A look back at the 2021 USSSA Pocket City Dual Major tournament report!

August 9, 2022 by DW —No Comments ↓

Condensed Game – Pocket City Semi Final Dual #2 link

Condensed Game – Pocket City Winner's Final

Pocket City Dual #2 video clips link

A special thank you to Gary Calhoon who brought the microphone stands for the livestream up from KC.

Also thank you to all of the umpires that gave scores to the livestream.

Send corrections to dw@softballcenter.com

2021 Nationwide Conference USSSA

Pocket City Major Dual

Evansville, IN

August 12-15

MPT Rentals vs MAJ in the Championship of Dual #1

Precision vs Dan Smith in Dual #2 Championship!

SoftballCenter Pocket City picture album link

2021 Pocket City bracket and results link

2021 Pocket City Dual #1 Major stats link once available

2021 Pocket City Dual #2 Major stats link once available

2021 Pocket City archived games link

Video Highlights brought to you by:

Pocket City Dual #1 video clips link

Pocket City Dual #2 video clips link

Condensed Game – Pocket City Winner's Final

Condensed Game – Pocket City Semi Final Dual #2 link

Condensed Game – Pocket City Winner's Final Dual #2 link (when ready Friday)

Team Breakdown:
17 Teams Overall
15 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
2 Major Teams
1 'AA' Team
7 'A' Teams
6 'B' Teams
1'C' Team

Dual #1

Primetime's Mike Williams hits a base hit against WM Roofing's 4 man infield.

17 teams from 12 different States including 15 Conference teams and 2 Major teams played a Major at Evansville, Indiana's Deaconess Sports Park for the 1st time ever. The tournament was a Dual and the 1st Dual started on Thursday afternoon at 4 PM central time and ended early Friday evening and the 2nd Dual began on Friday evening and ended on Saturday evening. They used the Dudley Pro-M ball and 240 bat compression testing on 300 foot fields with normal 8, 12, 16 HR rules depending on the class of the teams playing. In the early going it was windy which raised scores on some fields and diminished them on others. Envy/Lifetime Diamonds (TX-A) beat rival Nightmare/Benefit the Badge (MO-A) 22-19 to start things off. Nightmare like many teams were missing a lot of players due to Covid-19. MAJ/Knell/Dirty (WA-A) knocked off BNS-SIS-Easton (KS-B) 25-18 leading the entire game as catcher Jason Crosland went 5 for 5 with a grand slam and 7 RBI. Cornerstone/LS (KY-A) who has struggled this year had an impressive 23-6 victory over Westpoint Softball (IN-A) scoring 12 runs in the top of the 3rd and 9 more in the top of the 4th. Alonzo Fields was 3-4 with 3 HR and 4 RBI in the win. Dan Smith/Proton (AZ-M) run ruled a non-Conference 'C' team from Missouri called Synergy Sports 30-8 scoring 16 runs in the 4th inning as Joe Joe Bennett went 5-5 with 3 HR and 7 RBI and Nick Day and Phil Matte hit grand slams. Premier/BAF/Easton (OH-A) beat Meirtran/Compressor Services (IL-B) 24-5 as they out homered them 4-0 and held Meirtran scoreless in 4 different innings. Steve Hendrickson was 4-4 with 6 RBI in the victory. Precision/3rd Street (IL-AA) beat LSR (IN-B) 11-5 out homering them 6-1 as Billy Wright and Travis Houseman each went 3-4. And Primetime used a walk off homer by pitcher Jarvis Riggins with the wind blowing in to beat WM Roofing in extra innings10-8.

The 1st round ended with the biggest upset of the tournament as Rebel/Prime Threadz (MI-B) upset MPT Rentals/Juno Athletics (NJ-M) 36-33 when Kevin Raisor (pictured above) hit a clutch 3 run homer in the top of the 7th!

The "Round of 8" for Dual #1 was also played on Friday night and had more upsets. Ryan Uckotter the Premier center fielder (pictured above) hit a walk off single with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th to beat Precision 27-26. Bobby Noeth was 5-5 and Brad Bruns 4-4 in the win. MAJ/Knell beat Envy 30-10 in a battle of top 'A' teams. Willie Dooley had 9 RBI and Blake Lively was 4-4 with 6 RBI in the win. Rebel continued their best tournament of the year beating Cornerstone 31-29 scoring 7 runs in the top of the 7th to get the lead and then shutting out Cornerstone in the bottom half of the inning. Whitlock, Hatley, and Payton all had 5 hits in the loss. Kevin Miller had 3 HR and 10 RBI for Rebel in th win. And Primetime punched their ticket to the "Final 4" with an upset victory over Dan Smith 37-26 as Primetime scored 16 runs without an out in the top of the 7th inning! Marcus Thornton had 8 RBI, Tre Campbell had a grand slam, Aaron Jackson went 5-5 in the victory, and Jarvis Riggins hit 3 big home runs!

