2023 Conference Championships tournament report —> Added “if” game game

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2023 Conference Championships

Indianapolis, Indiana

September 15-17

Was Brady Stewart safe or out? Check this video to decide 🙂

Conference Championship Hot Links

Conference Championship Bracket and Results link

Conference Championship Picture Album link (adding action photos after each condensed game)

Nitro Circus vs Resmondo Condensed game link

S&E vs Classic Glass Condensed game link

Resmondo vs Competitive Edge Condensed game link

Winner’s Final – Classic Glass vs Competitive Edge condensed game link

Friday & Saturday Video Highlights link

Classic Glass vs MPT Rentals condensed game link

Conference Championship Archived Games link

Conference Championship Stats link (Updating throughout the week)

Conference Championship Team List

Friday Recap

Siteman builds an early lead on S&E to start Friday.

The Conference Championships were played at the Indy Sports Park in Indianapolis, Indiana. The complex had 8 fields with artificial turf infields. 6 of the fields were 300 feet but field #7 the show field was an odd rectangular shaped baseball field with 335-390-395-335-295 dimensions, and field #8 which was the secondary winner’s bracket field was 307 all the way around according to Google Earth but players claimed it was 340 to center field. They used the Dudley Pro-M ball on all of the 300 foot softball fields and the Dudley Stadium ZN ball on the two baseball fields. The tournament began on Friday at 4:30 PM eastern time with 28 of the top teams in the country and they hailed from 16 different states. The top 18 in Conference Points after this tournament qualified for the USSSA Major World Series October 11-14. The weather all weekend was in the 60’s and low 70’s with some humidity, almost no wind, and the scores were very high. In opening round NFM Lending/4TheFallen (AZ-A) scored 16 in the bottom of the 1st and 10 more in the bottom of the 2nd and maintained their lead on the way to a 45-37 win over Dirty Vegas/Steel (TX-A) with both teams trying to qualify for the major. Both teams hit their 12 allowed home runs and Danny Higa was 6-7 while Jonhathan Sierra and Zack Woodside were on base 6-6 in the win. Smash It/Bay Area (CA-AA) playing without infielder Luis Reyna (work) for the 2nd tournament in a row scored 6 on 3 home runs in the top of the 7th to go up 30-26 on Rebel/Anarchy (MI-A). Rebel with 6 HR to hit in the bottom of the 7th only managed 2 runs and SIS moved on 30-28. Beechy Const/I-57 (MO-B) upset JBL/D1/Tailagaters (OH-AA) 51-35 scoring double digits in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th innings. Beechy’s Adam Harrington, Nic Perkins, and Zac Perkins were each on base 6-7 and veteran DH Scott Patterson was 7-7 with 7 RBI in the win. S&E/Baugh Ford (NC-AA) after putting up a zero in the top of the 1st against Siteman/Pure (MO-A) came from behind to beat them scoring 11 runs in the top of the 7th after being down 32-29 and won 40-32. S&E’s new center field pickup Dalton Ridgway was 6-6 and pitcher Justin Ogletree 6-6 in the win. Bill Cullen their normal center fielder was at work training. Sports Reach/Demarini (KY-AA) run ruled a depleted Cornerstone/Rebel (KY-B) team 31-11. And to round out the top half of the bracket Classic Glass/Easton (CA-AA) came from a 15 run deficit to beat Epic/Haymak/Kilmans (SC-A) 51-50 on a walk off homer by Brady Stewart! Classic Glass scoring 13 in the bottom of the 7th in that one. Ryan Ramirez had 2 HR and 11 RBI in the win. Epic scored 21 runs in the top of the 4th and Robert Lanham hit 5 HR and had 11 RBI in the tough loss. WestPoint (IN-AA) outlasted TRU/Riot/Timeless/LA (MD-A) 43-38. Roofx/Revolution/All Hustle (IN-AA) run ruled PF (MA-B) 30-0 in a game that was over in about 25 minutes. PF had just one hit with Billy Malovrh a pickup from Old Bag pitching for Roofx since Justin Mucciarelli was not there. Primetime/Easton (GA-A) beat Str8play/MyAutoJack (CA-A) on the baseball field #7 25-20 even though Str8play scored 8 in the top of the 7th and out homered Primetime 5-4. Primetime pitcher Rod Armour was clutch going 5-5 with 2 HR, 2 doubles, and a triple and 9 RBI in the win! Van Wert Frickers (OH-B) the top ‘B’ team in Conference points this year upset run ruled Chick-fil-a/Slugger (VA-AA) 27-11 in a short game. Nitro Circus/Candy Shop (MD-A) scored 13 in the bottom of the 6th to take a 39-30 lead on Cheap Suits (CA-A) and won 39-35 out homering them 14-13. Chris Greinert was 6-6 on base with 5 runs scored in the win as they moved Jared Hunt to lead off and he had 7 RBI. And LSR/TG/BAF (IN-A) beat Bay Area Legends (CA-A) 38-17 with both teams trying to maintain their spot in the top 18. All 4 Major teams had bye’s to the “Round of 16”.

