates a run

 


 

Albicocco/Riot/Klutch/Broughton

Tied 6th – Avg Finish: 6.0  (9-4)   FL-AA
Dual #1  7th  (4-2)  Runs: 14.7  Allowed: 12.7  Diff: 2.0
Dual #2  5th  (5-2)  Runs: 20.4  Allowed: 16.6  Diff: 3.9

I didn't see a lot of Albicocco and I know they lost and won a few close games but they really seem like a veteran bunch who just all need to click at the same time to make a run each weekend.  They have all been there and done that and have a good mix of righties and lefties.  Bilardello led the team with 12 HR.

Steve Edwards makes a play deep at 2B

 

Zack Smith is now the middle infielder and Davis Bilardello 1B

 

 


 

MPT Rentals/Juno Athletics

Tied 6th – Avg Finish: 6.0  (6-4)   NJ-Major
Dual #1  9th  (2-2) Runs: 18.0  Allowed: 14.5  Diff: 3.5
Dual #2  3rd  (4-2)  Runs: 16.8  Allowed: 15.8  Diff: 1.0

MPT was a little off from the start and then the injuries to pitcher Dombrowski (upper arm/bicep) and center fielder Hollingsworth (shoulder) who will both be out a couple months probably, hurt.  They did get to test themselves against all of the other major teams and salvaged some points.

Captain Carucci has some injuries to deal with

Filip Washington hardly made an out on Saturday

 


 

Xtreme/ASP/Athlon/Miken/Worth

8th – Avg Finish: 7.0  (5-4)  MN-AA
Dual #1  5th  (3-2)  Runs: 19.0  Allowed: 15.6  Diff: 3.4
Dual #2  9th  (2-2)  Runs: 21.3  Allowed: 18.0  Diff: 3.3

Xtreme was solid and had their chances in Dual #1.  They were missing Ellwanger and McGowan.  Thorbrogger seemed to do most of the pitching.  Ryan Honeycutt has good power on the baseball fields.

 

Kanaby and Honeycutt provide left handed power.

3B Letak, SS Whaley, MI Newman, 2B Dylan Smith

 


 

CompetitiveEdge/OlmitoHeat/Adiktiv

9th – Avg Finish: 9.0  (6-4)  FL-A
Dual #1  5th   (4-2)  Runs: 14.5  Allowed: 15.0  Diff: -0.5
Dual #2  13th  (2-2)  Runs: 19.5  Allowed: 18.5  Diff: 1.0

Comp Edge had that huge upset over Smash It Sports in Dual #1 and carried that through to a 5th place finish which is big points for an 'A' team.  I will have to get to know this team better in future events.  Jackson had an .800 onbase and Ervine hit 8 HR and had 25 RBI.

Buckshot pulled the fake bug in his eye.  Unsportsmanlike conduct!  🙂

 


 

Classic Glass/Easton

Tied 10th – Avg Finish: 11.0  (6-4)  CA-A
Dual #1  9th   (3-2)  Runs: 13.4  Allowed: 12.2  Diff: 1.2
Dual #2  13th  (3-2)  Runs: 18.0  Allowed: 19.4  Diff: -1.4

Classic almost beat Proton in Dual #1 and won 6 games overall.  The return of Sal Formosa and some more hitters like Ramirez and Wik make this one of the better 'A' teams in the country.

Marc Wik can get streaky with the freaky power

Shawn Jones is the best pitcher with the sun at his back, prove me wrong?

 


 

MAJ/KNELL/Dirty Sports/DTS/DOMN8

Tied 10th – Avg Finish: 11.0  (5-4)  WA-A
Dual #1  13th  (2-2)  Runs: 14.3  Allowed: 13.8  Diff: 0.5
Dual #2  9th   (3-2)  Runs: 24.2  Allowed: 18.6  Diff: 5.6

MAJ won 5 games and is probably underrated for the 'A' division.  This team can score points in the west and slip into the Major, it is possible.

