2022 USSSA ‘A’ World tournament report!

For historical purposes I finally finished the 2022 ‘A’ World tournament report.

The sunsets at USSSA Worlds are spectacular!

2022 USSSA ‘A’ World

Viera, Florida

October 1-2

USSSA ‘A’ World Hot Links

2022 Men’s ‘A’ Results & Bracket Link

2022 Men’s ‘A’ Picture Album Link

‘A’ World Saturday video clips link

‘A’ World Sunday video clips link

‘A’ World Championship – Adiktiv vs Anarchy condensed game link

‘A’ World – Nitro Circus vs Adiktiv semifinal condensed game link

Men’s ‘A’ World – Anarchy vs Primetime condensed game link

Men’s ‘A’ World Winner’s Final Condensed game link

USSSA ‘A’ World Team List

Saturday Recap

TRU’s Sport Williams hits a walk off shot over the right fielder to beat Siteman 17-16 in the “Round of 32” to begin the ‘A’ Worlds.

The 2022 USSSA ‘A’ Worlds began on Saturday, October 1st at 8 AM in perfect softball weather on 6 fields at the Space Coast Stadium Complex in Viera, Florida. There were 35 teams overall as 24 of the ‘B’ teams stayed after their world tournament ended Friday and played in the ‘A’. The hurricane during the early part of the week sucked all of the moisture out of the state and made for a beautiful weekend. They used the Dudley Pro-M ball which seemed to be a good batch of balls as the scores and home runs were plentiful although games were affected by some wind.

In the 3 “play in” games WM Roofing (OH-B) knocked off FiftyFifty (GA-B) 9-6. Fish Head (MD-B) beat Infinity Contractors (OK-B) 8-2. And Platinum Fire (MA-B) beat LOB (FL-B).

In the “Round of 32” Baugh Ford beat Bad Boyz (FL-B) by forfeit in the 2nd inning when Bad Boyz had an endcap come off and the bat was found to be shaved. I believe the entire Bad Boyz team was suspended when no one on the team would admit who’s bat it was… LSR (IN-B) upset Cheap Suits (CA-A) 19-18 when they scored 2 runs in the top of the 7th and held Cheap Suits scoreless in the bottom half. Adiktiv (TX-A) knocked off J&I/West Coast (WA-B) 21-11 scoring 15 runs in the middle innings and getting a 4-4 hitting performance out of Jordan Harrison and Levi Cheatwood. Str8Play (CA-B) who finished 4th at the ‘B’ Worlds a day earlier upset ‘B’ team Dirty Vegas (TX) 34-19. Cash House (OH-B) beat Epic (SC-B) 23-5 scoring 12 runs in the top of the 5th. #1 seeded Nitro Circus (MD-A) rolled through regional rival Fish Head 17-6. 4With.com/Premier (OH-A) blanked RVCG (IN-B) 9-0. Kut4Sports (AL-A) run ruled MIS/CAMJAM (ID-B) 22-4 over on the White Marucci main field. TG Brand (MI-B) the ‘B’ World runner up the day before struggled past TLC (MO-B) 16-14. Primetime (GA-A) scored 12 in the top of the 6th and run ruled Comatose (WI-B) in 6 innings 34-19 out homering them 11-5 as Angel Ortega went 3-5 with 2 HR including a grand slam and 8 RBI. Rock Run (IN-B) the #3 seed run ruled Platinum Fire 29-11 in 5 innings scoring 10 runs in the top of the 3rd. Rock Run was led by pitcher Erik Lehman who was 4-4 with 2 HR, 2 triples, 6 RBI, and 5 runs scored. TRU the ‘B’ team out of NC who won the ‘B’ Worlds the day before made Siteman (MO-B) pay for some late inning errors and ended up winning 17-16 on a walk off hit by pitcher Sport Williams. TRU power hitter Corbin Hunt was 3-3 with 3 HR and 6 RBI on the big 325 foot fields. BTR (UT-B) scored 11 in the bottom of the 1st, 15 in the bottom of the 2nd, and 7 in the bottom of the 3rd to leave Hubs Pub (MO-B) on the field with a 33-3 via the 30 run “mercy rule”. Mason Moore, Terence Curry, and Brock Esplin were each 4-4 in the win. WM Roofing (OH-B) upset #2 seeded Westpoint Softball (IN-A) 12-7. And Anarchy/Smash It Sports (NY-A) although they were only the #10 seed they were one of the favorites to win the ‘A’ and they run ruled the Bay Area Legends ‘B’ team from California 27-7. Also L&S Glass (CA-A) knocked off the Nitro Circus/Team 199 (MD-B) team 21-12.