The atmosphere was good on Friday and Saturday nights.

The “Round of 16” was also played on Friday night and there were some really good high scoring smash mouth softball being played. The lighting at the park wasn’t good and the turf infields had coconut husk instead of rubber pellets making it hard and fast. MPT Rentals/Juno Athletics (NJ-Major) the #3 seed beat NFM Lending 48-27 scoring 16 in the top of the 4th, 8 in the top of the 5th, and they held NFM scoreless in the bottom of the 5th with both teams out of their allotted 14 HR. Filip Washington was 7-7 on base and Ryan Harvey 6-7 with 2 HR and 8 RBI in the win. Beechy Construction continued their upset streak scoring 12 in the bottom of the 1st and 13 in the bottom of the 6th to go up 40-33 and Smash It Sports left 6 HR on the table in a 40-38 loss. Beechy’s Brett McDonald their 3rd baseman led the way 6-6 with 2 HR and 6 RBI. S&E scored 11 in the bottom of the 5th inning to grab the lead and trailing Sports Reach 26-25 in a battle of ‘AA’ teams going into the bottom of the 7th got back to back solo homer’s from Jordan Robinson and Joel Sanchez to win 27-26 out homering Sports Reach 13-12. Jordan Robinson was 5-5 with 3 HR and 5 RBI in the win. Classic Glass scored 16 in the top of the 1st and had a 23-5 lead on #2 Sonny’s/Worsham (NC-Major) going into the bottom of the 3rd. But Sonny’s scored 19 in the bottom of the 3rd and 14 in the bottom of the 4th to go up 38-32. Classic responded with 15 in the top of the 6th and held on to a 53-41 victory when pitcher Dan Kirkwood “wore” a hard shot off his body and stayed with it to get the final out. Kirkwood was 6-8 and hit for the cycle. Shannon Smith was 7-8. Blake Lively 7-7. And Greg Downing was 6-7 with 3 HR and 10 RBI in the win. In the lower half of the bracket WestPoint scored 9 in the top of the 5th, 10 in the top of the 6th, and 10 more in the top of the 7th to get by Roofx 37-32 in the battle of Indiana ‘AA’ teams. WestPoint out homered them 13-12 with their new shortstop Daryl Yoder making some great plays. #4 Competitive Edge/Suncoast/FBI/Olmito (FL-Major) run ruled Primetime 25-10 scoring 10 runs in the bottom of the 4th and leaving them on the field in the 5th. Tyler Ervine, Conner Murray, and pitcher Michael Thorbrogger were each on base 4-4. To end the night Nitro Circus held off the upset minded Van Wert Frickers 33-30 and #1 seed Resmondo/SmashIt/All-American/Menosse (FL-Major) scored 19 in the top of the 3rd and 21 in the top of the 4th to beat LSR 53-18. Batting champion Kyle Pearson was 7-7 and Buddy Wolf 6-6 with 8 RBI in the win.

Westpoint in the Black and Orange takes down Roofx in the “Battle of Indiana” AA teams.

Saturday Recap

Classic Glass pitcher Dan Bean hits against S&E Saturday morning as the quarterfinals begin.