Billy Waltrip

 


 

WM Roofing / Revolution Athletics

12th – Avg Finish: 12.0  (7-4)  OH-B
Dual #1  17th  (2-2)  Runs: 9.3  Allowed: 12.8  Diff: -3.5
Dual #2  7th  (5-2)  Runs: 14.7  Allowed: 9.4  Diff: 5.3

This Ohio Amish softball team dominated the lower levels of softball winning multiple national championships in C, D, and E.  When they stepped up to the upper level last year they hung with Dan Smith in Columbus and won 4 games at the USSSA 'A' Worlds.  Now the jump to the conference and 7 wins at the dual!  WOW.  Manager Mike Yoder appears to have complete buy in from the players who all hustle and play great defense.  They absolutely shut a couple of conference teams down and picked up a win over Sports Reach and lost to Albicocco by just one run while hanging for 7 innings against both SmashIt and Resmondo.  They had just a .508 team onbase percentage and hit just 13 homers in 11 games yet won 7 of them.  That shows you how good the defense and pitching is.

If you have a chance to watch this team play, do it! 

 

 

Manager Mike Yoder in the black has put together a fun team

 


 

SEMINOLES/TPS/NACSF.INC

Tied 13th – Avg Finish: 13.0  (4-4)  OK-A
Dual #1  9th   (3-2)  Runs: 15.8  Allowed: 17  Diff: -1.2
Dual #2  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 17.3  Allowed: 12  Diff: 5.3

Seminoles won 4 games with Oliver Odle leading in hitting .750 and Hunter Ramirez leading in homers with 7.  They were tripped up by the unfortunate game time change on Friday night but overall a solid performance and they should be a favorite next weekend in Oklahoma.

3B Trammell, SS Conner Murray

Tristan Metcalf makes a nice play

 



 

THUNDER/CHOSEN/COMPETITIVE EDGE/SOG

Tied 13th – Avg Finish: 13.0  (3-4)  TX-B
Dual #1  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 6.0   Allowed: 8.0   Diff: -2.0
Dual #2  9th   (2-2)  Runs: 16.8  Allowed: 21.3  Diff: -4.5

Thunder/Chosen made a nice early run at the 2nd dual upsetting a couple of established conference teams.  Cheatwood led the team with 6 HR.  I hope to get to know this team better and get a team photo in Mansfield.

 


 

Juno Athletics/MPT Rentals

Tied 15th – Avg Finish: 15.0  (3-4)  NJ-A
Dual #1  13th  (2-2)  Runs: 15.5  Allowed: 12.5  Diff: 3
Dual #2  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 16.0  Allowed: 23.0  Diff: -7

Juno played well after a close early loss and a Carucci 15 minute long fbomb laden motivational speech.  🙂

The 'B' World Champs will be just fine in a stacked 'A' division.

Will Fisher from the 2020 MPT conference team

Verbasco pitching

 


 

Premier/BAF/Easton

Tied 15th – Avg Finish: 15.0  (3-4)  OH-A
Dual #1  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 11.0  Allowed: 12.3  Diff: -1.3
Dual #2  13th  (2-2)  Runs: 14.3  Allowed: 11.5  Diff: 2.8

Premier never really got into position to try and upset the big boys.  They seem like a better defensive team this year.

This catch sealed Seminoles fate

 

Boothe hit a walk off in Premier's 1st game.  Boothe and Dunson will have to provide a lot of the power this year.

 


 

Bay Area Legends/Easton

Tied 17th – Avg Finish: 17.0  (2-4)  CA-A  
Dual #1  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 12.7  Allowed: 18.7  Diff: -6.0
Dual #2  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 14.7  Allowed: 25.3  Diff: -10.7

Bay Area was missing a bunch of starters and struggled to score against the better teams.

3B Day, SS Raines, MI Traylor

 

Cody Pack was with Premier last year and pitcher Corey Miller came from Levels

 


 

L & S Glass

Tied 17th – Avg Finish: 17.0  (2-4)  CA-A
Dual #1  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 9.7   Allowed: 10.0  Diff: -0.3
Dual #2  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 22.3  Allowed: 19.0  Diff: 3.3

L&S almost upset Proton which would have given them the points they were after to make the Major.  They played without starting pitcher John Brown.

Josh Tallent filled in at pitcher at the last minute for L&S Glass.  1B Brian Fong.

