2023 Crown Town Classic tournament report!

2023 Crown Town Classic

Shawnee, Kansas

June 30 – July 1

10 fields, 300 feet, all turf, with mirror technology Musco lighting!

Go gitcha a crown!

Crown Town Hot Links

2023 Crown Town Bracket & Results Link

2023 Crown Town Picture Album Link

Aristotle vs Dirty Vegas condensed game link

Dirty Vegas vs WestPoint condensed winner’s final game link

Championship condensed game link

Crown Town highlight clips (coming soon)

2023 Crown Town archived games link

Crown Town Stats link

2023 Crown Town BallClubz boxscore stats link

2023 Crown Town BallClubz team totals stats link

Crown Town Classic Team List

Friday Night Recap

‘C’ team Sonic comes up with the final out to upset ‘A’ team T’s 13!

The 2023 Crown Town Classic started on Friday night at 5 PM central time on 4 of the 10 all turf 300 foot fields at the Mid America Softball Complex in Shawnee, Kansas. There were 26 teams overall from 10 different states and 10 of the teams were from Conference USSSA. With no Major and only one ‘AA’ team (Westpoint) the teams were fighting for the 220 Conference points that were given to the winner, which would instantly change any of the Conference teams season and put them in the running to qualify for the USSSA Major World Series. The temperatures were in the high 90’s at the start of the tournament and it was very humid. There were 10 “play in” games in the double elimination bracket and there were a few upsets as local Kansas ‘C’ team BNS beat Vivid/Killbombers (TX-B) 29-18. Sonic a good Missouri ‘C’ team took down T’s 13 (NE-A) 30-28 when T’s used up their home runs early couldn’t score 2 in the bottom of the 7th to tie or 3 to win.

Performance Glass in the white takes down Bay Area Legends Friday night!

In the “Round of 16” Siteman/Pure (MO-A) trailing 9-8 going into the bottom of the 5th scored 7 runs on 3 homer’s then both teams failed to score the rest of the game and Siteman won 15-9 with neither team using all of their home runs. Brandon Keene led the way for Siteman 3-3 with 2 HR and 6 RBI. Westpoint (IN-AA) punched their ticket to the “Final 8” on Saturday at high noon by beating Legendary/Wichita Bond (KS-C) 38-2 scoring 27 runs in the top of the 2nd inning. Nick Canfield, Tyler Cowles, and Travis Tucker were perfect on base in the game and Kyle Johnson had 3 HR and 7 RBI as they hit all 14 of their home runs and finished the game by the 30 run rule in 3 innings. Seminoles after winning their play in game rolled through BNS-Easton 30-13. Aristotle (AR-A) beat Red Door (MO-C) 33-22. Performance Glass a good non-conference ‘B’ team upset Bay Area Legends (CA-A) 28-17. In the only battle of Conference teams in the “Round of 16” EAS/GSSports (CO-B) held off Beechy 25-21 who had the hammer and is considered the top Conference ‘B’ team in the country here half way through the season. EAS got out to a 21-17 lead and they robbed a key Beechy home run to hold them down. Both teams hit all 8 home runs and Sean Robison, Todd Cabrera, and Justin Charles were all 4-5 on base. Dirty Vegas/Steel/Envy (TX-A) scored 11 in the bottom of the 2nd and 8 in the bottom of the 4th to beat Infinity Contractors (OK-B) by the run rule 26-11 in 5 innings. 1B Jordan Harrison and pitcher Caleb Ladner were each on base 4-4 and Ladner hit 3 HR and had 8 RBI in the win. And Cheap Suits (CA-A) beat GWA/Fatboys/1953/Soto Gloves (CO-B) 31-24.

Beechy right fielder robs a homer vs EAS.

Saturday Recap

USSSA Hall of Famer Victor Cordova hits a grand slam vs Dirty Vegas.

On Saturday the “Final 4” played on all 4 fields at 12:45 PM as the temperatures were around 85 degrees and tolerable when the clouds came by. Westpoint started the game in the top of the 1st against Siteman hitting 4 straight solo homer’s but was beating Siteman 14-10 after 3 innings. Then Westpoint went on a run scoring 14 in the top of the 4th to go up 28-10. But Siteman answered with 6 in the bottom of the 4th and 16 in the bottom of the 5th to go up 32-31. In the late innings with the homer’s gone Westpoint broke a 33-33 tie in the top of the 7th scoring 4 runs and Siteman was only able to muster 1 run in the bottom of the 7th and Westpoint advanced 37-34. Kyle Johnson the two hitter and third baseman for Westpoint was 6-6 in the win, hit for the cycle, and knocked in 6 runs while scoring 6 times. In quarterfinal #2 Seminoles made quick work of Performance Glass 27-12 in a game that ended before I even got over to watch the game. In quarterfinal #3 Aristotle scored 13 in the top of the 2nd and held off EAS 32-23 even though EAS scored in every inning. And in the final quarterfinal game Dirty Vegas scored 10 in the bottom of the 5th after Cheap Suits zeroed in the top of the inning and Dirty Vegas left them on the field 30-15. Pitcher Caleb Ladner was 4-5 with 2 HR and 8 RBI and left fielder Rob Banks made a spectacular catch you will have to check out in the video highlights.

