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2024 ‘A’ World
Viera, Florida
October 4-6
2024 ‘A’ Worlds – Jake Hathaway hits a bomb against Bay Area Legends!
‘A’ World Team List
Friday Recap
The ‘A’ Worlds is underway, Comatose & Geno Buck taking on J&I all the way from Washington.
The 2024 USSSA ‘A’ Worlds began on Friday, October 4th on 4 fields at 8 AM, 2 in the white quad and 2 in the red quad, at Viera, Florida’s Space Coast Complex. There were 29 teams overall from 16 different states and 11 of the teams were ‘A’ teams and 18 of the teams were teams from the ‘B’ Worlds that stayed after the ‘B’ was done Wednesday and played the ‘A’. They used the Dudley Pro-M ball with a 12 home run limit on all turf fields with 325 foot fences. The wind blowing in or out did affect the scoring. The teams were seeded first by Conference points and then by class and then USSSA points within class. In the 13 “play in” games, GTL/Dirty/Legacy/DRDrywall/AZGM (WA-B) beat PurePressure/DownSouthSports/AxeBat (TX-ConfB) 9-8 on a walk off homer in a game that the wind was blowing in so hard on Red Marucci that there was no scoring for the first 5 innings of the game. Seminoles/NACSF.INC/TPS/RS (OK-ConfA) who had a rough regular season but is known for making runs at the USSSA ‘A’ Worlds opened with a 21-0 win over JK INC/SCCC/Supreme Threads (CA-B) leading by 16 runs early. Legendz/CE/Adiktiv (OK-ConfA) used a “little league” inside the park homer to put away ECS/Keyes/Diamond Kingz (FL-B) from Miami 12-5, shutting out ECS in 5 different innings. NFMLending/KB/Chasse/BeHappy (AZ-Conf-A) from Clarkdale, Arizona run ruled Blue Ox Exteriors/AW Roofing/GWA (CO-B) 27-12 in a very long game on Red Marucci. Blue Ox had NFM’s former pitcher Brian Therkildsen on the mound. Van Wert Frickers (OH-Conf-A) the 2023 USSSA ‘B’ World champs won their opener over SAL-8/LA Lawn’s/84 Lumber (VA-B) 18-10 after SAL-8 had an early 9-1 lead. Van Wert ended up with a 7-4 home run advantage in that one. LOB (FL-A) a local non-conference ‘A’ team who finished top 4 at the ‘B’ Worlds in 2023 had what looked to be a solid beginning to end win over CLA/MooseSports/BAF (MD-B) but CLA hung in to tie the game at 9-9 in the 5th inning before LOB won 12-11 as CLA scored 2 in the bottom of the 7th to make it close. In the bottom half of the bracket CutThroatSports/CourseyRlty/Soares (CA-Conf-B) had a huge 5th inning to run rule Axe (WA-B) 24-9. Weather Pro/Cedar Creek/TSC (IN-B) a young team with players all from the same town in Topeka, Indiana who just finished 3rd in the ‘B’ Worlds the prior Wednesday jumped out to a shocking 14-6 lead on PrimeTime/Easton/BallHawk (GA-Conf-A) scoring 12 runs in the bottom of the 4th and they went on to pull off the huge upset 20-11! Thunder/Beloli/Chosen/RF/KL&R/LS (NY-Conf-B) won a low scoring game over Thin Air/ 4 Him Factory (CO-B) 11-6 over on the dreaded Red-Easton field with its wind and sun issues. LSR/BaughFord/TRU/Slugger/Riot (IN-Conf-A) the early season favorite to win the ‘A’ Worlds beat J&L sports/Beachys electric/Mt hope (OH-B) 19-7. J&L had just finished 2nd at ‘B’ Worlds 2 days earlier. Ely Reel/Schlabach/MSGA Sports (OH-Conf-B) the newly crowned ‘B’ World Champs trailed Bennett Homes/Remax/BCC/SFC (UT-B) 5-2 going into the 5th inning on Red Easton but Ely Reel outscored Bennett in the 2nd half of the game 5-2. The game went to extra innings where Ely Reel scored 1 on a sacrifice fly by Ben Young in the top of the 8th and they held Bennett scoreless in the bottom half to win 8-7. Zach Sterry led the offense going 4-4 with 3 RBI. I don’t believe there was an over the fence homer hit in that game. Dirty Vegas/Steel/Ark Fab (TX-Conf-A) jumped out to a 14-1 lead on Chick-fil-A/BAF/Slugger (VA-B) scoring 9 runs in the top of the 3rd. Dirty Vegas scored crooked numbers the rest of the game and beat Chick-fil-a 21-3 in 6 innings out homering them 2-0 and out hitting them 30-11. Jared Hunt was 4-5 and Shawn Ryan 4-4 in the win for Dirty Vegas. And in the final “play in” game Comatose/S2N/Subway (WI-A) a non-conference ‘A’ team from Wisconsin led by veteran pitcher Geno Buck had a solid beginning to end win over J&I/Westcoast/Hells Canyon Sports (WA-B) 20-5 taking advantage of a number of J&I errors.
