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2024 ‘AA’ World Tournament
Viera, Florida
October 6-7
2024 ‘AA’ Worlds!
‘AA’ World Hot Links
Str8play’s Tyler Dickens scoring against Classic Glass.
2024 ‘AA’ World tournament bracket & results link
‘AA’ World – Str8play vs Classic Glass condensed game link
‘AA’ World – Nitro Circus vs LSR condensed game link
‘AA’ World Semifinal – Sports Reach vs Nitro Circus condensed game link
‘AA’ World Semifinal – WestPoint vs Str8play condensed game link
‘AA’ World – Sunday video highlights link
‘AA’ World – WestPoint vs I-57 Roofing condensed game link
‘AA’ World – Sports Reach vs JBL Roofing condensed game link
‘AA’ World Winner’s Final – Nitro vs Str8play condensed game link
‘AA’ World – 4th Place Game – I-57 Roofing vs JBL Roofing condensed link
‘AA’ World – Loser’s Final – Nitro vs JBL condensed game link
‘AA’ World Championship – Nitro vs Str8play condensed game link
Monday Highlight Clips from the ‘AA’ link
‘AA’ World – Middle Shots & Defensive Plays video link
Bloopers & Odd Plays from the AA, A, & B Worlds
‘AA’ World Team List
Sunday Recap
‘AA’ World was played in the Stadium and on 4 fields in the back. All fields had 325 foot fences or temp fences.
Above, Westpoint hits against JBL Roofing.
The 2023 ‘AA’ Worlds began on Sunday afternoon October 6th at the Viera, Florida Space Coast complex with a strong field of 18 teams from 12 different states. 6 of the teams were ‘AA’ and 12 teams were classed ‘A’. The weather was rainy and wet for the most part, but to the teams credit they played through it. They played on 5 fields, 2 in the red quad, 2 in the white quad, and the show field was the stadium with temp fences set at 325 feet to match the back fields. They used the controversial Dudley Hardcore ball which seems to perform as well as the Stadium ZN and was originally built as a senior ball. It made for some wild and high scoring games with the 14 home run limit. Games quickly became about home run management from the outset. They began the tournament at 9 AM on Sunday on the back fields with 2 “play in” games. The non-Conference ‘A’ team Comatose/S2N/Subway (WI-A) scored in every inning against NFMLending/KB/Chasse/BeHappy (AZ-Conf-A) and Comatose out homered NFM 9-5 as leadoff hitter Brent Zomer went 5-6 with 4 HR and 10 RBI in a 32-28 victory. In the other “play in” game Florida’s non-conference ‘A’ team LOB knocked off Seminoles/NACSF.INC/TPS/RS (OK-Conf-A) 13-12 over on Red Easton in the rain on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 7th.
The “Round of 16” also began at 9 AM on Sunday morning. WestPoint (IN-Conf-AA) in the rain with the wind blowing in on White Rawlings scored 7 in the bottom of the 4th to separate from Cheap Suits/Republic Realty/ESP (CA-Conf-A) 12-9, held Cheap Suits scoreless in the top of the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings, and added 5 more in the bottom of the 6th to win 17-11. Both teams hit 3 home runs. The top of the WestPoint lineup led the way as Nick Canfield, Tyler Cowles, and Travis Tucker each were on base 3-4. I-57 Roofing/Beechy’s/Royce Geo/SA (IL-Conf-A) didn’t celebrate their ‘A’ World Championship from the night before very long when they had to be back on the field at 9 AM to take on Legendz/CE/Adiktiv (OK-Conf-A) in the ‘AA’. I-57 gave a lot of their role players the start since they were fresh and it paid off as they scored 6 runs in the top of the 1st and led 22-15 going into the bottom of the 7th. Legendz who out homered I-57 9-6 in the game scored 5 in the bottom of the 7th, 3 on a homer by Cody Anthony, but came up short with the just 1 out and the go ahead run at the plate they lost 22-20. At 10:45 AM still on the back fields JBL Roofing/Pauer (OH-Conf-AA) beat DIRTY VEGAS/STEEL/ARK FAB (TX-Conf-A) 24-15. Classic Glass/Easton (CA-Conf-AA) beat California rival Bay Area Legends (CA-Conf-A) 23-13. LSR/BaughFord/TRU/Slugger/Riot (IN-Conf-A) trailing PrimeTime/Easton/BallHawk (GA-Conf-A) 15-13 scored 12 on 7 home runs in the bottom of the 6th and won 25-22 when Primetime came up short in the top of the 7th. LSR’s Matt Brady, Zach Ross, and Bishop Harris were each 4-4 in the victory. And over on White Marucci with the wind blowing out Van Wert Frickers (OH-Conf-A) was trying to pull off a big upset of Sports Reach/Demarini/Grizzy/SMHS (KY-Conf-AA) as Van Wert jumped out to a 28-12 lead going into the bottom of the 5th. Sports Reach needing 2 runs to extend the game ended up scoring 16 to tie the game and then in the bottom of the 6th they scored 8 more to go up 36-29. In the top of the 7th Van Wert used up their last 3 home runs tying the game at 36-36 on a Michael Swiatek home run. But Sports Reach in the bottom of the 7th got a double from Jeff Keske, a single by Justin Ogletree, and a single by Anthony Otrando to win it 37-36! Dagmar Pena was 6-6 with 4 HR and 10 RBI in the win for Sports Reach and Keaton Sullivan was 6-6 with 5 HR and 11 RBI in the loss for Van Wert. At 2:15 PM the top 2 seeds played the “play in” game winner’s. #1 seeded Nitro/Beloli/Ataraxis/SBT/SOL/BAF/K (MD-Conf-AA) beat LOB 17-10 with the wind blowing in on White Rawlings. And #2 seed Str8play/Rebel/La Empire/CHAD (CA-Conf-AA) scored 20 in the top of the 2nd and 9 more in the top of the 3rd to run rule Comatose 35-7. Leadoff hitter Joseph Capparelli, two hitter Daniel Herren, and last hitter Josh Jones were all perfect on base in the game and Chad Erickson drove in 7 runs as Str8play hit 12 homers in the game.
Str8play hits against Classic Glass in the quarterfinals.
‘AA’ World – Str8play vs Classic Glass condensed game link
‘AA’ World – Nitro Circus vs LSR condensed game link
The “Round of 8” quarterfinals were began Sunday afternoon on White Rawlings and White Marucci where #6 Westpoint beat #3 JBL Roofing 31-21 in a battle of ‘AA’ teams and #4 Sports Reach scored 15 runs in the top of the 3rd to beat the #5 seeded and ‘A’ World Champs I-57 Roofing. Sports Reach out homered I-57 and was led by Dagmar Pena who was 5-5 and pitcher Justin Ogeltree who was 4-4 with 3 HR and 6 RBI. The rest of the winner’s bracket quarterfinals, semifinals, and games were in the stadium while the loser’s bracket battled it out to make it to Monday’s final 6. At 4 PM Str8play got out to an 11-8 lead on Classic Glass and used up the remainder of their 14 HR in a 20 run top of the 3rd, hitting 6 straight homer’s at one point. In that inning they had hit 9 homers and scored 18 runs before their first out! Then they took the wind out of Classic’s sails by turning a double play in the bottom of the 3rd, scored 7 more with no homer’s left in the top of the 4th taking advantage of some walks and held Classic scoreless in the bottom of the 4th to win 38-11. At 5:30 PM it was Nitro Circus who didn’t care about home run management as they started the game with 5 runs on 5 solo homers and ended scoring 7 runs on 5 HR as LSR robbed one of their home run attempts. In the bottom of the 1st LSR put up a zero as they had a foul out and Nitro middle man Luis Reyna stabbed a liner. In the top of the 2nd Nitro’s Josh Kirsten hit a 2 run homer and John Williams a solo to make it 10-0. LSR hit two solo’s in the bottom of the 2nd and put up another zero in the 3rd and Nitro Circus ran away with a 28-11 run rule victory when Chris Greinert hit a 2 run homer in the top of the 4th and used the teams last homer (14th) in the 6th by hitting one off the batter’s eye 385 feet to dead center!