 


 

Precision/3rd St./Red Athlete/Pure

Tied 17th – Avg Finish: 17.0  (2-4)  IL-AA
Dual #1  9th  (2-2)  Runs: 10.0  Allowed: 17.5  Diff: -7.5
Dual #2  25th  (0-2)  Runs: 17.0  Allowed: 22.5  Diff: -5.5

Precision couldn't score runs…

 

I think that is 3B Billy Wright, SS Heath Barnes, MI Jeff Keske, 2B Mike Umschied, 1B Tyler Kahlke

Mooch is some peoples homeboy

MI Jeff Keske

 


 

WestPoint Softball

Tied 17th – Avg Finish: 17.0  (2-4)  IN-A
Dual #1  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 12.7  Allowed: 18.7  Diff: -6
Dual #2  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 18.3  Allowed: 15.0  Diff: 3.3

Westpoint has almost an entirely new team.  In Dual #1 Pat Price had 4 HR which was more than the rest of the team combined.  In the 2nd his onbase was over .900

 

IF Pat Foster and Pitcher Kyle Johnson are some of the offseason pickups

 


 

 S & E ENTERPRISE/WORSHAM NC

Tied 21st – Avg Finish: 19.0  (3-4)   NC-A
Dual #1  33rd  (0-2)  Runs: 8.5   Allowed: 10.0  Diff: -1.5
Dual #2  5th   (3-2)  Runs: 18.8  Allowed: 16.0  Diff: 2.8

S&E flopped in Dual #1 but made a nice run in dual 2.  They were missing 3 starters and is the top rated 'A' team in points.

SS Joel Sanchez needs a shot at announcing on usssalive.com!

 

Racobaldo and Peter Seiden

 


 

Slugger/Svc/Atrium/Pauer

Tied 21st – Avg Finish: 19.0  (2-4)  OH-A
Dual #1  13th   (2-2)  Runs: 15.5  Allowed: 17.8  Diff: -2.3
Dual #2  25th  (0-2)  Runs: 13.0  Allowed: 25.5  Diff: -12.5

SVC had some sweet purple uniforms but that didn't transfer to many wins.  A work in progress.

Joshua Jones was doing the pitching for Slugger/SVC

 


 

Statewide/SMC/BKB/Klutch/Worth/Miken

Tied 23rd – Avg Finish: 21.0  (3-4)  NC-B  
Dual #1  17th  (2-2)  Runs: 17.3  Allowed: 12.0  Diff: 5.3
Dual #2  25th  (1-2)  Runs: 13.3  Allowed: 17.3  Diff: -4

Statewide is better than I thought and had that huge comeback against Baugh Ford which was one of the better games in the tournament.

David Bare doing the pitching for Statewide

 


 

ABEYTU'/Salt Riot

Tied 23rd – Avg Finish: 21.0  (3-4)  UT-B
Dual #1  25th  (1-2)  Runs: 9.3  Allowed: 10.0   Diff: -0.7
Dual #2  17th  (2-2)  Runs: 8.0  Allowed: 10.8  Diff: -2.8

3 wins for Abeytu a 'B' team is a successful HOF.

Zarate

 


 

Envy/Lifetime Diamonds/Legendary

Tied 23rd – Avg Finish: 21.0  (1-4)  TX-A
Dual #1  25th  (0-2)  Runs: 8.0   Allowed: 16.0  Diff: -8
Dual #2  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 10.0  Allowed: 16.0  Diff: -6

Envy is just another Texas team I need to spend some time getting to know.  Moralez led the team in onbase and they only hit 4 HR in the dual.

 


 

Cornerstone/LSR/Midstate/Suncoast/P

Tied 23rd – Avg Finish: 21.0  (1-4)  KY-A  
Dual #1  25th  (0-2)  Runs: 10.0  Allowed: 18.5  Diff: -8.5
Dual #2  17th  (1-2)  Runs: 14.0  Allowed: 18.0  Diff: -4

Jeff Daup put the team together

Veteran power Alonzo Fields

 


 

Baugh Ford

Tied 27th – Avg Finish: 23.0  (2-4)  AL-A  
Dual #1  13th  (2-2)  Runs: 9.8   Allowed: 14.8  Diff: -5
Dual #2  33rd  (0-2)  Runs: 17.0  Allowed: 22.5  Diff: -5.5

Tommie Baugh

 


 

