2019 Nationwide Conference USSSA
41st Annual Cajun Classic
Carencro, LA
April 26-27
Late Saturday night championship game between Xtreme in th white and Nightmare in the pink
SoftballCenter Cajun picture album link
2019 Cajun bracket and results link
2019 Cajun Major stats link once available
2019 Cajun archived games link
Coin toss for the Championship
The 41st Annual Cajun Classic featured 25 teams from 9 different states and was played in perfect softball weather on Pelican Parks 4 artificial turf 300 foot fields. The tournament began with all teams playing on Friday night. The tournament was seeded by 2019 Conference points and the 9 play in games didn't have any real upsets. In one game BIS/Classick Sports beat Dirty Vegas/Steel/Marco (TX-B) 46-40 and in another a good 'C' team called Moneyman (MS-C) beat Natural State (AR-B) 50-27. The cool evening temperatures made the temperature sensitive Dudley Classic M ball harden up and it really flew in the night games.
Late Friday night in the "round of 16" the 6 Conference teams began their weekend. Competitive Edge a Florida 'A' team had a big top of the 6th inning to go up 24-14 on Big Apple (TX-B) in a game that Big Apple looked to be winning. Then Big Apple scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 7th to cut the lead to 1 and the game ended in victory for Competitive Edge on a strikeout looking! Over on the Courtesy Field Baugh Ford (GA-TBD) who has won 2 Cajun Classics in the past was down 16-2 in their opener against a very good J&R Logistics (AR-B) team. And J&R still held the lead going into the bottom of the 3rd inning 26-11. In the bottom of the 5th inning Baugh Ford went on a huge run and John Sullivan hit a grand slam to put Baugh up 38-27 and they continued scoring until they eventually left J&R Logistics on the field 42-27. Meanwhile over on Schambo field #2 seeded Xtreme (MN-AA) theoldscout.com poll favorite to win the tournament had their hands full with Moneyman (MS-C) who were lacing line drives all over the field. Moneyman tied the game at 17-17 in the top of the 4th and went up 30-20 at one point. But Xtreme came back with a 13 run bottom of the 7th and grabbed the lead on a Toby Letak inside the park 3 run homer to go up 33-30. In the top of the 7th Moneyman scored 4 to take the lead 34-33 and would have scored more had it not been for a great play by Xtreme middle infielder Brandon Newman. In the bottom of the 7th with 2 outs Steve Whaley hit a double into the left field corner scoring Todd Newton from 1st base to win the game 35-34! Over on Precision field Beckham Brothers (SC-TBD) had a tough game against Oilers (TX-B) and trailed by double digits. But Beckham, much like the other Conference teams on Friday night, came from a deep deficit and had a huge bottom of the 5th inning and went ahead 43-29 and won the game 43-30. With all of these close games there were still 2 more Conference teams on the ropes in their openers. Play the Game an Arkansas 'A' team with some remnants of the old FBI team was up 26-15 on Nightmare (MO-AA) going into the bottom of the 4th. But Nightmare's offense took hold and they went to the 5th inning with a 33-26 lead having scored 18 runs! They held on to win 41-26. Wood Law (TX-B) also had their hands full with BIS/Classick Sports (LA-C). With 2 outs in the top of the 7th Wood Law was down 36-32 but came back to score 5 runs and take a 1 run lead. In the bottom of the 7th BIS/Classick went 1-2-3 and Wood Law escaped with a 37-36 win! The final 2 teams in the "final 8" of the winner's bracket was Old School (TX-B) who won 27-7 over MVP Bulls (TX-B) and Steel Sports (TX-A) beat CBS (FL-B) 28-13.
In the quarterfinals which were played on Saturday morning, Baugh Ford and Xtreme in the top half of the bracket cruised to run rule wins over Competitive Edge and Old School respectively. In the bottom half of the bracket Steel Sports kept the pressure on Nightmare the entire game after Nightmare got off to a slow start. But Nightmare took a lead into the 7th inning and Steel Sports had the bases loaded at one point when their 2nd baseman who had been ejected spot came up in the lineup. The only person left on the bench was the manager Mark Holsonback who tried to take a walk but struck out looking so as not to ground into a double play. The next batter flew out and Nightmare escaped with a 32-31 win. And Wood Law grabbed a mid-game lead on Beckham Brothers and held on for a 18-16 lead with the wind blowing in when Beckham had the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the 7th.
