2022 – 23rd Annual Cincinnati Major tournament report!

Note: with 41 teams across 10 fields and 2 different parks plus working on the livestream issues (which were many) I did not collect the normal amount of content for the report and entirely missed some teams like Hubs Pub for example.

2022 – 23rd Annual Cincinnati Major

Cincinnati, Ohio

July 15-17

MPT MVP John Williams hits a looonnnggg home run against Bay Area Legends Saturday night in the winner’s bracket finals.

Hot Links (More Videos to come)

Bay Area 1st baseman Corey Miller dives to 1st to try and beat MPT’s Josh Kirsten. Check out the call in the video clips coming this week.

Cincy Results and Bracket link

Cincy Picture Album link

Cincy Friday & Saturday Video Clips link

MPT vs SIS Condensed semifinal game link

MPT vs Bay Area Legends winner’s final game link

Rock Run vs Maven Condensed Game link

MPT vs Smash It condensed semifinal game link

Cincy Archived Games link 8 of the fields archived under the Smoky archives

Cincy Stats link (Updating throughout the week)

Friday Night Recap

Friday night at River City West

The 23rd annual Cincinnati Major had 41 teams from 16 different states and started on Friday evening July 15th in warm humid weather. They used the Dudley Pro-M ball ‘DV’ stamp same as the previous 4 weeks with the normal 8-12-14-16 home run limits. All 10 of the fields between Mid America Ballyard and River City West park were around 300 feet except maybe MAB #4 which is a little shorter because of the Miami river behind it. Only one conference team was in the 9 “play in” games and that was Meirtran (IL-B) who trailed Hornets (OH-D) 7-5 going into the bottom of the 7th where with 2 outs they got a walk to Michael Wieland, home run from Jeff Baird, single by Bo Andrews, and a walk off homer by Dustin Larsen to win the game 9-7. In the other play in games non-conference teams Mavin (OH-C), TPA Wear (KY-C), Old Bag (OH-B), Steves BP, Dussault, and KL&R (CT-B) all advanced, and Van Wert Frickers (OH-C) won by forfeit over Maroadis.

Meirtrans Dustin Larsen hits a 2 out walk off homer to beat Hornets and their 4 man outfield.

In the “Round of 32” over at River City West Primetime (GA-A) run ruled Siteman (MO-B) 26-5 scoring 13 runs in the bottom of the 2nd in a game that lasted 4 innings. They out homered Siteman 11-0 and James Scott was 3-4 with 3 HR and 6 RBI, and leadoff hitter Mike Williams was 4-4. Rock Run beat Mavin 16-8 in a game that can be seen in condensed form here. The game featured some great defensive plays and nearly great defensive plays, some middle shots, and some timely home runs. “Cheese” Slabach for Rock Run was 3-3 with a homer and 4 RBI in the win. Bay Area Legends (CA-AA) separated late to beat TLC/Houston Homes (MO-B) 18-13. Westpoint Softball (IN-A) beat Old Bag (OH-B) 37-13 as Westpoint scored 18 runs in the 1st inning. RVCG (IN-B) led Sports Reach (FL-AA) almost the entire game in a 12-7 win. They out homered Sports Reach 6-2 and Garrett Gapp was 3-3 with 3 HR for RVCG. Chick-fil-a beat a feisty Steve’s BP 31-22 when Steve’s refused to be run ruled. 4with.com/Premier (OH-A) beat Meirtran (IL-B) 19-15 as Nick Canfield went 3-4 with 3 HR and 5 RBI. And BaughFord (AL-A) run ruled KL&R (CT-B) 23-8 in 5 innings as Jason Gilfillan went 5-5 with a homer and 3 RBI. In this game though the KL&R center fielder made a leaping home run rob into the fence that is a candidate for one of the best plays of the year.