On Saturday morning at 9:45 AM the quarterfinals began on fields #7 and #8 using the Stadium ZN ball. Up on field #8 which players claim is 310-340-310 but on google earth shows is 307 all the way around MPT Rentals beat upstart Beechy Construction 35-14. MPT scoring 10 in the top of the 3rd and 4th innings and winning in 5 innings with MPT out homering Beechy 14-5. John Williams, Daniel Cayton, and Chris Anninos were all 5-5 with Big John hitting for the cycle. On the show field Classic Glass trailing 9-2 to S&E going into the bottom of the 4th went on a 14-3 run in the middle innings helped by some poor S&E defense and walks. Classic won the game 21-15 with both teams hitting 3 HR and did so even though they had two runner’s thrown out at 3rd base on the big 80 foot bases. Sal Formosa led the Classic Glass offense going 4-4 with a home run and 5 RBI. The quarterfinals in the lower half of the bracket played at 11:30 AM. Competitive Edge up on field #8 made short work of WestPoint 28-8 out homering them 10-4 and the game only lasted 4 innings. Mitch Lendenski, Tyler Ervine, Ryan Honeycutt, Logan Rogers, and Conner Murray were each on base 4-4 with Honeycutt hitting 2 HR and knocking in 7 RBI. Meanwhile on the show field #7 Resmondo overcame a number of infield errors, a 488 foot bomb by Chris Greinert, and a home run robbing catch by Cabot Van Til to out score Nitro Circus 15-12 down the stretch and win 22-17. Cory Briggs was 4-4 in the win and Travis Clark pitched the whole game.

Nitro LF Cabot Van Til robs Resmondo in the quarterfinals.

The semifinals began at 1:15 PM Saturday afternoon in cool temperatures with some humidity. After a slow start by Classic Glass and MPT Rentals (just 3 runs total in the first two innings) Classic Glass began a methodical 5-4-5-6-6 scoring pattern and upset MPT Rentals 28-13 with the MPT offense really never kicking into gear. The rectangular show field gave the advantage to lefties and Classic Glass with their 5 lefties (Dan Kirkwood, Blake Lively, Rucelle Consigny, Dan Bean, and Greg Downing) took advantage and they went a combined 17-25 with 9 HR and 20 RBI.

MPT’s Ryan Harvey hits in the quarter finals vs Classic Glass.

Think of the show field as a rectangle.

In the other semifinal it was a heavyweight battle between Resmondo and Competitive Edge the #1 and #4 teams in the country. Both teams scored in every inning at least 3 runs! Competitive Edge though out homered Resmondo 16-11 and did not have to hit in the bottom of the 7th winning 36-32. This evens the season series between the two teams at 4-4.

Winner’s Final Recap

Shannon Smith finishes off Competitive Edge in the winner’s bracket finals.

The winner’s bracket final played immediately after the semifinals concluded in the late afternoon because fields 7 and 8 did not have lights. Competitive Edge hot off of their 4th win of the year against Resmondo got off to a slow start against Classic Glass. Classic Glass on the other hand continued their consistent offense and defense and jumped out to leads of 10-2 and 16-7. And when Competitive Edge who hit just 4 home runs put up a 2 in the top of the 5th, Classic Glass finished them off by the 15 run rule 27-12 in the bottom of the inning. Dan Kirkwood 5-5, Brady Stewart 4-4, Blake Lively 4-4, and pitcher Dan Bean 4-4 led the offense for Classic Glass who’s lefties were a combined 16-22 with 4 HR and 10 RBI.

Loser’s Bracket Recap

Beechy Construction was the giant killer’s as this ‘B’ team beat JBL, SmashIt, LSR, and S&E while only losing to Major teams!

Because of the layout of the tournament with the winner’s playing all day during daylight on the show field it was near impossible to follow the loser’s bracket which is unfortunate as a number of teams made incredible runs. In the top half of the loser’s bracket LSR beat PF and Str8play to secure their spot in the top 18. Roofx (without Mooch) beat Bay Area Legends and Primetime before losing a late Saturday game to S&E 43-41 on a walk off homer in extra innings by Matt Mosel. S&E by the way is the #1 ranked ‘AA’ team in the computer rankings by a slim margin and it is probably because of this win. Then Beechy Const who had the two upset wins over ‘AA’ teams on Friday night dropped into the loser’s bracket and did the unthinkable for a ‘B’ team and beat LSR 23-17 and S&E 30-27 before losing to Resmondo 50-37 in a game they scored 19 runs in the bottom of the 1st to finish tied for 5th! In the lower half of the loser’s bracket Dirty Vegas fighting to get into the top 18 had the bad luck of having to play Sonny’s Major team who had been upset by Classic Glass the night before. Dirty Vegas lost 43-17. Sonny’s went on to beat JBL, Westpoint, and Smash It before losing to MPT Rentals late Saturday night. In the Smash It game the Jason Branch hitting for SIS pulled up lame running to 1st base in the 1st inning and SIS forfeited for not having enough healthy players to continue.