EAS turns two against Aristotle.

Final 4 Recap

Travis Tucker and WestPoint made short work of Seminoles in the semis.

The semifinals began at around 5:15 PM and they announced that they would finish the tournament on Saturday. WestPoint batted for what seemed like 30 minutes to start the game going up 16-0 against Seminoles and it seemed to drain the life out of them as they led 19-3 going into the 4th where they scored 13 more to win it by the 20 run rule 32-6. Westpoint did this on only 10 HR and were again led by third baseman Kyle Johnson who was 5-5 on base. In the other semi final which you can see here in condensed form Aristotle scored 6 on 2 in the top of the 1st inning but Dirty Vegas matched their 6 and led 15-14 going into the 4th. In the bottom of the 4th an eerily strong wind kicked up leading to Dirty Vegas getting some walks and some looonnngg homer’s and next thing you knew they scored 17 runs and cruised to a 34-19 win. Lead off hitter Mario Moralez, two hitter Jordan Harrison, and four hitter Nick Perez were all on base 6-6 while Caleb Ladner drove in 9 runs in the victory.

Winner’s Final Recap

Winner’s Final action!

The winner’s final played immediately after the semifinals and can be watched here in condensed form. Dirty Vegas couldn’t get anything going early as WestPoint jumped out to a 9-0 lead. When Dirty Vegas only scored 3 on a Jordan Harrison 3 run homer in the top of the 3rd Westpoint smelled blood and put up 21 runs and won 30-9 without having to bat in the 4th. The first 7 batters in the WestPoint lineup hit home runs and Tyler Cowles, Travis Tucker, Josh Vance, and Jordan Patterson were all 4-4 on base.

Loser’s Bracket Recap

Burkhardt hits a key homer vs Siteman

4th place game – Seminoles hitting against Aristotle after the rain.

Jordan Harrison goes backside vs Aristotle.

The loser’s bracket played out all day on Saturday as Beechy Construction won 3 games including an extra innings win against Siteman to finish tied for 7th after Performance Glass the non-conference ‘B’ team from Kansas knocked off T’s 13 and Beechy back to back to finish tied for 5th. In the lower half of the loser’s bracket Legendary and BNS made short runs before EAS and Bay Area beat them. And Bay Area won 2 in a row before Cheap Suits beat them 21-19 when Bay Area couldn’t hit a game tying homer in the bottom of the 7th. And then Cheap Suits beat EAS 33-31 even though EAS scored 18 runs in one inning and had the hammer. Seminoles then dropped down into the loser’s bracket and sent home Cheap Suits 27-8 before losing the 4th place game to Aristotle 30-25 in the pouring rain. The rain subsided some for the loser’s bracket finals late Saturday night as Dirty Vegas trailing Aristotle 25-21 going into the bottom of the 6th scored 10 runs to take a 31-25 lead and held Aristotle scoreless in the top of the 7th to win by 6. Billy Maggard who had just arrived at the tournament and Nick Perez each went 5-6 and Caleb Ladner 5-5 in the win.

Championship Recap

WestPoint tryout player Daryl Yoder went off in the championship game!

In the championship which finished well after midnight in calm and nice weather, Dirty Vegas went up 11-3 and used just 3 home runs while WestPoint was using up their homer’s. In the top of the 3rd WestPoint pitcher Jordan Patterson tied the game at 11-11 on a 2 run homer and Dirty Vegas went on a stretch of batter’s where they made 10 outs in 11 batters? That was all WestPoint needed to stretch the lead to 24-12 in the top of the 5th. A tired Dirty Vegas team never gave up though and forced WestPoint to play all 7 innings but WestPoint’s offense was a little too strong and WestPoint won the game and the championship 35-23 out homering Dirty Vegas 14-8. In the game a WestPoint tryout player Daryl Yoder playing a good third base went 5-5 with 2 HR and 2 doubles and knocking in 7 runs after being primarily just a “runner for the pitcher” all weekend. And Kyle Johnson and Joe Horsley were each on base 5 times in the final game.

There were 105 teams across all of the different divisions and lots of regional players were following the Siteman games.

The tournament was well run and the park is a good one for Conference events. The umpiring was very good as I went through the video clips of “bang bang” plays it looks like they got almost all of them them correct.

Long Bomber of the Week!