The winner’s bracket “Round of 16” began on Saturday in the early afternoon. Adiktiv the #5 seed was trailing upset minded LSR 9-4 going into the top of the 6th but scored 5 to tie it and had a big 11 run top of the 7th to beat LSR 20-11. Pitcher David Bare was 4-4 with 2 HR and 4 RBI in the win. Baugh Ford trailing Str8Play 12-11 going into the bottom of the 7th got a double from Zach Cavanaugh to start the inning and then after a ground out got a walk off 2 run homer from veteran Jason Gilfillan to win 13-12! Gilfillan was 4-5 with 2 HR and 4 RBI in the victory. In the 2nd quarter of the bracket the Nitro Circus ‘A’ team rolled through Cash House 32-8 and 4With.com/Premier scored 4 in the bottom of the 5th and held on to beat Kut4Sports 12-11. Both teams hit 3 of their allowed 12 home runs. In the 3rd quarter of the bracket Primetime beat TG Brand 22-12 and TRU run ruled Rock Run 18-3 in 6 innings holding Rock Run to just 8 hits and no home runs while hitting 5 HR themselves. In the bottom of the bracket BTR continued their offensive onslaught beating WM Roofing 23-9 scoring the last 10 runs of the game. 5 different players had 3 hits each and they out homered WM 6-2. And Anarchy rolled through L&S Glass 25-5.

Nitro Circus catcher Chris Greinert hits against Premier.

In the “Round of 8” the top teams/favorites prevailed as Nitro Circus beat a feisty Premier team 20-19 when Premier failed to score in the top of the 7th. Lead off hitter Zach Messer was 5-5 in the win. Adiktiv beat Baugh Ford 18-10 blanking Baugh in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th innings while infielder Ethan Dillon went 4-4 with 2 HR and 5 RBI. Primetime defeated TRU 30-26 in a high scoring game. And Anarchy run ruled BTR 29-12 scoring 11 runs in the top of the 1st inning as Brandon Streets went 5-5 with 3 HR and 7 RBI and Mike Thorbrogger had 5 hits.

Tru and Primetime

Final 4 Recap

Nitro’s Tom Bloom hits against Adiktiv in the semifinals.

In semifinal #1 Adiktiv shut down Nitro Circus holding them to 2 runs or less in every inning and beat them in the 6th by the run rule 19-4. Lead off hitter Elijah Christensen was 3-5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI and Jordan Harrison 3-4 with 2 HR as Adiktiv out homered Nitro Circus 6-1.

Anarchy scores against Primetime in the semifinals.

In the 2nd semifinal Saturday night Primetime let up leads of 11-0 and 19-5 to Anarchy as Primetime committed 6 errors. Primetime who’s offense has always been strong made one comeback but it wasn’t enough as Anarchy won again by the run rule 29-14.

Winner’s Final Recap

Adiktiv’s David Bare’s game tying hit just gets over pitcher Mike Thorbrogger!

In the winner’s final Sunday at 10:40 AM both Anarchy and Adiktiv started off slow. But Adiktiv grabbed a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 2nd on an Elijah Christensen home run. Then Adiktiv pulled out to an 8-5 lead in the bottom of the 3rd on homer’s by David Bare, Mario Moralez, and Josh Guy. In the top of the 4th Anarchy took advantage of too many walks to take a 10-8 lead. Adiktiv answered again with 16 runs over the next 3 innings to take a 24-19 lead into the 7th where Anarchy scored 6 to go up 25-24 on a clutch 2 out homer by Andrew Mrozek. In the bottom of the 7th Adiktiv got a one out double by Elijah Christensen, two out singles by Jordan Harrison and David Bare, and won the game on an Ethan Dillon RBI double 26-25! Christensen, Harrison, and Josh Guy had 4 hits each and Mario Moralez and David Bare 5 hits each in the win. Bare with 3 HR. Adiktiv out homered Anarchy 12-7.

Ethan Dillon hits a walk off double to win 26-25

Loser’s Bracket Recap

Rock Run takes down Westpoint in a late Saturday night loser’s battle between Indiana teams.

In the loser’s bracket ‘B’ teams WM Roofing, Rock Run, and Str8Play as well as the ‘A’ teams Kut 4 Sports all made runs with WM Roofing, Rock Run, TRU, and BTR making it to Sundays final 8 teams.

Sunday Recap

Rock Run and WM Roofing on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning at 8 AM it was Rock Run beating WM Roofing 32-10 scoring 13 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning and TRU beating BTR by forfeit. Then Rock Run knocked off Primetime 38-21 scoring 11 in the bottom of the 1st and 13 in the bottom of the 3rd. 5 different players had 4 hits each for Rock Run and they out homered Primetime 12-9. Nitro Circus knocked off TRU 26-8 to meet Rock Run in the 4th place game. My notes say Nitro out homered TRU 11-1.