Weather Pro takes on CutThroatSports…again.
The “Round of 16” started in the afternoon Friday. I (DW) was nearly hit by a bottle of Fireball that fell from the bleachers before the #1 seeded I-57 Roofing/Beechy’s/Royce Geo/SA (IL-Conf-A) took to the field, so you know the players were loose. I-57 was up 7-4 early on vs Comatose on the show field White Rawlings with the wind blowing in strong. But Comatose tied the game 7-7 in the bottom of the 5th and it looked like I-57 might squander another #1 seed like they did the year before in the ‘B’ Worlds? But in the top of the 6th the Yoder brothers who also sponsor the team got a walk and a single back to back and Cody Roton drove in the go ahead run on a sacrifice fly and the I-57 defense didn’t allow a base runner to Comatose in the 6th or 7th in to hold on to a nail biting win. “Survive and advance” as Dick Vitale would say! Orlando Olivera and Davey Yoder were 3-3 in the win and Nic Perkins and Olivera hit the only home runs by either team. The #2 seed Cheap Suits/Republic Realty/ESP (CA-Conf-A) who won 3 Conference tournaments during the regular season jumped out to a 16-7 lead early on LOB. Cheap Suits scored in every inning and finished off LOB in the 6th with a 7 run top half of the inning. Brandon Traylor was 5-5 with 2 doubles and 6 RBI and Nick Guillen 4-5 with 5 RBI in the win. GTL had an early 5-4 lead on the #3 seed Bay Area Legends (CA-Conf-A) but Bay Area separated in the top of the 5th 13-6 and went on to win 21-8. Legendz beat Seminoles 13-11. Van Wert Frickers jumped out to a 12-0 lead on NFM Lending but ended up just pulling out a 24-21 win over on Red Marucci field. Van Wert out homered NFM 6-4 and were led by Drew Kortokrax who was 5-5 on base and 5 other players (Greg Popatak, Jake Wissel, Drew Smith, Quentin Walker, and Adrian Ramos) were 4-5 in the win. CutThroatSports got a 16-5 “revenge” win over Weather Pro who had beaten them in the semifinals of the ‘B’ Worlds earlier in the week. LSR survived a 20-15 win over Thunder. And Ely Reel (the ‘B’ World champs) upset Dirty Vegas getting out to a 15-3 lead and holding Dirty Vegas scoreless in 5 of the 7 innings. The game was on Red Easton and Ely Reel did not hit a home run. David Schwartz their leadoff hitter was 4-4.
Watch the ‘A’ World quarterfinal game – I-57 Roofing vs Ely Reel here!
The quarterfinals were played late Friday night with all 4 of the top seeds still in it. #1 I-57 Roofing went up 15-4 (6-1 on HR) against Ely Reel after Ely Reel went down in order in the bottom of the 4th inning. In a pivotal 5th inning I-57’s Zane Migues, known for his stellar play in Viera at Worlds, made Ely Reel pay for a dropped fly ball by hitting a 3 run homer putting I-57 up 18-4. In the bottom of the 5th Ely Reel got back to back home runs by David Schwartz and Kyle Slicker and Ely Reel climbed back into the game and forced I-57 to play all 7 innings. But David Yoder’s 2 run homer off the scoreboard in the top of the 6th secured I-57’s win 21-13. Migues was 4-5 with 3 HR and 8 RBI.