The Long Bomber of the week is Vivid slugger David McDowell who sent one over the net on field #1, over the cart path, over the cornhole shade and I estimate it to have travelled 445 feet! He was challenged by Dirty Vegas third baseman Nick Perez who hit a creature on field #1 into right center of field #6 or whatever that is up there. But upon further review Nick hit his during that 5 minute mini-wind storm that blew straight out. 🙂

Crown Town Results and Awards

MVP was WestPoint pitcher Jordan Patterson

Defensive MVP was WestPoint middle infielder Joe Horsley

Offensive MVP was Dirty Vegas pitcher Caleb Ladner – .808, 8 HR, 30 RBI

Team by Team Notes

1st Place – WestPoint

IN-AA Record 5-0

It was obvious on Friday night the focus and precision WestPoint and Dirty Vegas were playing with that they could very easily meet in the finals which they did. WestPoint’s offense was strong and nearly unstoppable at least this weekend. Kyle Johnson, Nick Canfield, and Tyler Cowles were all over .800. Travis Tucker had 25 RBI. The defense played good at times, Jordan Patterson was a work horse on the mound, and some newer names like SS Josh Vance and CF Brian Spenn were lacing the ball all over the yard. WestPoint moves into the top 13 in points.

As we know Offensive MVP goes to the 2nd place team but Kyle Johnson was .885, 10 HR, 26 RBI!

2nd Place – DirtyVegas/Steel/Envy

TX-A Record 4-2

Dirty Vegas only lost to WestPoint and had double digit innings when they needed them. Ladner, Perez, Harrison were the on base leaders and each of them hit 8 HR. Ladner had 30 RBI as a pitcher those are really good numbers and he batted third most of the tournament. Dirty Vegas is an athletic team who is on the cusp of making the Major World Series and competing for an ‘A’ World title.

LF Rob Banks makes a great sliding catch.

Dirty Vegas management.

Nick Perez hits a creature…

3rd Place – Aristotle/FBI

AR-A Record 4-2

Aristotle must have done something right as the hater’s on TheOldScout message board try to tear them down. They have some good athletes in the right spots and some guys who just know how to play the game sprinkled throughout the lineup. Lowery and Brunt did the pitching. We don’t have any stats to talk about because they don’t use BallClubz. 🙁

Jared Fisk at lead off.

Tim Bowser’s got the home run swing going again.

4th Place – Seminoles/Nacsf.Inc/TPS/RS/Anarchy

AR-A Record 4-2

Seminoles took a step in the right direction winning 4 games including wins over Performance Glass and Cheap Suits. I believe they have given up pursuing the Major World Series and will focus on the ‘A’ Worlds.

Buckshot trying to keep Seminoles in it.

Tied 5th – Performance Glass

KS-B Record 4-2

Performance Glass has been a strong non-conference team for awhile now led by manager and sponsor Todd Atchison. They upset Bay Area Legends on Friday night and followed that up with a walk off win over T’s 13 and then they sent Beechy home for a 5th place finish.

Performance Glass picked up Riley Norris who is local to the area.

Tied 5th – Cheap Suits

CA-A Record 3-2

Cheap Suits needed to have the weekend Dirty Vegas and WestPoint had but came up short. They did beat rival Bay Area Legends.

Reid Ramirez playing CF for Cheap Suits.

Tied 7th – Beechy Const/I-57 Roofing/Rocke OHD

MO-B Record 4-2

Beechy Construction continues to do something positive at every Conference event they go to it seems. This week they beat Vivid and Siteman and were close to a top 4 finish. This week they were led offensively by Kyle Burkhardt .750 7 HR 21 RBI and he had a big home run late in their overtime win against Siteman. They are capable defensively as well and their veteran pitcher Steve Myers sets a fierce tone on the field which it seems makes the players behind him want to play defense.

Steve Myers doing the pitching for upset minded Beechy.

Tied 7th – EAS/GSSports/Suncoast

CO-B Record 3-2

I kept saying EAS was from California but they are from Colorado. They picked up Josh Tallent recently who pitches and adds a nice left handed stick. EAS had a nice win over Beechy Saturday morning and played Cheap Suits close. Offensively Todd Cabrera was .864 with 5 HR and 17 RBI and Westy Guill and Brian Atchison were in the .700’s.

More Teams

Yoley playing some 3rd base for Bay Area Legends (CA-A) who went 2-2.

Legendary a ‘C’ team from Kansas went 3-2

Vivid is still struggling to figure it out and learn how to win conference games.

This was Siteman’s week to get going but they lost a couple more close ones. They did give WestPoint their best game.

BNS has a nice ‘C’ team run by Brian Smith for the regional midwest battles.

T’s 13 who is a non-conference ‘A’ team and threat to win the tournament stumbled out of the gate and never made a run going 2-2.

GWA is a Colorado B team that went 1-2. I have to say ‘B’ Worlds is wide open this year and all those ‘B’ teams that stay and play USSSA ‘A’ Worlds have a legit shot to make a run.