Over at Mid America ballyard for the most part many of the top seeds played. SmashIt/Thunder (NY-Major) run ruled Tigerfitness.com 49-5, the highest score of the tournament. Cornerstone (KY-A) run ruled LSR (B) 27-11 scoring 12 runs in the top of the 5th to separate. Alonzo Fields, Zach Goleniak, and Bryan Bradler each had 4 hits in the win. MPT Rentals (NJ-Major) scored 22 in the bottom of the 3rd inning and beat Dussault 33-7. Ryan Harvey was 5-5 with 5 RBI and 4 runs scored. Cash House (OH-B) upset Kut4 Sports (AL-A) 27-11 out scoring Kut4 21-5 in the last 3 innings to win. Ike Worlow went 4-5 with 3 HR and 10 RBI in the victory. Monsta (CA-Major) the #2 seed run ruled Van Wert 23-2 as Jason Matusik and Daniel Cayton each reached base safely 4-4. TG Brand (MI-B) upset Precision (IL-AA) 32-9 jumping out to an 18-3 lead scoring 11 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. John Franklin was 4-4 for TG. Competitive Edge (FL-AA) run ruled TPA Wear 22-7 scoring 16 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. Taylor Cobb was 4-4 with 2 HR and 5 RBI for Comp Edge. And Hubs Pub (MO-B) beat Epic (SC-B) 22-15 out scoring Epic 13-2 in the final 2 innings to win. Pitcher Mitchell Carriger was 4-4 with 5 runs scored for Hubs.

I think these are may flies which were everywhere after dark but didn’t really bother the players much.

The “Round of 16” was also played on Friday at 10:30 PM eastern time. Primetime who had lost to Rock Run twice this year was trailing them again 11-9 going into the bottom of the 5th but scored 4 in the bottom of the 5th and 8 more in the bottom of the 6th to win 21-12. They out homered Rock Run 10-7. In the second quad Bay Area Legends pulled out a hard fought 38-28 win over Westpoint as Corey Miller came in in relief of Justin Mucciarelli and made two plays up the middle late in the game. One was a ricochet off his glove to his middle infielder. Chick-fil-a put on a hitting clinic against RVCG back on River City West field #5 beating them 28-5 scoring 14 in the top of the 1st inning. Chick-fil-a’s 1st 3 batters were a combined 12-12. I think it was Porter, Clifton, and Center. And Baugh Ford advanced with a nice 22-7 win over home town 4With.com/Premier in 5 innings as Michael Rainer at lead off, Jason Gilfillan 3 hitter, and Justin Lutheran 4 hitter each went 4-4.

Over at Mid America Ballyard the top 4 seeds took to the fields as well. #1 seed Smash It/Thunder beat Cornerstone 31-10 as Josh Riley, and Andrew Collins at the top of the lineup each went 4-4. #2 seed Monsta beat TG Brand 33-10, Austyn Dawe was on 5-5 with 5 runs scored at leadoff. #3 seed Competitive Edge run ruled Hubs Pub scoring 16 in the bottom of the 1st and 15 in the bottom of the 4th winning in 4 innings 31-11 leaving Hubs on the field. Jason Branch was 4-4 at lead off. And #4 seed MPT Rentals beat Cash House 40-15 scoring 23 runs in the top of the 1st inning. Harvey was 6-6, John Williams 2-2, and sponsor Mark Carrucci subbed in at 2nd base and went 2-2 with a double and he made a diving stop and putout!

Westpoint and Bay Area battle late Friday night at River City West.

Chick-fil-a’s Terrance Engles homer’s against RVCG.

Primetime went to work down the stretch against their nemesis Rock Run.

Saturday Recap

Monsta’s Jason Magnum tags out Bay Areas Roberts at the plate in the quarterfinals.

On Saturday the “Final 8” of the winner’s bracket started at 12:30 PM eastern over at Mid America Ballyard. Primetime hung tough against Competitive Edge with the wind blowing in on MAB #2 only down 20-17 going into the 7th where Ortega made a diving catch to slow the Competitive Edge offense in the top of the 7th. But Joe Boland and Jason Branch hit big home runs into the wind and Competitive Edge got by with a 26-20 win. Smash It Sports advanced past Baugh Ford when field MAB #1 was ahead of schedule and Baugh Ford didn’t show up to play the required 30 minutes before their scheduled start time and Baugh Ford was made to forfeit. Obviously a very controversial decision and a real precedent was set for future situations like this. Then at 2:15 PM Bay Area Legends who haven’t done much this year and was struggling to get in the running for making the USSSA Major World Series pulled off a shocker beating Monsta 29-19 putting up a big inning in the 1st and Bay Area pitcher Justin Mucciarelli held down the feared Monsta lineup. In the final quarterfinal game Chick-fil-a and MPT I missed the entire game as I was moving around livestream cameras because of all the issues but MPT beat Chick-fil-a by a run after Chick-fil-a had a 10-1 lead and MPT didn’t have to hit in the bottom of the 7th. Harvey and John Williams each had 4 hits, Harvey had 9 RBI.