PrimeTime Easton/F.A.I/RIOT/

Tied 27th – Avg Finish: 23.0  (2-4)  GA-A
Dual #1  33rd  (0-2)  Runs: 8.5  Allowed: 24.0  Diff: -15.5
Dual #2  13th  (2-2)  Runs: 9.8  Allowed: 16.0  Diff: -6.3

SS Marcus Thornton and LF Robert Lee

Ortega and Campbell

 


 

Young Guns/Miken/Worth

Tied 29th – Avg Finish: 25.0  (2-4)  FL-B
Dual #1  17th  (2-2)  Runs: 6.5  Allowed: 8.8   Diff: -2.3
Dual #2  33rd  (0-2)  Runs: 4.0  Allowed: 17.0  Diff: -13

The 2020 'C' World Champs played pretty good and had the best uniforms.

 


 

Chick-fil-A / BAF Sports

Tied 29th – Avg Finish: 25.0  (1-4)  VA-A
Dual #1  25th  (1-2)  Runs: 12.3  Allowed: 15.7  Diff: -3.3
Dual #2  25th  (0-2)  Runs: 19.0  Allowed: 26.5  Diff: -7.5

Chick-fil-a didn't have the magic…

 

 


 

Cheap Suits/Republic Realty/Express

Tied 29th – Avg Finish: 25.0  (0-4)  CA-B
Dual #1  25th  (0-2)  Runs: 5.0   Allowed: 17.0  Diff: -12
Dual #2  25th  (0-2)  Runs: 12.0  Allowed: 32.5  Diff: -20.5

 


 

Levels

Tied 29th – Avg Finish: 25.0  (0-4)  CO-A
Dual #1  25th  (0-2)  Runs: 5.0  Allowed: 7.5   Diff: -2.5
Dual #2  25th  (0-2)  Runs: 8.0  Allowed: 10.0  Diff: -2

I apologize I don't even think I was around when Levels played.

 


 

NIGHTMARE/BENEFIT THE BADGE/MIKEN

Tied 29th – Avg Finish: 25.0  (1-4)  MO-A
Dual #1  25th  (0-2)  Runs: 11.0  Allowed: 19.0  Diff: -8
Dual #2  25th  (1-2)  Runs: 11.7  Allowed: 14.3  Diff: -2.7

The new Nightmare is a work in progress.

 


 

GSP / Tri-State Services / VBW

Tied 34th – Avg Finish: 29.0  (1-4)  WY-B
Dual #1  33rd  (0-2)  Runs: 8.5   Allowed: 21.0  Diff: -12.5
Dual #2  25th  (1-2)  Runs: 10.3  Allowed: 16.0  Diff: -5.7

Garrison

 

 


 

GTF

Tied 34th – Avg Finish: 29.0  (1-4)  FL-B
Dual #1  25th  (1-2)  Runs: 8.3  Allowed: 15.0  Diff: -6.7
Dual #2  33rd  (0-2)  Runs: 6.0  Allowed: 10.0  Diff: -4

GTF kept getting stuck on the field with the sun in the batters eyes…

Tony Mack!

GTF LF catches one on the fence

 


 

 

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Nationwide Conference USSSA Points and information link

 


 

Some more pictures for you:

 

It does appear this was a catch in center field.

Conference Rookie Tyrell Jenkins

The most prolific slowpitch home run hitter of all time, Mike "Big Cat/Gorilla Boy" Macenko!

Tyce from the Softball Facts show on Facebook

Tampering?   ðŸ™‚

 

Brad Tabler has been playing 'B' or higher for 20 years, BJ Fulk for 25

Jason Magnum and Mike Cornell

Red Quad – Marucci

Some players had to leave for flights.  Hopefully everyone got home safe.  I know some are still stuck in Florida.

Dual #2 Championship Umpires

AP negotiates a truce with Helmer after the 2nd lightning delay

8 AM games on this field were brutal

It was great to see Brandon Bellamy back to playing and healthy after covid got him really good

Now this is a professional scorer with the shade umbrella

Tom Formosa and Marc Carucci

Cheeze came out of his quarantine to watch a little ball!

Flag man was there

There was some sort of fair going on down the street.

The USSSALive.com livestreams seem to be off to a really good start.  Very high quality streams.

THANK YOU to the umpires that gave scores!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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