Watch the ‘A’ World – Cheap Suits vs Van Wert Frickers quarterfinal game here.
The game of the day Friday may have been Cheap Suits vs Van Wert Frickers. Cheap Suits went down in order 1-2-3 in the top of the 1st while Van Wert got a 2 out 2 run homer from Drew Smith to go up 3-0. Cheap Suits came back going up 13-5 going into the bottom of the 4th and were led by Daunte Freeman their left fielder who put in one of the great performances of 2024. He hit his 2nd homer in the top of the 4th, his 3rd homer in the top of the 5th, and he robbed two Van Wert homers on the defensive side and suddenly Cheap Suits led 15-9 after 5 innings. Cheap Suits then scored 9 runs in the top of the 6th as Conference Rookie of the Year Matt Valencia and Demario Boyd homered but Van Wert answered with 10 runs of their own in the bottom of the 6th to pull within 5 runs, 24-19. But Daunte Freeman struck again with his 4th homer of the game in the top of the 7th and Cheap Suits won 27-20. Freeman was 5-5 in the game with 4 HR, 7 RBI, and 2 home run robs!
Cheap Suits Daunte Freeman makes two spectacular home run robs vs Van Wert Frickers!
I missed most of the LSR vs CutThroatSports game but LSR went up 21-10 going into the bottom of the 4th where CutThroat scored 11 runs to tie the game. LSR only had used 1 home run. And in what was one of the higher scoring games of the tournament LSR held on to win 35-28. In the final semifinal Bay Area Legends scored 11 runs in the bottom of the 1st against Legendz and went on to win 18-13 on the White Marucci field.
Final 4 Recap
Watch the ‘A’ World – Cheap Suits vs Bay Area Legends semifinal here.
The winner’s bracket semifinals were played back to back on Saturday at 11 AM and 12:30 PM on White Rawlings field. In semifinal #1 it was a battle of California ‘A’ teams who knew each other well in Cheap Suits vs Bay Area Legends. In the top of the 1st inning Matt Valencia hit a 2 run homer for Cheap Suits and the Bay Area middle infielder Chente Granados made a wild play on a ricochet shot to end the inning. Bay Area then put up a zero in the bottom of the 1st and Chente flashed some more leather in the top of the 2nd getting Cheap Suits to go down in order 1-2-3. It was not an easy day to hit home runs on the 325 foot fields with the wind blowing across the field from left to right so Bay Area singled their way to 5 runs in the bottom of the 2nd as Brady Bate hit a 2 out 2 run single to go up 5-3. Cheap Suits put up another zero in the top of the 3rd and Tre Porter hit a solo backside homer for Bay Area in the bottom of the 3rd to put them up 6-3. In the 4th inning Cheap Suits pitcher Tanner Westmoreland stabbed a liner and got Shawn Jones to step out of the box to hold Bay Area to zero. In the 5th Cheap Suits Ken Duby and Bay Area’s Isaac Gonzalez traded homer’s. In the 6th Brandon Traylor hit a 2 out RBI double and Mac Rio (Demario Boyd) hit a 2 run double after Bay Area pitched around Valencia to pull to within 1 run 7-6. In the bottom of the 6th though a patient Bay Area team drew 3 walks in the wind and got a 2 out triple from John Franklin and they went on to score 7 runs to go up 14-6. In the top of the 7th Cheap Suits mounted a 6 run comeback but left the tying run at the plate and Bay Area held on to win 14-12. Bay Area out homered Cheap Suits 2-1 in the game.
Watch the ‘A’ World – I-57 Roofing vs LSR semifinal here.