Semifinals Recap

Competitive Edge takes on Bay Area Legends in semifinal #1

In semifinal #1 a pesky undermanned Bay Area Legends team just wouldn’t go away against Competitive Edge. With the game tied at 17 going into extra innings Bay Area got a single from Wheats, a one out walk to Bradley Scott, a two out single from Dante Broome, an infield single by Mooch, and a double by eventual offensive MVP Dave Johnson to score 4 and they held Competitive Edge scoreless in the bottom of the 7th as Comp Edge left 7 home runs on the table. Bay Area had advanced to the winner’s final 21-17! Lead off hitter Dave Johnson was 5-6 with 3 HR and 9 RBI in the win.

Big John made this leaping stab of a Kyle Pearson line drive right on the line.

In the 2nd semifinal which you can watch in condensed form here. It was 13-8 MPT going into the bottom of the 4th when Smash It Sports put up 10 runs on 5 HR to go up 18-13. MPT manager Mark Carucci arguing balls and strikes in that inning was tossed out of the game. In the top of the 5th the MPT offense responded with 17 runs on 8 homer’s and they went up 30-18 and cruised home to a 37-25 win. Filip Washington was 5-6 with 5 runs scored in the leadoff spot and Joe Dorton was 5-7 with 3 HR and 7 RBI for MPT.

Next time up John challenged Pearson by basically saying I am playing you right on the line. Pearson hit it right over 2nd base. lol

Harvey’s tag did appear to miss Racobaldo at the plate.

Loser’s Bracket Recap

TG Brand hits against KL&R in the loser’s bracket Saturday

The loser bracket was a long, hot, dusty road for many teams in desperate need of conference points. In the top quarter of the loser’s bracket Precision who had lost their 1st game Friday beat Maroadi by forfeit, Old Bag, Cornerstone, and 4with/Premier to finish tied for 9th after losing to Primetime 29-16 who had dropped down out of the winner’s bracket. In the 2nd quad of the loser’s bracket Pauer’s Nature Boys and Siteman won a couple games each before Cash House dropped down and beat them both before Monsta dropped down and beat Cash House, Primetime, and run ruled Smash It Sports 30-10 to make it to the 4th place game.

In the bottom half of the loser’s bracket non conference team KL&R beat Hornets, Tigerfitness, and Westpoint before losing to TG Brand. And in the bottom quad Rock Run beat Sports Reach, and Kut4 who was making a run of their own before Baugh Ford dropped down and beat Rock Run 33-32. Then Chick-fil-a beat TG Brand, Baugh Ford, and Competitive Edge (on the last play) before running out of gas at midnight Saturday and losing to Monsta 43-2. So with the rain washing out Sunday’s games Chick-fil-a finished 4th and Monsta 3rd.

Quotes of the week: 1) After Westpoint put up 18 in the 1st on Old Bag Friday night, someone on Old Bag said “lets go their tired”. 2) A bench guy for Yoder Buildings playing Kut4 told his teammate “you hurt the team when you think”. Later he said “we’re hitting cutoffs today, don’t count us out”. We need to get this guy to announce some games at the major…

RVCG hits against Siteman Saturday morning.

Premier in pink argued a bases loaded strike call and the Premier manager was ejected, may have bumped an umpire? and could be suspended.

Chick-fil-a center fielder Jarrod Kashner tracks down LC Watson’s game winning home run attempt for the final out.

Monsta’s Marc Wik leads a 1st inning barrage against Chick-fil-a in the 4th place game.

Winner’s Final (Championship Game) Recap

Bay Area’s Justin Mucciarelli singles off of MPT pitcher Bill Pinkham’s glove for a 2 run bases loaded single.