Nitro Circus and Rock Run in the 4th place game.

In the 4th place game Nitro Circus who has had Rock Runs number all year and ended up winning 24-19 scoring 10 runs in a decisive 4th inning. Rock Run scored 9 in the top of the 7th to make it look closer than it was. Chris Greinert was 4-5 with 3 HR and 7 RBI, Drew Hall had 3 HR, and Tom Bloom 2 HR in the win for Nitro Circus.

Nitro Circus and Anarchy in the loser’s final.

Then in a low scoring loser’s bracket finals Anarchy sent home Nitro Circus 13-7 as the wind blowing in and across slowed the scoring.

Adiktiv and Anarchy in the championship.

In the championship game Sunday afternoon a fairly fresh Adiktiv team led 12-10 in the top of the 3rd as they hit 3 home runs. But Anarchy had a 16-12 lead after 3 complete innings and answered Adiktiv’s 8 run top of the 4th with a 12 run bottom half including a grand slam by Zane Migues after a walk to Brandon Streets made it 20-20. Mike Snyder added a 3 run homer to make it 23-20 and Anarchy ended the inning with a 28-20 lead and went on to force the “if” game 33-24. Brandon Streets was 5-5 with a walk, 3 HR, and 10 RBI in the win. Migues had 4 hits all homer’s and 8 RBI, and Mike Snyder was 4-5 with 2 HR and 7 RBI.

In the “if” game Adiktiv suddenly looked sluggish and pitcher David Bare aggravated a knee injury and a few other players were banged up while Anarchy’s veteran leadership and overwhelming offense continued on. After Adiktiv blanked in the top of the 1st, Anarchy put up 4 or more runs in every inning and even though both teams had 8 home runs in the game, Anarchy won the game in the bottom of the 5th on a walk off pinch hit grand slam homer by Lyf Nimmo to win by the run rule 31-13. Zane Migues was 4-4 with a walk, 3 HR, and 10 RBI in the win. Anarchy is your 2022 USSSA ‘A’ World Champions!

Anarchy’s Lyf Nimmo with a huge pinch hit to end the “if” game by the run rule.

And the celebration is on!

Long Bomber of the ‘A’ World!

Nitro Circus 1st baseman Andrew Hall was the Long Bomber of the week as he and teammate Chris Greinert hit a few onto the next field over from the White quad to the Red Quad.

‘A’ World Results and Awards

MVP was Anarchy’s Brandon Streets

Defensive MVP was Anarchy middle infielder William Marable

Offensive MVP was Adiktiv’s Lonnie Cheatwood

Team by Team Notes

1st Place – Anarchy/SmashItSports/Beloli/OA

NY-A Record 7-1

After underperforming most of the year all of the games they won at the ‘A’ Worlds were by the run rule. They dominated those 325 foot fields and scored 26.5 runs per game. Thorbrogger was a rock on the mound and the double dip of Adiktiv was impressive. The team was loaded with higher level players who perform in Florida when the hardware is on the line.

Zane Migues had 10 RBI in one game.

Andrew Mrozek robs a homer.

2nd Place – Adiktiv/Throwbacks/CE

TX-A Record 5-2

Adiktiv looked like the team to beat until losing that first game of the championship and then injuries and Anarchy wore them down. Levi Cheatwood the left fielder was Offensive MVP of the tournament .724 with 9 HR and 23 RBI. The team hit 52 HR in 7 games.

P David Bare & SS Mario Moralez were with Anarchy early in the season.

1B Elijah Christenson, 2B Ethan Dillon, MI Marcus Thornton

3rd Place – Nitro Circus/Klutch/team 199/BRC

MD-A Record 5-2

This was Nitro Circus tournament to win but they did not play consistently enough.

3B Dylan Shupe, SS Dan Herrin, MI Zach Messer

4th Place – Rock Run/AllHustle/Pure/Beloli/Koval

IN-B Record 6-2

Rock Run finished higher in the ‘A’ then they did in the ‘B’. They played inspired ball all season and it was a real treat to watch this team play.

P Lehman, SS Faron Fry, MI Jeremy Fry, LF Marcus Miller

Faron Fry and Kyle Miller were all tournament

Tied 5th – TRU/StubTerminal/Timeless/LA/ES

NC-B Record 4-2

TRU played well after winning the B just the day before. Their post season run sets the table for some high expectations in 2023.

Tied 5th – Primetime/Easton/FAI

GA-A Record 3-2

Primetime made the semifinals undefeated but just weren’t consistent enough defensively and didn’t make a loser’s bracket run like they did in the past.