2022 Chattahoochee Major tournament report!

2022 Chattahoochee Major

Columbus, GA

June 17-19

Resmondo’s Travis Clark lines a hit in the big semifinal game vs Smash It Sports.

Hot Links (More Videos to come)

Chattahoochee Results and Bracket link

Chattahoochee Picture Album link

Chattahoochee Friday to Final 4 Video Clips link

Chattahoochee Saturday Night & Sunday video clips link

Chattahoochee Semifinal Condensed Game link

Chattahoochee Winner’s Final Condensed Game link

Chattahoochee Loser’s Final Condensed Game link

Chattahoochee Championship Condensed Game link

Chattahoochee Archived Games link

Chattahoochee Stats link (when ready)

The Chattahoochee Team List

Friday Night Recap

Kut4’s Marcus Henderson caps a 10 hit bottom of the 7th with a walk off single to beat Monsta.

Conference USSSA returned to the South Commons softball complex in Columbus, Georgia for the 3rd year in a row. The 1st year was the Covid-19 year and the Conference Championships were played there and the past two years it has been a regular season event. There were 17 teams overall with 16 of them being from the Conference and they came from 14 different states. The tournament began on Friday night with a play in game between Aristotle/Iron Gear Athletics a non-conference ‘B’ team from Arkansas and MIS/CamJam Sports (ID-B). Unfortunately my (DW) flight landed late in Atlanta and I did not make it to the Friday games. Aristotle won the game though 22-18 to advance into the “Round of 16”.

The “Round of 16” was played at 7 PM and 8:45 PM eastern time on the 300 foot fields at South Commons in warm and humid weather with the Dudley Pro-M ball. S&E Dan Smith (NC-AA) scored 17 runs in the last two innings and held on to beat Nightmare/Benefit the Badge/Miken (MO-AA) 25-20. Lead off hitter Bill Cullen and Conference rookie Jacob Hoskins each had 4 hits and newly picked up pitcher Bradley Franklin was 2-2 with 2 walks in his debut after coming over from Epic. Hoskins hit 4 home runs and S&E out homered Nightmare 13-9. 4With.com/Premier/Easton (OH-A) scored 12 runs in the top of the 2nd and beat Adiktiv/Throwbacks/CE (TX-A) 30-23 as Bobby Noeth Jr., Cody Angus, and Kyle Harmon all had 4 hits and Cory Boothe went 5-6 in the win. Competitive Edge/Olmito/Suncoast (FL-AA) run ruled Epic/Killmans/FLS/ES/Pure (SC-B) 42-22 scoring 11 in the top of the 1st, 13 in the top of the 2nd, and 14 in the top of the 4th. Jason Branch at lead off was on all 6 times, Tyler Ervine was 6-6 with 5 HR and 11 RBI, and newly picked up infielder Andrew Filoteo was on 5 out of 5 and knocked in 6 runs. Primetime/Easton/FAI (GA-A) playing sort of in their home park scored 11 runs in the 1st and shut down Baugh Ford/Grizzy (AL-A) in the 6th and 7th innings to win 31-25. Mike Williams at leadoff had 4 hits, most everyone on the team had at least 3 hits, and Primetime out homered Baugh 12-10. In the later games the 4 Major teams took to the fields and Smash It/Thunder/Chosen/Pure/RF/BD/TDB (NY-Major) the #1 seed beat Aristotle but by just 7 runs 37-30. MPT Rentals/Juno Athletics (NJ-Major) run ruled Stars/NFM Lending/Arab $$$ (CO-A) 36-1. Stars had flight problems and had missing bags as well. The game lasted just 3 innings and MPT only hit twice. Flip Washington, John Radich, Kyle Overstreet, Ryan Harvey, Joe Dorton, John Williams, Orlando Castillo, Donnie Walsh, and Bill Pinkham were all perfect hitting in the game. Resmondo/SmashIt/All American/Menosse (FL-Major) trailed Sports Reach/Riot (FL-AA) 16-3 after Sports Reach scored 10 in the top of the 3rd. Sports Reach held a 20-9 lead going into the bottom of the 5th as well. But Resmondo scored 9 in the bottom of the 5th, 12 in the bottom of the 6th, and leading by 3 held Sports Reach to just 1 in the top of the 7th to win 30-28. Bubba Mack was 5-5 with 3 HR and 8 RBI in the win. They out homered Sports Reach 14-12. And in the final game of the night Kut4 Sports/OI Livingston (AL-A) pulled off a miracle comeback in the bottom of the 7th with no homer’s left down 8 runs in the bottom of the 7th they walked down Monsta/Albicocco/Racks/Nitro Circus (CA-Major) and beat them on a walk off single by Marcus Henderson 39-38! 7 of the runs came with two outs and it was Henderson’s 2nd hit of the inning. Brandon Hooks was 6-6 with 4 HR and 10 RBI in the win.