In semifinal #2 it was I-57 and LSR. LSR out doubled I-57 to take a 2-1 first inning lead. Home runs were earned and in the top of the 2nd I-57’s Jake Hathaway grunted one out to right for a 4-3 lead. In the top of the 3rd LSR held I-57 scoreless on a 3-10-3 double play and in the bottom half of the inning they grabbed a 6-4 lead as Zack Goleniak and Matt Brady hit back to back home runs. The LSR defense and pitching by Tommie Baugh held I-57 scoreless in the 4th and 5th innings as well and held them to 1 run in the top of the 6th when right fielder Eric Nevoso robbed a game tying home run. But LSR zeroed themselves in the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings? So a mundane defensive game came down to a spectacular 7th inning with LSR leading I-57 Roofing 6-5. In the top of the 7th I-57 lefty Adam Harrington hit a clutch pinch hit 3 run homer out of center field into the cross wind and that sparked an adrenaline fueled offensive onslaught where Orlando Olivera hit a nasty 2 out 2 run homer to make it 10-6, they batted all the way around the order to where Harrington hit a 2 run double, and only a great play by LSR shortstop Michael Rainer got LSR out of the inning trailing 15-6. In the bottom of the 7th LSR did not give up and hit 3 home runs to close it to 15-12 but a controversial-spectacular diving catch/no catch by I-57 center fielder Dante Broome kind of sealed the win for I-57 who had survived and advanced again. Both teams hit 5 of their 12 home runs but the player of the game was I-57’s Adam Harrington who was 2-2 with a homer and 5 RBI in the final inning as a pinch hitter!
LSR’s Eric Nevoso robs an I-57 homer.
Winner’s Final Recap
Watch the ‘A’ World – I57 Roofing vs Bay Area Legends winner’s final condensed game link here.
The winner’s bracket final was played immediately after the semifinals at 2 PM. Somehow I-57 who had just got done playing an emotional and adrenaline draining end of game in the semifinals then put together a 13 run top of the 1st inning against Bay Area Legends as pitcher Mitch Carriger, who batting leadoff, hit a double and home run in that 1st inning. Bay Area answered with just 3 runs on 2 homers in the bottom of the 1st and they left the bases loaded down 18-7 in the bottom of the 3rd on a 2 out error by I-57 and did not make them pay didn’t make them pay. In the bottom of the 5th Bay Area’s John Franklin hit a 3 run homer to close the lead to 20-14 but I-57 got a 2 run homer by Orlando Olivera off of Bay Area right fielder Zach Smith’s glove to make it 22-14, and they got a “pickle” double play to hold Bay Area to zero’s in the 6th and 7th innings to win 22-14. Both teams hit 6 home runs and Zane Migues went 5-5 for I-57 in the win while Brady Bate hit 3 HR for Bay Area in the loss.
Bay Area’s Isaac Gonzalez homer’s vs I-57.
I-57’s Adam Harrington comes thru with a huge 3 run pinch hit homer in the top of the 7th!
Broome’s catch/no catch was spectacular!
Loser’s Bracket Recap
Watch the ‘A’ World Loser’s Bracket Finals – Cheap Suits vs Bay Area Legends here.
The loser’s bracket was played in the evening Friday and all day Saturday. Primetime from Georgia beat Axe, Comatose, Dirty Vegas, Legendz, Thunder, and LSR before Cheap Suits beat them 18-9 in the 4th place game. In the lower half of the loser’s bracket NFM Lending beat Florida teams ECS and LOB before CutThroatSports dropped down and beat NFM and Ely Reel to finish tied for 5th with LSR. So, the loser’s bracket final was a rematch from the semifinals with the California ‘A’ teams Cheap Suits and Bay Area Legends. In that game Bay Area went up 6-0 in the 1st inning getting home runs from John Franklin and Tre Porter. Then they turned a double play in the top of the 2nd to hold Cheap Suits to 1 run. Bay Area extended their lead to 14-1 in a 7 run bottom of the 3rd which included home runs by Tre Porter, Steven Smith, and Isaac Gonzalez and they cruised to a 16-1 5 inning victory leaving Cheap Suits on the field by the 15 run rule.
Championship Recap
Watch the ‘A’ World Championship Game – Bay Area Legends vs I-57 Roofing here.