Final 4 Recap
‘AA’ World Semifinal – Sports Reach vs Nitro Circus condensed game link
‘AA’ World Semifinal – WestPoint vs Str8play condensed game link
The “Final 4” of the winner’s bracket played out in the evening Sunday in rainy and sometimes pouring rain conditions. The 1st semifinal was Nitro Circus and Sports Reach. Nitro Circus used up 6 of their 14 home runs in the 1st inning to Sports Reach’s 3 and led 13-9. In the top of the 2nd inning Sports Reach put up a zero, going down in order and Nitro promptly answered with a zero of their own. In the top of the 2nd Sports Reach infielder Jeff Keske made Nitro Circus pay for some errors with a 3 run homer to go to the lead 14-13. In the bottom of the 3rd a refocused Nitro Circus scored 15 runs on 5 home runs and 10 total extra base hits to double up Sports Reach 28-14. In the top of the 4th a depleted Sports Reach team went down in order 1-2-3 and Nitro Circus cruised the rest of the way to a 34-14 victory. In the 2nd semifinal Str8play center fielder Chad Erickson robbed a Westpoint home run in the top of the 1st inning and added a nice sliding catch to hold Westpoint in check. In the bottom of the 1st tied at 1-1 Westpoint pitcher Kyle Johnson made two nice plays on shots up the middle and center fielder Kyle Fisher robbed a home run. In the top of the 2nd Nitro Circus continued the great defense with some nice plays by infielders Jeff Roxby and Dan Herren and in the bottom of the 2nd Str8play cashed in on some walks to load the bases with Josh Jones hitting an RBI double to separate. In the top of the 3rd Westpoint’s Kyle Johnson hit a grand slam after 3 walks but a double play ended the inning with Westpoint trailing 10-7. In the bottom of the 3rd Str8play grounded into another double play and Westpoint robbed another homer to keep themselves in the game. In the top of the 4th Kyle Fisher hit a 2 run home run to tie the game at 10-10 and in the bottom of the 4th Westpoint got out of a bases loaded jam by turning a double play after Str8play had loaded the bases on some rain induced errors. In the top of the 5th Jess Maloney hit a 2 run homer to give Westpoint the lead 15-14 and Fisher in center field robbed yet another homer to keep Westpoint ahead. But the lead was short lived as Str8play leadoff hitter Joseph Capparelli hit a 2 run homer and Str8play used the wind blowing out to hit 4 more home runs to go up 21-15. In the 6th Westpoint and Str8play traded the lead back and forth on home runs by Fisher and Capparelli. In the top of the 7th with Str8play up 24-22 and Westpoint having 5 home runs left, the first two batters made outs, Johnson hit a triple, and Kendall Welborn doubled but they left the tying run on 2nd and Str8play advanced to Monday’s winner’s final. Brandon Streets, Anthony Acevedo, Jeff Roxby, and Josh Jones were all on base 4-4 in the game.
Str8play Middle Infielder Dan Herren makes a spectacular catch.
Winner’s Final Recap
‘AA’ World Winner’s Final – Nitro vs Str8play condensed game link
The stadium was the place to be on Monday as the ‘AA’ World continued with the winner’s bracket final at around noon. It was raining and overcast. Nitro began by scoring 5 on 3 in the top of the 1st including a 2 out 2 run homer by Jeff Roxby. In the bottom of the 2nd Nitro flashed some leather as Big John Williams made a diving stop at 2nd base and Jordan Robinson made a great play on a hard shot. In the top of the 2nd Str8play got Nitro to hit into a double play keeping them to just 1 run and in the bottom of the 2nd Str8play grabbed a 7-6 lead on a Brandon Streets homer that went off the baseball field fence in center field. In the bottom of the 3rd trailing 9-7, Str8play popped out 3 straight times. In the top of the 4th Nitro scored 8 runs before they made their first out on big hits by Filip Washington, Chris Greinert, and John Williams and pulled out to a 12 run lead on a Cody Collins pinch hit homer 19-7. In the bottom of the 4th Str8play continued their popout streak with 2 more to make it 5 popouts in a row before they loaded the bases and Dan Herren used the wind to hit a grand slam backside. They went on to score 2 more but Nitro led 19-13 although Str8play had a 5 home run advantage. In the bottom of the 5th Str8play opened up and tied the game 25-25 using up most of their home runs and they went to the 6th tied in the game and on homers at 13-13. In the top of the 6th trying not to use their last homer Nitro bounced out twice before Jason Martel hit a 2 out 3 run homer to go up 28-25. In the pivotal bottom of the 6th Mike Nino hit a pinch hit single to start the inning. Dan Herren hit their last homer to tie it. And Chad Erickson hit a 2 out 2 strike shot down the third base line for an inside the park homer to put Str8play up 30-28. In the top of the 7th Nitro Circus got a pinch hit from Josh McAdams to tie the game at 30. Then Filip Washington hit a laser through Roxby at first base with the bases loaded, John Sullivan hit a clutch single to right field, and Josh Kirsten a double off the left center temp fence to put Nitro up 33-30! In the bottom of the 7th down 3 with none to hit, Str8play had a foul out then drew 2 walks, got an infield single from Capparelli, and then Dan Herren hit a bases loaded 2 run single to make it 1st and 3rd, one out, and Str8play down 1. Brandon Streets then hit a game winning 2 run double down the left field line and Str8play won 34-33!