Saturday Recap

On Saturday morning the “Final 8” played out with Kut4 Sports led by their newly acquired pitcher Dan Sanchez weathered a 17 run bottom of the 3rd inning by S&E and came back to take a 36-31 lead going into the bottom of the 6th. With S&E out of homer’s (14) Kut4 held them to just 1 run in the last two innings to pull off their 2nd upset of the tournament 36-32! Josh Cardwell, William Green, Dan Sanchez, Brandon Hooks, and Kylie Ming each had 4 hits for Kut4.

The 2nd quarterfinal game was a matchup between Major teams Resmondo and MPT Rentals. MPT scored 19 in the bottom of the 2nd and 14 more in the bottom of the 4th to take a 38-25 lead. But MPT hit some “bad” homer’s and never finished Resmondo off and Resmondo scored 15 in the top of the 5th and held on to win 43-42 when MPT without any homer’s left went down in order 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 7th. Lead off hitter Travis Clark was 7-7 with 9 RBI and 6 runs scored in the win.

In the 3rd semifinal game Competitive Edge after being down to 4With.com/Premier 9-0 after 1 inning scored 17 in the top of the 2nd and 15 more in the top of the 5th to run rule 4With.com 44-22. Ryan Honeycutt was 4-4 with 2 HR and 6 RBI and shortstop Logan Rogers and 2nd baseman Andrew Filoteo each had 5 hits in the win.

In the final semifinal played at noon Saturday Smash It Sports run ruled Primetime 35-14. In the picture above Smash It rookie Tyler Story hits a home run.

Final 4 Recap

In the semifinals played on the RG Jones stadium field Kut4 Sports scored 22 runs in the bottom of the 3rd to take a 23-15 lead on Competitive Edge. But Comp Edge weathered the storm and scored 7 runs in the top of the 5th, 7 runs in the top of the 6th, and down 32-31 scored 5 in the top of the 7th to take a 36-32 lead. And Comp Edge held Kut4 to just 1 run in the last 3 innings and won 36-32. Branch, Ervine, and Honeycutt each had 5 hits in the win and Honeycutt had 11 RBI. In this game Kut4 right fielder Brandon Hooks and Comp Edge center fielder Mitch Lendenski had some of the best diving catches of the season. Here are the clips of those catches from the livestream highlight video.

In the 2nd semifinal Smash It Sports went up 13-5 leading 7-3 on home runs after 3 innings but Resmondo’s dominating offense came to life in the bottom of the 4th scoring 24 runs to take a 29-13 lead. When Smash It scored just 1 run in the top of the 5th the game ended by the 15 run rule 29-14. Bubba Mack hit one of the hardest line drives of the year in this game. Check it out in the condensed game and highlight videos.

Winner’s Final Recap

Competitive Edge shortstop Logan Rogers climbs the ladder to make the catch.

In the winner’s bracket finals late afternoon Saturday Competitive Edge jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Then Resmondo put up the zero in the bottom of the 1st and Competitive Edge put up a zero in the top of the 2nd. In the bottom of the 2nd Resmondo scored 27 runs and although Competitive Edge answered with 9 in the top of the 3rd, Resmondo went on to win in 4 innings by the 20 run mercy rule 35-15 walking Competitive Edge off in the bottom of the 4th on a Greg Connell home run. Travis Clark, Bradley Jones, Pat Ellwanger, and Luis Reyna all had 4 hits in the game.

Loser’s Bracket Recap

In the loser’s bracket Baugh Ford (pictured above) beat 4With.com 23-20

MPT met Monsta deep in the loser’s bracket beating them 36-34.

S&E’s Jordan Robinson hit this walk off gap shot to beat Stars 39-38.

Adiktiv after losing their 1st game beat Epic 31-22, Primetime 25-15, MPT Rentals 46-31, and Kut4 Sports 38-15 before Smash It dropped down and beat them 38-15 on Saturday night to finish in 4th!