The "Final 4" was late on Friday night as Primetime went up 15-7 against Premier going into the bottom of the 4th. But Premier would outscore Primetime 25-2 down the stretch and won in the 6th by the 15 run mercy rule 32-17. Brad Bruns was 5-5 with 2 HR and 6 RBI and Bobby Noeth and Clay Norton each hit 3 HR in the win. Tre Campbell was 4-4 in the loss. In the other semifinal MyAutoJack (MAJ) went up 15-4 in the 3rd inning vs Rebel and was up 27-12 going into the bottom of the 7th when Rebel scored 10 runs to make it look closer than it was. Dooley was 5-6 with 2 HR and 6 RBI in the win.

Chris Scott scores for Primetime ahead of the Dan Smith throw.

In the winner's bracket final on Friday which you can see in a condensed game on the SW48 Youtube channel this week, MAJ jumped out to a 19-4 lead on Premier and although Premier made a comeback scoring 7 runs in the bottom of the 5th MAJ shut them down in the 6th and 7th to win 30-14. Chris Benigno, Billy Waltrip, and CJ Shepherd all had 4 hits. Blake Lively was 5-6 with 5 runs scored and Steve Smith was 3-5 with 3 long home runs and 8 RBI in the win.

Deep in the loser's bracket which also started on Thursday night was the two Major teams MPT vs Dan Smith. MPT broke open a low scoring game with 9 runs in the bottom of the 3rd and 13 more in the 4th on their way to a 27-11 win. They out homered Dan Smith 10-6. Most of the loser's bracket was played on Friday where MPT never left the field. They had already knocked off Westpoint and Dan Smith by the run rule Thursday night. Then they beat Precision 27-11, Rebel 28-13, Envy 30-10 and Premier 21-2 to make it to the championship.

In the Dual #1 Championship game a very tired MPT Rentals team playing their 8th and 9th games of the tournament run ruled MAJ in both! They beat MAJ 29-12 with a 12 run 5th in the 1st game as John Radich, Orlando Castillo, and David Johnson each had 4 hits. And they beat MAJ in the "if" game 30-12 scoring 13 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning as Filip Washington went 5-5 and Harvey, Radich, Williams, and Dombrowski all collected 4 hits each. It was MPT's 1st tournament win since Kansas City and 2nd of the year total.

Dual #2

Dual #2 began as Dual #1 was still finishing on Friday night. Envy run ruled Meirtran 25-10 as Colton Leet went 4-4 with 2 HR and 9 RBI. Precision smoked BNS-Easton 23-1 in 4 innings as Jeff Flood, David Kessler, and Brad Tabler each went 4 for 4. MPT Rentals who had just gotten done winning Dual #1 went over to face Rebel Sports the team that beat them in game #1 of Dual #1 and MPT ended up winning on a walk off homer by Chris Greinert 26-25. WM Roofing scored 14 in the bottom of the 5th to beat Cornerstone 19-13 as Tim Kandel and Nate Miller each went 4-4. In the bottom half of the winner's bracket Westpoint 20 run ruled Primetime 35-15. Dan Smith beat Siteman 25-1 as Matusik went 4-4 with a homer and 5 RBI. Premier beat Nightmare 11-3 scoring 7 runs in the 1st inning. Premier did not hit a homer in the win as Brock Morrison went 4-4 with 4 RBI. And MAJ scored 28 runs in the middle innings to beat LSR 31-8 as Billy Waltrip went 5-5 with 5 HR, 3 of which were grand slams and 16 RBI!

WM Roofing's Hank Miller hits a walk off run rule homer to beat MPT!