We didn’t know it at the time but rain on Sunday morning washed out the loser’s final and championship so essentially the winner’s bracket final Saturday night became the championship game. In that game MPT and Bay Area Legends were tied 6-6 going into the top of the 3rd when Bay Area hit a wall and MPT put up 9 runs then blanked Bay Area in the bottom of the 3rd and came in and put up a 19 spot in the top of the 4th to win 34-8 by the 20 run mercy rule. Harvey and John Williams were 5-5, John Radich 4-4, And Filip Washington reached base safely 5 out of 5 in the win which ultimately gave MPT the tournament championship their 1st of the year.

The tournament was well played with upsets and great games all over the 10 fields between two parks. Ohio dirt is not good for softball and there were a lot of bad bounces and the parks have seen better days but the softball was good and the atmosphere at both parks was great as usual. I think there were fewer fans though at Mid America Saturday than usual.

MPT’s John Williams hits Bay Area pitcher Mooch in the ass.

Long Bomber of the Week!

The Long Haul Bomber of the week award could easily go to Ryan Harvey, Joe Boland, Andrew Collins, or John Radich but I am giving it to Chick-fil-a’s Jacob Clifton pictured above.

Cincy Results and Awards

MVP was MPT 3rd baseman John Williams .926, 7 HR, 20 RBI

MPT pitcher Bill Pinkham was Defensive MVP

Offensive MVP was Bay Area Legends 2nd baseman David “Lazer Dave” Johnson

Team by Team Notes

1st Place – MPT Rentals/Juno Athletics

NJ-Major Record 5-0

MPT was missing players (Anninos hurt, Murray and Dombrowski out) but Olivera played left field and Overstreet 2nd base and the team used a dominating offense for the most part to win the tournament. Pinkham was a warrior on the mound stabbing line drives and he also got some big hits. Leads by Chick-fil-a and Smash It didn’t phase them and they answered with some really big innings. Flip, Harvey, Radich, Kirsten, Olivera, and Bennett were all over .700 on base. MPT moved to 4th in the points standings.

Lead off Filip Washington (.852) set the table for Harvey who let it eat.

Harvey was .889, 13 HR, 30 RBI

Orlando Olivera (.714, 6 HR, 11 RBI) filled in nicely for the injured Chris Anninos in left field.

Radich had 7 Hit & Sits and some of them were long bomber of the week candidates.

2nd Place – Bay Area Legends

CA-AA Record 4-1

Bay Area was missing Losson White, Steven Lopez, Brady Bate, Zach Watts, Toby Letak, and Joel Gonzalez is still out with the arm injury but they played out of position and with a “next man up” mentality and pulled off their biggest run of the year finishing 2nd. Lazer Dave set the table for the offense and Mooch held down some big scoring offenses. Everyone kind of made mistakes but picked each other up and played the 7 innings and found a way to win.

Former MPT infielder Johnathan “Wheats” Roberts filled in last minute for Bay Area at middle infield.

Bradley Scott makes a catch in center field.

Mooch had that low release going.

3rd Place – Monsta/Albicocco/Racks/Nitro Circus

CA-Major Record 6-1

I didn’t see a whole lot of Monsta this weekend as they lost in the quarterfinals to Bay Area Legends. They recovered in the loser’s bracket beating Cash House, Primetime, Smash It by the run rule, then crushing a tired Chick-fil-a team after midnight Saturday. It felt like they might roll through Bay Area Sunday morning and take a shot at MPT but the rain washed out that possibility. They played without 2nd baseman Steven Lloyd (sick). Dawe, Matusik, Cayton, Fyffe, Yates, Wik, and Lewis were all over .700. Dawe, Matusik, Fyffe, and Wik all had double digit homer’s and Fyffe led with 36 RBI.

3B Brady, SS Fyffe, MI Cayton in this game.

4th Place – Chick-fil-a/Slugger/BAF/LBT

VA-AA Record 5-2

Chick-fil-a played great but like Bay Area very undermanned missing Fields, Sanford, Gregory, and Shifflett which forced players out of position. But the offense was there and everyone stepped up and they beat TG Brand, Baugh Ford, and Competitive Edge, and only lost to MPT by 1. They are now 10-4 vs the ‘AA’ division which is impressive. Kyle Center .833, Clifton .806, and Terrance Engles .800 led the way offensively. Garner did a lot of the pitching while Natolly played some 3rd base and Kashner, Center, and Porter shared center field. They are 0-7 vs Major teams this year. They need to break through and beat a major team because traditionally teams that win the USSSA ‘AA’ have twice as many wins as losses vs ‘AA’ teams and have at least a victory over a major team. Of course the exception being Maroadis/SNI in 2020.