Sunday Recap

Ryan Honeycutt homers in the loser’s final. He was .950 on base on the weekend with 10 HR and 25 RBI.

Smash It’s Dale Brungardt hits a walk off homer in the bottom of the 7th to beat Competitive Edge 37-36.

On Sunday morning in the loser’s bracket finals Competitive Edge scored crooked numbers in every inning except for the 7th. The score was tied at 21-21 with Smash It Sports after 3 innings and 36-36 going into the 7th inning. But Comp Edge went scoreless in the top of the 7th with no home runs left and Smash It Sports had 1 left and Dale Brungardt the 1st batter of the inning hit the walk off to win 37-36. The game had some strange plays and close calls but in putting together the condensed game it looks like the umpires got them right. Also in this game Competitive Edge pinch hit for their pitcher in the top of the 6th and forgot to use the automatic runner for the pitcher when he got on base. There is no penalty for this. Then they reentered the pitcher Ramsey who was already a relief pitcher because the home plate umpire said they could. We all know you can’t re-enter anyone except the starter so after a long delay the UIC removed Ramsey and James Delagarzza went in to pitch. There was also a close play on a hard grounder that looked like it hit the runner (Brungardt) leaving 1st base but in the video it does not appear it hit him so the umpires got that right. It was close and only Brungardt probably knows for sure what happened.

Ben Dunn doubles in the championship game against Resmondo.

In the championship game Resmondo scored 19 runs on 6 homer’s in the top of the 1st and never looked back finally finishing off Smash It Sports 51-30! The highest score of the tournament and one of the highest scores of the season. At one point early in the game Resmondo’s only out was Bubba Mack getting thrown out by Andrew Collins trying to stretch a single into a double and it felt like Smash It had to get a glove on the hard liners and get lucky on the ricochet to get any outs at all.

Looks like poll takers gave up on Resmondo at the wrong time…

Long Bomber of the Week!

Phil Matte from Resmondo is the long bomber of the week hitting this bomb over top of the trees.

Chattahoochee Results and Awards

Resmondo shortstop Tyler Marshburn was MVP

Defensive MVP was Resmondo pitcher Travis Clark

Offensive MVP – Smash It Sports right fielder Andrew Collins .818, 13 HR, 32 RBI

Team by Team Notes

1st Place – Resmondo/Smash It/All American/Menosse

FL-Major Record 5-0

Resmondo won with suffocating offense and 24, 27, and 19 run innings in their last 3 games. They are still playing without Cory Briggs, Kevin Bazat, and Kyle Pearson who all aim to be back and ready for the Smoky Mountain Classic in 3 weeks. Clark at leadoff and on the mound was strong, Reyna and Marshburn made a lot of the tough plays, and Santana was lacing extra base hits all over the place while Mack and Jones hit some of the hardest line drives of the season. Reckart played super utility guy, Ellwanger started most of the games in the outfield, and Connell hit a few bombs reminiscent of his Long Haul Bomber days. Brett Helmer was back at the helm and he picked up Tim Barnes as assistant manager.

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3B Mack, SS Marshburn, MI Reyna

Jones smashes a wicked line drive down into the corner.

2nd Place – SmashIt/Thunder/Chosen/Pure/RF/BD/TDB

NY-Major Record 5-2

Smash It beat everyone they played except Resmondo losing to them twice on big innings. Purcell nor Mcclanahan at pitcher could slow the Resmondo juggernaut. Collins, Riley, and Wolf were all over .800. Williams (18), Collins (13), and Stovall (11) all had double digit homer’s. It looked like Racobaldo was banged up and at some point a fight almost broke out near the Smash It bench it may have been Brungardt and Williams possibly talking about Brungardt who fouled out or something like that. It was hot, the team wasn’t scoring like Resmondo, and frustration was high. Probably more of a brotherly skirmish…

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Stovall had the backside power stroke going on Sunday.

Purcell and Mcclanahan two of the greatest defensive players in Conference history.

The black and gold uniforms are sweet and the throwback paint scheme on the slugger.