The championship game was a rematch of the winner’s final between Bay Area Legends and I-57 Roofing and was a bit anti-climactic. The wind died down and it was a night game in Viera on the 325 foot fields with the Dudley Pro-M ball and it felt like “pure” softball championship game conditions finally after a weekend of wind. I-57 held Bay Area scoreless on 3 flyouts in the top of the 1st inning and came in and scored 4 runs on 2 HR. In the top of the 2nd Bay Area base hit their way to 3 runs but it was all I-57 the rest of the game. In the bottom of the 2nd Jacob Hoskins hit a 2 out 2 run single to make it 6-3. In the bottom of the 3rd Orlando Olivera hit one over the net in left center and into the parking lot. Hathaway hit a no doubter to make it 8-3 and Dante Broome hit a 2 run inside the park homer to make it 11-3. Hoskins then hit another homer, Olivera a bomb, and Nic Perkins hit a line drive 2 run homer to make it 17-4. In the top of the 5th infielder Marcus Yoder turned a big double play and in the bottom of the 5th Nic Perkins hit a 2 out homer and the Yoder brothers hit back to back double/single to ice the game away 19-4! I-57 was the undefeated USSSA ‘A’ World Champs! Perkins was 4-4 with 3 HR and 4 RBI in the win and the celebration was on!
A “softball playing crowd” for the championship.
The celebration is on for I-57!
‘A’ World Video and Article Links
2024 ‘A’ World tournament bracket & results link
2024 ‘A’ World Picture Album link
‘A’ World – I-57 Roofing vs Ely Reel condensed game link
‘A’ World – Cheap Suits vs Van Wert Frickers condensed game link
‘A’ World – I-57 Roofing vs LSR semifinal condensed game link
‘A’ World – Cheap Suits vs Bay Area Legends semifinal condensed game link
‘A’ World – I57 Roofing vs Bay Area Legends winner’s final condensed game link
‘A’ World Loser’s Bracket Finals – Cheap Suits vs Bay Area Legends game link
‘A’ World Highlight Video link
‘A’ World Championship Game – Bay Area Legends vs I-57 Roofing link
Long Bomber of the Week!
I-57’s Orlando Olivera is the Long Bomber of the Week for the ‘A’ World with Jacob Hoskins and Steven Hathaway as honorable mentions.
‘A’ World Results and Awards
‘A’ World MVP – Orlando Olivera – I-57 Roofing
‘A’ World Defensive MVP – Dante Broome – I-57 Roofing
‘A’ World All Tournament Manager – Steven Robbs – I-57 Roofing
‘A’ World Offensive MVP – Brady Bate – Bay Area Legends
Team by Team Notes
1st Place – I-57 Roofing/Beechy’s/Royce Geo/SA
IL-A Record 5-0
I-57 won their 5 games in every way possible. They won close games, they came from behind, they won with defense & pitching, a deep bench, timely power, and they adjusted to the conditions just a little bit better than their opponents. Congratulations to the sponsorship group led by the Yoder brothers (Marcus & David) and the management group led by the up and coming softball mind of Steven Robbs. The team has had a great two year run in Conference ‘B’, now ‘A’, and in 2025 they will play ‘AA’!
Mitch Carriger locked down that lead off spot and pitcher for the champs.
2nd Place – Bay Area Legends
CA-A Record 4-2
Bay Area comes up a little short with a deep veteran laden squad. Brady Bate, John Franklin, and Joe Dorton led the offense. The veteran pitcher Shawn Jones, possibly in his last year, made yet another run. Joel Gonzalez (player/sponsor) will rebuild in the off season.
Trey Porter goes backside bomb.
3rd Place – Cheap Suits/Republic Realty/ESP
CA-A Record 4-2
Cheap Suits had a nice season winning 3 Conference tournaments out west. Veteran Brandon Traylor would get the big hits, Conference Rookie of the Year Matt Valencia led the offense, and how about that performance in the quarterfinals by left fielder Daunte Freeman! Sponsor Sonny Aguilera and manager Darrell Leonor will rebuild for 2025.
4th Place – Prime Time/Easton/BallHawk
GA-A Record 6-2
Primetime lost their opener to the kids from Topeka and disappeared to the back fields deep in the loser’s bracket where I didn’t see much of them. But following the bracket they rattled off 6 straight wins to finish 4th. Not what Tony wanted but they will be back in 2025 playing every weekend somewhere at the top levels. 🙂
Wind was a factor until nighttime.
Joel Gonzalez the Bay Area sponsor/player and Darrell Leonor manager of Cheap Suits talking shop.
Rob Roop with Tommie Baugh. This is supposedly Tommie’s last year. We thank him for all the hard work over the years putting teams on the field and then going out and pitching Conference from the C to the Major level! Go support Tommie and buy a Ford in Alabama at Baugh Ford.
Someone shot a rocket off over by NASA.