Loser’s Bracket Recap
JBL’s Brian McBryde hits against Sports Reach Monday.
‘AA’ World – WestPoint vs I-57 Roofing condensed game link
‘AA’ World – Sports Reach vs JBL Roofing condensed game link
‘AA’ World Winner’s Final – Nitro vs Str8play condensed game link
‘AA’ World – 4th Place Game – I-57 Roofing vs JBL Roofing condensed link
‘AA’ World – Loser’s Final – Nitro vs JBL condensed game link
In the loser’s bracket Sunday NFM Lending and Seminoles each won 2 games before being sent home by JBL Roofing and I-57 Roofing respectively. Bay Area Legends also won 2 games before being sent home by I-57 Roofing and JBL Roofing beat Classic Glass 22-7 late Sunday night to send home the first of the 6 ‘AA’ teams. On Monday morning at 8 AM after a game filled with walks, double plays, and a lot of scoring, I-57 found themselves down 33-20 to Westpoint going into the bottom of the 7th. But I-57’s memorable week of softball continued as they got a grand slam from Cody Roton, a 2 run shot from Nate Jess, and a 2 run shot from Jacob Hoskins to get them close. And then I-57 got a double by Jake Hathaway, an intentional walk to Zane Migues, and a 1 out walk off double by Nick Perkins to win it 34-33! In the 10 AM loser’s bracket game JBL Roofing scored 10 runs after the 2nd out in the bottom of the 3rd inning and 13 total to go up 20-11 on Sports Reach. In the top of the 4th Joel Sanchez hit a grand slam for Sports Reach and they scored 10 on 4 in the top of the 5th to take the lead 27-25. In the bottom of the 6th though JBL’s Brian McBryde hit a grand slam to put JBL up 34-32 and with no home runs left and Sports Reach put up a zero in the top of the 7th. Joel Sanchez was 5-6 with 4 HR and 10 RBI in the loss. David Johnson, Chris Anninos, and Adam Kaminski reached base 5 times each for JBL in the win. At 1:15 PM after the winner’s final it was the 4th place game between I-57 and JBL in the battle of the roofing companies. I-57 grabbed a 13-5 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd where JBL scored 23 runs on 11 home runs. Then I-57 put up a zero in the top of the 4th when JBL pitcher John Dombrowski got a strike out looking and a nice play behind him by shortstop Orlando Castillo. When Dombrowski got another strike out looking in the top of the 5th, JBL went on to win 30-15. In the loser’s bracket final Nitro’s John Williams hit one over the center field baseball wall in the top of the 1st. JBL scored 15 on 6 home runs before the 1st out in the bottom of the 1st and 18 on 7 overall to go up big. It began to rain hard in the 2nd and JBL got out of a bases loaded situation. In the top of the 3rd Nitro’s John Williams hit a 3 run homer and Josh McAdams a pinch hit homer after 2 bases loaded walks to get them back into the game. In that inning they scored 12 runs on 3 home runs and had 5 walks with one out to go and they scored 28 runs in the inning on 8 HR and 9 walks overall! The wheels really came off the wagon for JBL in that inning. Later in the game Josh Cardwell hit one off the batter’s eye and added a grand slam in the top of the 4th and Nitro advanced to the championship with a 53-37 run rule win over JBL.
Nic Perkins caps off a 13 run comeback as I-57 upsets Westpoint.
Nitro’s Josh Kirsten hits against JBL Roofing in the loser’s final.