Sunday Recap

4th place game – Filip Washington (MPT) hitting against Travis Clark (Resmondo).

On Sunday 4 games were played starting at 8 am and it didn’t finish until 5 pm. 9 hours of softball where the pace of the game was incredibly slow and the scores grew as players learned to score on the big field with the short porch in right and the hard infields. In the 4th place game Resmondo got out to a 28-19 lead on MPT by scoring 10 runs in the bottom of the 5th. But instead of rolling over MPT scored 19 runs on 8 homer’s to take a 38-28 lead and quietly won the game 39-36. The game lasted 2.5 hours. Ryan Harvey was 6-7 with 3 HR and 9 RBI and pitcher Bill Pinkham was a clutch 5-6 in the win.

Loser bracket final, Cayton (MPT) hitting against Faron Miller (CE).

In the loser’s bracket finals a fresh Competitive Edge team jumped out to a 32-8 lead on MPT Rentals but again MPT did not roll over scoring 13 in the bottom of the 3rd and 9 in the bottom of the 5th and made it close in a 47-42 loss. CE was led by Mitch Lendenski, Logan Rogers, Kyle Pearson, and Conner Murray who were all 6-7 in the game and Bubba Mack and Lendenski had 8 RBI each. MPT actually out homered CE 16-14.

Big John doubles against CE.

In the 1st game of the championship Classic Glass and Competitive Edge each scored in every inning but CE was putting up 5’s and 6’s while Classic was putting up 1’s and 2’s and CE run ruled Classic in 6 innings 27-12 out homering them 10-5 to force the “if” game. Lendenski was 5-5 and Ryan Honeycutt hit 3 HR in the win. In the “if” game which started around 2:30 PM the offensive flood gates opened and Comp Edge led 13-6 after one inning and after scoring 15 runs in the bottom of the 5th they led 45-35. But Classic Glass who played so good all weekend never gave up, dug deep, and went on an adrenaline fueled run in the top of the 7th scoring 24 runs! They batted around the order 3 times and the inning included a wild play at the plate where Brady Stewart somehow avoided Brandon Streets tag. In the bottom of the 7th Classic Glass closed it out with some great defense to win 64-47 and became only the 3rd ‘AA’ team in Conference history to win a Major tournament that had 4 Major classed teams in it. The previous winner’s were also in 2023 with Chick-fil-a winning Texas Dual #1 and JBL winning the Pocket City dual #1.

Classic Glass MI Blake Lively hits a key grand slam home run in their 24 run 7th in the championship game.

The tournament was played in cool weather with rock hard stadium and pro-m balls with crazy high scores capping a season with a record amount of runs scored per 7 innings as well as a record number of +.700 on base percentages and length of games. The turf infields were incredibly hard, the outfields had some divots in them, and the lighting was not good. But as usual the Conference teams adjusted to the conditions and fought through the elements.

A good batch of Stadium ZN balls were used on the two baseball fields. “FK” code.

Long Bomber of the Week!

The Long Bomber of the Week is Nitro Circus slugger Chris Greinert who hit one against Resmondo Saturday morning that cleared the 390 fence in left center, a hill behind it, another small fence behind that, and bounced up against a parked car in an apartment parking lot. I estimated it at 488 feet and was the longest home run that I videoed this year where we could see approximately where it landed.

Conference Championship Results and Awards

Co-MVP – Classic Glass LF/P Dan Kirkwood – .786, 7 HR, 20 RBI

Co-MVP – Classic Glass MI Blake Lively – .821, 12 HR, 35 RBI

Defensive MVP was Classic Glass 2nd baseman Billy Wright.