In the semifinals of the winner's bracket Xtreme used some incredible defense to keep Baugh Ford from running off with an early lead. Right fielder Chris Anninos made an incredible running catch leaping against the fence near the foul pole. 3rd baseman Toby Letak started a 5-10-3 double play and got another double play on a tag out and throw to 2nd. And then the Xtreme offense finally woke up and Brandon Newman hit a 3 run homer to give them the lead in a big 6th inning that led to a 21-10 win! On the other side of the bracket Nightmare cruised past Wood Law 30-11.
In the winner's bracket championship Xtreme came from behind in the 4th inning and scored 10 runs and they used a 5 hit performance from Curtis Stewart and a 3 homer 9 RBI performance from eventual MVP Toby Letak to beat Nightmare 41-29. Both teams hit all 12 of their allotted home runs.
In the loser's bracket Natural State won a couple of games before Competitive Edge sent them home 12-3 and Play the Game went on a nice winning streak before Competitive Edge beat them 30-29. Dirty Vegas and Big Apple went on small win streaks before Steel Sports and Beckham Brothers sent them home. The scores in the losers bracket were really low on Precision field where the wind blew in most of the day Saturday. Then Wood Law dropped down and beat Competitive Edge 29-16 and Beckham Brothers flip flopped Steel Sports before Steel came all the way back to grab a lead in the top of the 7th only to lose to Beckham 30-27 on a walk off homer by Justin Mackey. Baugh Ford then sent home Beckham Brothers 23-14 and run ruled Wood Law in 3 innings 33-0. In the loser's bracket finals Baugh Ford scored 10 runs in the top of the 1st inning but it was all Nightmare the rest of the way as they grabbed a 14-11 lead in the bottom of the 1st, a 23-10 lead after pitcher Dan Bean turned a double play and Zane Migues hit a bases clearing triple. And then Bean who was on fire with the stick hit a grand slam to put Nightmare up 28-11 in the 3rd and another grand slam in the bottom of the 4th to go up 36-21. Nightmare eventually run ruled Baugh Ford 42-27.
The championship started near midnight Saturday as the cool air took over and you could just feel the scores were going to be high. Nightmare jumped on Xtreme with 16 runs in the top of the 1st inning and held Xtreme scoreless in the bottom of the inning. Nightmare then failed to score in the 2nd and led 16-9 after 2 innings and Xtreme fought back to tie the score 18-18 after 3 complete. In the bottom of the 5th Curtis Stewart tied game again at 27-27 and Xtreme turned big double plays in 5th and 6th to keep Nightmare in check. Then Xtreme decided to use up their homers as Matt Mcgowan, Brandon Newman, and Toby Letak all hit solos to go up 30-27 and Shannon Smith hit a 2 runner. For the inning they hit 6 home runs and the defense held up and they won the game and the tournament 38-31!
Xtreme center fielder Matt Schrage
Xtreme slugger Curtis Stewart mashed this homer in their early inning come back in the final game.
Tim "Bye Bye" Bowser adds to Nightmares double digit 1st inning lead in the Championship agaisnt Xtreme
Nightmare center fielder Zack St. Pierre triples
Team Breakdown:
25 Teams Overall
6 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
2 'AA' Teams
5 'A' Teams
10 'B' Teams
8 'C/D' Teams
Key Winner's Bracket Games
Baugh Ford takes on Xtreme in the winner's semi final
Schrage hits a big homer in Xtremes semi final come back against Baugh Ford
Nightmare's Erik Kanaby singles sharply past Play the Game pitcher Perry Hensley
BIS/Classick Sports came this close to upsetting Wood Law on Friday night
Wood Law holds off Beckham Brothers in a quarter final upset
Baugh's Carlton Griffin got robbed by Xtreme right fielder Chris Anninos as Anninos sprinted to the foul pole and made a leaping catch into the fence.
The park had a good atmosphere, shade, great viewing areas, a bar, and food
Cajun Major Final Standings and Awards
Xtreme 3rd baseman Toby Letak was tournament MVP!
Xtreme pitchers Dirk Updike and Austin Green were co-Defensive MVP's
Nightmares Mike Brambilla was lacing line drives all over the park and was tournament Offensive MVP