Championship Recap
‘AA’ World Championship – Nitro vs Str8play condensed game link
In the championship game early Monday evening Nitro Circus batted around the order in the top of the 1st with only 1 out as Str8play misplayed two balls. Nitro ended up scoring 12 runs on 5 home runs. In the bottom of the 1st Str8play scored 6 on 2 getting 5 unearned runs on an early error on a grounder. In the top of the 2nd Nitro Circus hit a single then made 3 straight outs. In the top of the 3rd Nitro scored 2 on 2 solo home runs to go up 14-8. In the bottom of the 3rd some hustle got Str8play going and Joseph Capparelli hit a long home run to give Str8play their first lead 15-14. In the bottom of the 3rd Str8play took advantage of multiple Nitro errors and walks to score 11 runs on 4 home runs and after Nitro Circus went down in order 1-2-3 in the top of the 5th, Str8play got a walk off run rule grand slam from Jeff Roxby to win it 34-17! Str8play had won the 2024 ‘AA’ World tournament after winning the 2023 ‘A’ World tournament a year earlier!!!
Jeff Roxby hits a walk off run rule homer in the championship game!
The celebration is on for Str8play!
Long Bomber of the ‘AA’!
Long Bomber of the men’s ‘AA’ was Nitro’s Chris Greinert for peppering the batter’s eye and hitting one over the right center field lights!
‘AA’ World Results and Awards
‘AA’ World MVP – Daniel Herren – Str8play
‘AA’ World Defensive MVP – Chad Erickson – Str8play
‘AA’ World Offensive MVP – Jason Martel – Nitro Circus
‘AA’ World manager of the tournament – Danny Hakker
Team by Team Notes
1st Place – Str8play/Rebel/La Empire/CHAD
CA-AA Record 5-0
Str8play went undefeated and pulled out games against Westpoint and Nitro Circus even though they didn’t always play their best ball. They had a number of innings where they put up zero’s, made errors, and hit a bunch of solo homer’s but it didn’t seem to faze them as they played loose and as a team and won the ‘AA’ World! All of this after last year where they won the ‘A’ World. Now they will head to the Major division for 2025 to see if they can make it 3 in a row?
2nd Place – Nitro/Beloli/Ataraxis/SBT/SOL/BAF/Koval
MD-AA Record 4-2
Nitro Circus played well at times but didn’t finish games in the winner’s bracket finals 1 run loss to Str8play and that may have cost them the ‘AA’ championship. They had all of the pieces, just wasn’t quite their day. Nitro will be in the ‘AA’ division again in 2025.
Chris Greinert aims for the batter’s eye.
3rd Place – JBL Roofing/Pauer
OH-AA Record 5-2
JBL Roofing looked like they might be headed to the ‘AA’ Championship game for the 2nd year in a row after scoring 18 runs in the first inning against Nitro Circus in the loser’s bracket finals game. But Nitro scored 28 runs in a wild 3rd inning sending JBL home. JBL is not having their own team in 2025. 🙁
4th Place – I-57 Roofing/Beechy’s/Royce Geo/SA
IL-A Record 4-2
I-57’s magical week continued at the USSSA Worlds. After winning the ‘A’ World tournament Saturday night they contemplated not even playing the ‘AA’ on Sunday. But they did play and beat Legendz, lost to Sports Reach and beat Seminoles on Sunday. On Saturday morning they came from 13 down in the bottom of the 7th to beat Westpoint, and then lost to JBL 30-15 Monday afternoon to finish an impressive 4th. I-57 will be one of the favorites in the ‘AA’ division in 2025.
Tied 5th – WestPoint
IN-AA Record 2-2
Westpoint beat Cheap Suits and JBL Roofing to make it to the semifinals against Str8play. But they lost by 1 to Str8play in the pouring rain Sunday night and then by 1 to I-57 on Monday afternoon to finish tied for 5th. Westpoint will be back in 2025 in the ‘AA’ division.
Tied 5th – Sports Reach/Demarini/Grizzy/SMHS
KY-AA Record 2-2
Sports Reach beat Legendz and I-57 Sunday before losing by 20 to Nitro Circus in the semifinals Sunday night. Then they got knocked out by JBL 34-32 when they were out of home runs and failed to score in the top of the 7th down 2. Sports Reach will retool and be back for 2025.
Joel Sanchez hits a grand slam vs JBL Monday morning.
More Teams
Classic Glass beat rival Bay Area, then lost to Str8play in the quarterfinals. In the loser’s bracket they beat LOB before losing to JBL by 15. Classic Glass is not coming back in 2025 after decades playing high level softball. We wish the Formosa family the best and hope to see them back at it in the future!
CF Reid Ramirez robs a home run.
Faces in the Crowd / More Pictures
Mrs. Jones had the right idea.
Stoneman calls in his bet but it didn’t win.