Offensive MVP – Competitive Edge LF Mitch Lendenski

Team by Team Notes

1st Place – Classic Glass/Easton

CA-AA Record 6-1

Classic Glass struggled most of the season but put it all together at the Conference Championships. They played consistently good defense while others were making errors. They had great pitching from Dan Bean and Dan Kirkwood and line drive hitting throughout the lineup while taking advantage of the short porch in right field with their 5 lefties. Blake Lively hit 12 HR 35 RBI. Righty Ryan Ramirez 11 HR and 33 RBI. Shannon Smith was .805. They did all of this while getting like 5 or 6 of their baserunners thrown out at 3rd base on the 80 foot bases and still won! Congratulations to Classic Glass as they win their 2nd tournament of the year on baseball fields (Seattle)! Dan Bean who was injured on a line drive that hit him in the palm area while pitching has swelling but the hand isn’t broken which is good news.

Lefties took advantage of the short porch.

2nd Place – Competitive Edge/Suncoast/FBI/Olmito

FL-Major Record 6-2

Competitive Edge played well except for the winner’s final. They beat Resmondo and MPT. They are healthy going into the Major as the #3 seed, except maybe for Tyler Ervine (plantar fasciitis). LC didn’t play much but Thorbrogger and Faron Miller did the pitching. Lendenski was .900 with 10 HR and Joe Boland hit 12 HR and 28 RBI.

3rd Place – MPT Rentals / Juno Athletics

NJ-Major Record 4-2

MPT played ok. They came from way behind to beat Resmondo which is a good sign going into the major although they didn’t win a tournament this year. They cut CF Josh Kirsten but didn’t release him and Ben Dunn went into center field and did a nice job. Ryan Harvey was .838 with 15 HR and 42 RBI. Daniel Cayton hit 10 HR. Donnie Walsh was .829 with 9 HR, Chris Anninos was .840, and Bill Pinkham was hot .815. They seem fairly healthy although we haven’t seen Dale Brungardt in a long time.

4th Place – Resmondo/SIS/All-American/Menosse

FL-Major Record 3-2

Resmondo finished 4th with Travis Clark this time, basically their worst finish of the year with Clark on the mound. They are the #1 seed for the Major which was the goal. SS Tyler Marshburn led the offense and defense .893. Kyle Pearson hit 9 HR, Wolf 9, and Connell 8. The team seems fairly healthy. Reckart took a shot off the chest while pitching Friday, Chad Mullins has plantar fasciitis, and Everett Williams will most likely be used full time at the Major as the knee seems ok.

Travis Clark did most of the pitching for Resmondo which is unusual as they usually play him at 1st to avoid injury late in the season.

Tied 5th – Beechy Const/I-57 Roofing/Rocke OHD

MO-B Record 4-2

Beechy pulled off 4 upsets of AA and A teams and was the highest finishing A/B team in the tournament. Their line drive take no prisoners offense was on full display led by Jess Nathan .824, David Yoder .739, and Lynn Yoder – Zac Perkins – Nic Perkins – Brett McDonald who all had a .710 on base percentage. They will be the 2 seed for ‘B’ Worlds and the favorite out of the Conference ‘B’ teams that play.

Beechy takes down S&E Saturday night.

Tied 5th – Sonny’s/Worsham/Red Athlete

NC-Major Record 4-2

Sonny’s lost their first game Friday night to Classic Glass (but who didn’t lose to Classic Glass?). But they did enough in the loser’s bracket to maintain the #2 seed for the major. They played again without Steven Lloyd. Steele Lewis was .852 10 HR and 28 RBI to lead the way along with Barnes, Dawe, Fyffe, Magnum, and Yates who were all mid .700’s.

Tied 7th – SmashIt/Bay Area Legends/BaughFord/BD

CA-AA Record 4-2

Smash It was upset by Beechy on Friday and fought through the loser’s bracket on Saturday before taking a forfeit to Sonny’s. They played without Luis Reyna.