3B Natolly, SS Kashner, CF Porter this game.

Tied 5th – Competitive Edge/Olmito/Suncoast

FL-AA Record 3-2

Competitive Edge came up just short against Bay Area in the semifinals and Chick-fil-a in the losers bracket. They are so close to breaking through and winning an event with multiple major teams in it. Taylor Cobb and Jason Branch were over .700, Cobb led with 8 HR and 20 RBI.

Tied 5th – Smash It/Thunder/Chosen/Pure/RF/BD/TDB

NY-Major Record 3-2

Smash It made one run at MPT in the semifinals but never mustered a 2nd run and lost. In the loser’s bracket they lost to Monsta 30-10 so they ended up 0-2 on Saturday after winning by forfeit over Baugh Ford. Cincinnati isn’t this teams tournament after going 0-2 or was it 1-2 last year? Anyways it looked like they were playing a lot of different starters and playing without Neil Haglund who was hit by that ball in the face at the Smoky. Get well soon!

Brandon Jonas did most of the pitching for Smash It.

Tied 7th – Primetime/Easton/FAI

GA-A Record 3-3

Primetime had nice wins over Rock Run, a close loss to Competitive Edge, then beat Precision. Solid weekend. They are 19th in points but have some low scores to drop. Indiana or bust for Primetime making the major it looks like.

Tied 7th – Baugh Ford/Grizzy

AL-A Record 3-2

Baugh didn’t show up on time for the quarterfinal game against Smash It but lets be honest they probably lose that one anyway. But they did show up for the tourny with nice wins over KL&R, 4with, and Rock Run to finish 7th. Looks like they are missing the 4with game from their gamechanger stats but Lutheran, Gilfillan, Johnston, and Ross were having big offensive weekends.

More Teams

Tied 9th – Precision/3rd St.Red Athlete (IL-AA)

Precision lost to two ‘A’ teams but beat some ‘A’ teams to finish 9th. Khalke was over .800, Melton and Barnes over .700. Khalke led in HR with 8 and RBI with 17.

Tied 9th – TG Brand (MI-B)

Beat Precision, Meirtran, and KL&R and seemed to have fun doing it which is what this is all about.

Tied 9th – Rock Run/All Hustle/Silverback/Koval (IN-B)

Rock Run lost to Primetime in their 2nd game then made a little run to 9th in the loser’s bracket. I missed the end of that Baugh Ford 33-32 loss but it looks like they made 3 straight outs in the bottom of the 7th needing 1 to tie after scoring 15 in the bottom of the 6th to tie it. Wow, what a game but 10 more points they needed.

Tied 9th – Cash House/JBL Roofing/Titans (OH-B)

Cash House beat Kut4, Pauers, and Siteman to finish 9th. You wonder where they might be in points if they had played the HOF Dual and a couple other tournaments?

4with.com/Premier tied for 13th 2-2, beat Meirtran and TLC, gave Precision a game.

Westpoint tied for 17th. Still 7-6 vs ‘AA’ this year. Justin Smith, Drew Smith, Jess Maloney, and Kyler Kirkland all over .700.

RVCG beat TLC went 1-2 tied for 17th. Gapp led team in hitting.

Mavin another fun young Ohio Amish team to watch.

Siteman won a couple in the loser’s bracket to salvage their weekend.

Kut4 beat some non conference teams and Hubs Pub in the loser’s bracket.

Sports Reach struggled.

KL&R was top finishing non conference team at tied for 13th. Great tournament.

Epic went 0-2 after that good Smoky they had…

Faces in the Crowd / More Pictures

A crowd of about 450 watched the 4 games playing when the semifinals were playing.

Former WM Roofing manager Mike Yoder gets a pinch hit at bat for Maven.

Pauer’s Nature Boys tied for 17th with 2 wins.

Those Amish teams like Hornets, Maven, WM Roofing, and Rock Run should think about playing the County Community tournament where rosters have to be from the same county I believe. Would be a good tournament for them.