In the "Final 8" on Friday night Precision beat a not so sharp Envy team 25-10 scoring 14 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning as 6 different players collected 3 hits each. WM Roofing scored 14 in the bottom of the 4th, 9 in the bottom of the 5th, and 10 more in the bottom of the 6th to leave MPT Rentals Major team on the field 39-23. Pitcher Al Miller was 4-5 with 2 HR and 10 RBI. Hank Miller went 6-6, Firman Miller was 5-5 with 5 runs scored, and everyone on the team had at least 3 hits in the victory. This game with all of its great line drive hitting and defensive plays is worth watching in the USSSALive archives. It is the 2nd time WM Roofing has beaten MPT. The 1st was in Myrtle Beach back in May. In the bottom half of the bracket Dan Smith run ruled Westpoint 38-6 in 3 innings scoring 14 in the 1st, 11 in the 2nd, and 13 in the 3rd. Jason Matusik, Phil Matte, and Joe Joe Bennett were a perfect 15-15 at the top of the order and Dan Sanchez and Nick Day at the bottom of the order were a combined 8-8. And Premier got some revenge on Saturday morning against MAJ 31-8 as Bobby Noeth went 6-6 and Clay Norton drove in 5 runs.

In the "Final 4" on Saturday Precision used two early 3 run homer's by outfielder Travis Houseman to cruise past WM Roofing 17-1. WM Roofing had just 6 hits in the game with the wind blowing in. And Dan Smith made quick work of Premier 38-9 scoring 12 in the 1st and 14 in the 2nd. They out homered Premier 12 to 0 and Jon Nelson was 5-5. The winner's bracket finals will also be a condensed game on the SW48 youtube channel. Dan Smith jumped out to a 23-9 lead but couldn't quite run rule Precision in the bottom of the 5th. In the top of the 6th Precision batted for 20 minutes as they scored 15 runs and they grabbed a 29-28 lead going into the bottom of the 7th. Dan Smith with no homer's left made an out and then got a walk to Matusik and with the speedy Tyrell Jenkins pinch running at 1st, Phil Matte hit a double off the fence that scored Jenkins to tie the game. Then Jon Nelson hit a walk off single to right after an intentional walk to Bennett to win it 30-29. Nelson was 5-6 with 6 RBI in the game. Travis Houseman was 5-5 with 2 HR and 5 RBI in the loss.

Phil Matte and Jon Nelson go backside to score Jenkins and win the winner's bracket of Dual #2

In the loser's bracket MPT was making another run as they beat Siteman, Envy, and Premier before Westpoint sent them home 32-7. Westpoint had just beaten Cornerstone, Meirtran, and WM Roofing. In the loser's bracket finals pictured above Precision scored 15 in the top of the 4th to beat Westpoint in 5 innings 28-10. Tyler Kahlke and Curtis Stewart were a combined 10-10 with 3 HR and 9 RBI in the win.

In the championship Dan Smith trailed 13-6 after 3 innings but scored 14 in the 5th and 11 in the 6th to run rule Precision 31-16 in the 6th. Nelson, Kirsten, Day, and Dezern each had 4 hits and Bennett had 7 RBI in the win. It was Dan Smith's 3rd tournament win of the season and 1st since they won Chicago and the Dudley back to back.

There was a small but loud beer drinking softball player crowd on Saturday night.

The oldscout pollers had Dan Smith and MPT as the top teams. No surprise.

Long Bombers of the Week

MAJ 1st baseman Steve Smith is the Dual #1 Long Bomber of the week.

Dual #2 Long Bomber of the week goes to Precisions Curtis Stewart and Tyler Kahlke

Pocket City Major Final Standings and Awards

MPT's Filip Washington was Dual #1 MVP

I never did get a picture of Jon Dombrowski (P) the Defensive MVP of Dual #1

MAJ right fielder Billy Waltrip was Offensive MVP of Dual #1

Dan Smith CF Josh Kirsten was Dual #2 MVP

Dual #2 Defensive MVP was Dan Smith LF Jason Matusik

Team by team notes brought to you by:

1st – MPT Rentals/Juno Athletics (NJ-M)
Avg Finish: 2.5
Dual #1 1st (8-1) Runs: 30.1 Allowed: 13.8 Diff: 16.3
Dual #2 4th (4-2) Runs: 23.0 Allowed: 24.3 Diff: -1.3

MPT did their damage in the loser's bracket and it wore them out but the offense was strong. They played without Montano, Nino, and Baker. Washington dominated the 1st dual and was MVP adding to his league leading onbase percentage. In the 2nd dual he tweaked his back making a diving play and a leaping play defensively against WM Roofing and ended up making a couple of outs. Dustin Midyette the backup pitcher ended up playing some shortstop and left field as they moved players around the defense and the lineup all weekend.

3B John Williams, SS Orlando Castillo, MI Zach Messer, 2B Filip Washington

Chris Greinert stabs a liner at 3B and hits a walk off homer to beat Rebel.

Sponsor/Manager Mark Carucci played 2B most of the 2nd dual and got this bases loaded single.