I doubt Branch will be available for Worlds after his unfortunate injury… 🙂

Tied 7th – S&E/Baugh Ford/Proton

NC-AA Record 3-2

S&E was looking to make a deep run in the winner’s bracket before their offense, defense, and pitching checked out against Classic Glass Saturday morning. They recovered some by beating Roofx on a walk off homer in extra innings by Matt Mosel before Beechy beat them Saturday night. Joel Sanchez led the offense at .808 and Justin Ogletree and pickup Dalton Ridgway were .792. Jordan Robinson hit 9 HR.

More Teams

9th IN LSR/TG/BAF/NITRO CIRCUS A (3-2) – LSR played well maintaining their spot in the top 18. They will have the play in game at the Major and be one of the top ‘A’ seeds at worlds.

9th IN Roofx/Revolution/Albicocco/AllHustl AA (3-2) – Roofx played without Mooch and lost that late night game with S&E to finish 9th. They still maintained their spot as the #5 seed at the Major and the #1 seed at the ‘AA’ World. Billy Malovrh did the pitching as a pickup and their offense was led by Arlis Miller .806 and Joey Miller .862. Terry Lambright hit 10 HR as did Faron Fry.

9th MD Nitro Circus/Candy Shop/Ataraxis AA (2-2) – Nitro lost to Resmondo in the quarterfinals and then Smash It late Saturday. They finish with the #7 seed for the Major and the #3 seed for the ‘AA’ although they are now 3-14 vs ‘AA’ teams this year?

9th IN WestPoint SPAA (2-2) – Westpoint had that big win over Roofx Friday night and then lost to Competitive Edge and Sonny’s landing them the #13 seed for the Major.

13th OH JBL/D1/Tailgaters/Ignite AA (2-2) – JBL lost to Beechy then beat Rebel and Sports Reach before losing to Sonny’s. They will be the #6 seed for the Major and the #2 seed for the ‘AA’. Brock Frentzel hopes to be back for Worlds (shoulder).

13th GA PrimeTime/Easton A (2-2) – Primetime beat Cheap Suits on the baseball field and Chick-fil-a. They finish as the #1 seed for the ‘A’ Worlds. Rod Armour .857, Ira Brown .810, Ty Mingle .889, and James Scott .857 led the offense.

13th CAS Str8play/MyAutoJack/Franchise/Rebel A (1-2) – failed to make the Major.

13th SC Epic/Haymak/Kilmans/FLS/Koval/Pure A (1-2) – Finished as the #18 seed for the Major and a #5 seed for the ‘A’ with their new pitcher Mike Jacobsen.

17th VA Chick-fil-A/Slugger/BAF/Shore Irrig AA (1-2) – A rough weekend dropping them to the #10 seed for the Major.

17th KY Sports Reach/Demarini/CT/LLS AA (1-2) – Had some tough losses. Finished #8 in the country.

17th MO Siteman/Pure A (1-2) – Played S&E well just couldn’t finish…again.

17th OH Van Wert Frickers B (1-2) – Upset Chick-fil-a and will be the #1 seed at the ‘B’ Worlds!

17th AZ NFMLending/4TheFallen/KBasInc/Lund A (1-2) – Made the Major! Won 2 tournaments this year.

17th MA PF B (1-2) – Won a game which is good for a ‘B’ team these days at these stacked events.

17th CAN Bay Area Legends A (0-2) – Went 0-2 but still had enough points to make the Major but have the experience to do well in the post season.

17th TXS DirtyVegas/Steel/Envy A (0-2) – Probably the best team not to make the Major. Lets see if they can rebound at Worlds? Mario Moralez their SS all year is out for the year injured is what I am hearing.

25th VA TRU/Riot/Timeless/LA A (0-2) – Didn’t make the Major which was a goal.

25th CAN Cheap Suits A (0-2) – Another rough weekend. Haven’t won much since the spring/beginning of summer.

25th MI Rebel/Anarchy/Str8play/FrogHollow A (0-2) – Just not their year. Now they go into upset mode at worlds.

25th KY Cornerstone/Rebel/Str8Play/Redeemed B (0-2) – They were missing a bunch of players.

Projected Major World Series Bracket (October 11-14)

Faces in the Crowd / More Pictures

It was great to see ex-Astros Sponsor/Managers Herb and Pat Price at the tournament.

The view from the livestream on USSSALive.com

There was a cell tower between fields 4, 5, 6, 7 so that helped the livestream.