3rd Place – Competitive Edge/Olmito/Suncoast

FL-AA Record 3-2

Competitive Edge who wants to be a Major team next year played like one. But they played more like Monsta as Competitive Edge and Monsta struggle to close games against Resmondo and Smash It. The offense was in high gear from the outset of the tournament to the last game. Honeycutt was .950 (WOW) lacing base hits all over the yard. Roton was 9-10 in a utility role. Ervine, Rox, Branch, Rogers, Filoteo, and Boland all over .700 on base. Ervine had 12 HR and 29 RBI. Many were wondering how how Filoteo was picked up without first being evaluated by the committee for points? Maybe he was and left at zero?

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Ervine .786, 12 HR, 29 RBI

Cobb hits against Kut4

Filoteo was Nightmare’s best player so far this season somehow was allowed to go to Competitive Edge at zero points.

4th Place – Adiktiv/Throwbacks/CE

TX-A Record 4-2

Adiktiv was staring a rough 0-2 possibility in the face on Saturday morning against Epic down 22-14 at 8 AM when their bats came to life and they scored 17 runs in the top of the 7th to win 31-22! After that they rolled through Primetime, upset MPT Rentals 46-31, and beat a hot Kut4 team 33-21 before losing to Smash It Sports 38-15 and finishing 4th! In that MPT game Elliott, Schumaker, Christensen, Harrison, and Guy all had at least 5 hits. Elliot was .806, and Schumaker, Christensen, Tavarez, and Roberts were over .700. Most everyone else was in the .600’s and Adiktiv who was #1 out of ‘A’ teams in the computer rankings before a recent stumble will be back on top of the ‘A’ division again after the Chattahoochee a tournament this team will remember for a long time!

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Tied 5th – S&E/Dan Smith

NC-AA Record 3-2

S&E showed a pulse this weekend but still haven’t had that break through tournament they need like they had in Las Vegas to start the season. They brought over Bradley Franklin from Epic to pitch, Cullen was .821 on base at leadoff, Robinson, Kampfer, Brown, and the new/old pickup Justin Gregory were all over .700. Hoskins led the team with 10 HR and 20 RBI.

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Bradley Franklin is S&E’s latest pitcher.

Tied 5th – Kut4 Sports/OI Livingston

AL-A Record 2-2

Kut4 had the epic upset of Monsta in their opener Friday night walking them down with 10 hits no walks and no home runs to win by one. Then on Saturday they backed that up with an upset of S&E and a strong start against Competitive Edge. Hooks was “off the hook” .944 on base. Calhoun, Sanchez who they just picked up to pitch, Henderson who had two hits in the Monsta comeback in the bottom of the 7th, and Green were all over .700 on base. Hooks led the team with 10 HR and 24 RBI.

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3B Cardwell and SS Ming

Tied 7th – Baugh Ford/Grizzy

AL-A Record 2-2

Baugh lost to Primetime then beat Aristotle and 4With before S&E run ruled them. Ross and Rainer were over .800. Bellamy was over .700. Ross led in HR 8 and RBI 16.

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Tied 7th – MPT Rentals/Juno Athletics

NJ-Major Record 2-2

MPT crushed Stars then let one get away against Resmondo hitting bad homer’s early in the game. In the loser’s bracket they dropped down and beat Monsta then lost to Adiktiv. A roller coaster weekend for an inconsistent major team. Washington and Williams were back so they had all of their players. Anninos and John Williams were .900 onbase. Castillo was .842. Bennett, Walsh, Pinkham, Radich, and Washington all over .700. Bennett led in HR with 9 and Castillo led in RBI with 21.

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Collision!

More Teams

Tied 9th – 4With.com/Premier/Easton (OH-A)

4With started with a nice win over Adiktiv then got run ruled by Comp Edge and lost a close one to Baugh Ford.

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Tied 9th – Stars/NFM Lending/Arab $$$ (CO-A)

Stars had flight and baggage issues and got smoked by MPT Friday night 36-1. On Saturday they pulled off a big upset of Sports Reach holding on by a run then lost to S&E 39-38 on a walk off double. Overall a nice recovery.

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Tied 9th – Primetime/Easton/FAI (GA-A)

Primetime had a nice win over Baugh Ford Friday then lost to SmashIt and Adiktiv.

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Tied 9th – Monsta/Albicocco/Racks/Nitro Circus (CA-Major)

Vitcak did pitch. I thought they would save him for the Smoky as his leg heals. They were upset by Kut4 then beat Nightmare before losing to MPT. Tough weekend for Monsta who just needs to make a couple of those tough plays on defense to get back to winning.

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