2nd – Premier/BAF/Easton (OH-A)
Avg Finish: 4.0
Dual #1 3rd (3-2) Runs: 19.8 Allowed: 19.8 Diff: 0.0
Dual #2 5th (2-2) Runs: 19.0 Allowed: 23.3 Diff: -4.3

Premier moved themselves up to 17th in the Conference points standings with two solid tournaments. Bobby Noeth led the team with a .703 on base percentage and he and Clay Norton each hit 7 HR. Mike Umschied led in RBI with 21. The team had some ups and downs but overall an impressive showing with a 4.0 overall average finish in the Dual which is good for 2nd place! They played without Cory Boothe.

3rd – Precision/3rd St./Red Athlete/Pure (IL-AA)
Avg Finish: 4.5
Dual #1 7th (2-2) Runs: 18.5 Allowed: 23.0 Diff: -4.5
Dual #2 2nd (4-2) Runs: 22.7 Allowed: 14.2 Diff: 8.5

Precision is now 16th in the Conference points standings. They were led by Tyler Kahlke (.750), Curtis Stewart (.737), Brad Tabler (.714), and David Kessler (.700). Stewart hit 17 HR and also led the team with 39 RBI. They played without McCollum, Keske, and Fracek and they picked up outfielder Adam Aceto to play left field. Mooch and Blazeiewske did the pitching.

3B Tyler Kahlke, SS Billy Wright, MI Heath Barnes, 2B Jeff Flood

Jeff Flood hits agains Westpoint in the loser's final

Mooch had a plethora of trick pitches going on this week

4th – Dan Smith/Proton (AZ-M)
Avg Finish: 5.0
Dual #1 9th (1-2) Runs: 22.3 Allowed: 24.0 Diff: -1.7
Dual #2 1st (5-0) Runs: 32.4 Allowed: 12.2 Diff: 20.2

Dan Smith refocused after that terrible 1-2 start in Dual #1. They went undefeated in Dual #2 and were led by Josh Kirsten (.806), Phil Matte (.788), and Joe Joe Bennett (.778). Nelson led with 14 HR and 31 RBI. Sanchez and Bean did the pitching and the chemistry appeared to be a lot better the 2nd dual. Steve and Dan Smith and Pat Dalsanders did not attend.

P Sanchez, MI Rettenmeier

3B Nick Day, SS Joe Joe Bennett, MI Brett Rettenmeier

Dan Smith regrouped after that 1-2 start in Dual #1

Tied for 5th – Envy/Lifetime Diamonds/Legendary (TX-A)
Avg Finish: 5.5
Dual #1 4th (4-2) Runs: 20.5 Allowed: 22.3 Diff: -1.8
Dual #2 7th (2-2) Runs: 13.3 Allowed: 14.0 Diff: -0.8

Envy had a number of quality wins over their peers in the 'A' division but were not able to upset any of the higher class teams to make a run at the top 16 in points. They currently sit in 18th place.

3B Bullock, SS Moralez, MI Mullen

Billy Maggard provided some more power for Envy

Tied for 5th – MAJ/KNELL/Dirty Sports/DTS/DOMN8 (WA-A)
Avg Finish: 5.5
Dual #1 2nd (4-2) Runs: 22.8 Allowed: 20.5 Diff: 2.3
Dual #2 9th (1-2) Runs: 24.7 Allowed: 22.3 Diff: 2.3

MAJ had a great 1st dual finishing 2nd. Jeremy Brown, Willie Dooley, and Billy Waltrip led the team in onbase. Waltrip also had more than 10 homer's and a ton of RBI. Steven Smith had some long homer's and should help them with power at worlds.

Chad Erickson hits a grand slam

7th – WM Roofing / Revolution Athletics (OH-B)
Avg Finish: 7.0
Dual #2 9th (1-2) Runs: 9.3 Allowed: 9.7 Diff: -0.3
Dual #1 5th (2-2) Runs: 18.0 Allowed: 21.0 Diff: -3.0

WM Roofing had that big win over MPT but overall just 3-4 which for a 'B' team in this dual is actually pretty good. The 4 man outfield really messes with teams and they continue to be one of the better teams at runs allowed. They have allowed just 7.86 runs per game this year against 8 'B' teams and given up just 16.25 runs per game vs Major teams in 4 games.

Another homer against MPT

WM Roofing always seem to play good defense

Tied for 8th – Cornerstone/LSR/Midstate/Suncoast (KY-A)
Avg Finish: 8.0
Dual #1 7th (2-2) Runs: 20.0 Allowed: 17.0 Diff: 3.0
Dual #2 9th (1-2) Runs: 18.3 Allowed: 24.0 Diff: -5.7

Cornerstone had that big win against Westpoint in their opener then it was downhill from there and a missed opportunity losing to Rebel in the final 8 of Dual #1. Jason Hatley the veteran continues to be an underrated 3rd baseman and he led the team .741 and Whitlock led in HR with 10 and RBI with 24.

Tied for 8th – Meirtran/Compressor Services/TBS (IL-B)
Avg Finish: 8.0
Dual #1 9th (1-2) Runs: 11.7 Allowed: 20.3 Diff: -8.7
Dual #2 7th (3-2) Runs: 17.0 Allowed: 18.4 Diff: -1.4

Meirtran ended up with 4 wins but one was by forfeit. They did have a nice win over MAJ. Larsen led the team with 8 HR and Andrews led the team in RBI with 25.

Tied for 8th – WestPoint Softball (IN-A)
Avg Finish: 8.0
Dual #2 13th (0-2) Runs: 12.5 Allowed: 28.5 Diff: -16.0
Dual #1 3rd (5-2) Runs: 27.4 Allowed: 20.1 Diff: 7.3

Westpoint won a bunch of games in the loser's bracket of Dual #2 which shows they have the stamina to win at 'A' Worlds. They are on the outside of the top 16 and looking in though (19th). They also sent home MPT.

Jess Maloney

P Scott Creekmore and MI Travis Tucker

Tied for 11th – PrimeTime Easton/F.A.I/RIOT (GA-A)
Avg Finish: 9.0
Dual #1 5th (2-2) Runs: 21.5 Allowed: 22.5 Diff: -1.0
Dual #2 13th (0-2) Runs: 12.0 Allowed: 30.0 Diff: -18.0

I am going to guess they are praying for the late Bryce Johnson's family… The softball world joins you!

Primetime walked off WM Roofing in the 8th inning to start Dual #1 then had that huge upset of Dan Smith later that same night. After that they kind of fell apart losing 4 straight games.

Jarvis Riggins could have been MVP. He had the walk off homer vs WM Roofing and 2 or 3 big homer's against Dan Smith in their upset victory.

Tory Means is back with Primetime

Tied for 11th – Rebel/Prime Threadz/Koval/GMS/GRZY (MI-B)
Avg Finish: 9.0
Dual #1 5th (2-2) Runs: 25.5 Allowed: 29.3 Diff: -3.8
Dual #2 13th (1-2) Runs: 16.3 Allowed: 20.3 Diff: -4.0

Rebel had their best tournament of the season in Dual #1 making memories upsetting MPT Rentals then beating Cornerstone to make the final 4!

Rebel finishes off MPT Rentals for their signature win of 2021

Rebel center fielder robs MPT of a home run

13th – LSR (IN-B)
Avg Finish: 11.0
Dual #1 13th (0-2) Runs: 6.5 Allowed: 13.5 Diff: -7.0
Dual #2 9th (1-2) Runs: 9.3 Allowed: 17.3 Diff: -8.0

LSR struggled as they have most of the year as they are learning what it takes to compete in the conference.

Tied for – 14th BNS-SIS-EASTON (KS-B)
Avg Finish: 13.0
Dual #1 13th (0-2) Runs: 11.5 Allowed: 15.5 Diff: -4.0
Dual #2 13th (0-2) Runs: 8.5 Allowed: 22.0 Diff: -13.5

BNS got knocked around pretty good.

Tied for 14th – NIGHTMARE/BENEFIT THE BADGE/MIKEN (MO-A)
Avg Finish: 13.0
Dual #1 9th (2-2) Runs: 16.5 Allowed: 17.0 Diff: -0.5
Dual #2 17th (0-2) Runs: 6.5 Allowed: 21.0 Diff: -14.5

Nightmare was missing 8 players and did not play well although they almost beat Precision in extra innings.

Tied for 14th – Siteman/Rise/Easton/Legendary/OTR (MO-B)
Avg Finish: 13.0
Dual #1 17th (0-2) Runs: 8.5 Allowed: 16.0 Diff: -7.5
Dual #2 9th (2-2) Runs: 13.0 Allowed: 17.3 Diff: -4.3

Siteman continues to score runs for charity!

Tied for 14th – Synergy Sports/TLC/Houston Homes (MO-C)
Avg Finish: 13.0
Dual #1 13th (1-2) Runs: 10.0 Allowed: 17.3 Diff: -7.3
Dual #2 13th (1-2) Runs: 18.7 Allowed: 14.3