2024 ‘B’ World tournament report!

2024 ‘B’ World

Viera, Florida

October 1-2

Ely Reel’s Jason Schlabach takes on Weather Pro at the USSSA ‘B’ Worlds!

‘B’ World Video Links!

2024 ‘B’ World tournament bracket & results link

2024 Men’s ‘B’ Picture Album link

‘B’ World Semifinal – Weather Pro vs CutThroatSports condensed game link

‘B’ World Semifinal – Ely Reel vs J&L Sports condensed game link

‘B’ World – Ely Reel vs Weather Pro winner’s final condensed game link

‘B’ World 4th Place Game – J&L vs Chick-fil-a condensed game link

‘B’ World – J&L vs Weather Pro loser’s final condensed game link

‘B’ World Championship – J&L vs Ely Reel condensed game link

‘B’ World Highlight Clips link

‘B’ World Defensive Highlight video link

Tuesday Recap

The ‘B’ World began on Tuesday, October 2nd at 11 am eastern with 28 teams from 15 different states. The weather was windy with the wind blowing in on the two main fields most of the tournament and they played at the all turf Space Coast Complex in Viera, Florida using 325 foot fences and the Dudley Pro-M ball with an 8 home run limit. Teams were seeded by Conference points and then USSSA points with the #1 seed going to Ely Reel/Schlabach/MSGA Sports from Ohio.

The non-Conference ‘B’ teams battled through low scoring games in the 12 “play in” games as Weather Pro/Cedar Creek/TSC a young team from Indiana beat CLA/Moose Sports/BAF out of Maryland 10-9 on a walk off homer in the bottom of the 7th, and Chick-fil-a (VA-A) beat Smoke/TopNotch/Levels/CompleteAuto (CO-A) 8-7 in the top part of the bracket. J&L Sports/Beachys Electric (OH-B) beat J&I/WestCoast (WA-B) 4-3, a young California team JK Inc/SCCC/Supreme Threads beat HustleDank/AD/ST/Our FAM (CO-B) 16-7, and Eagle Pain/SPN (GA-A) last years ‘C’ champs beat SAL-8/LA Lawn (VA-B) 13-7 as the wind and the big fields kept the scores low.

In the “Round of 16” late Tuesday afternoon into evening the 4 Conference ‘B’ teams who were also the top 4 seeds in the tournament all won. #1 Ely Reel beat JK Inc 23-8 in 6 innings scoring 8 runs in the bottom of the 6th to leave JK Inc on the field. Ely Reel leadoff hitter David Schwartz went 4-5 with 4 runs scored, Kyle Slicker went 5-5 with 2 HR and 6 RBI, and Carlin Yoder went 4-5 with 3 doubles. #2 CutThroatSports (CA-B) beat Classy/Proton (AZ-B) 20-15 led by the hitting of Josh Moore. #3 Thunder/Beloli (NY-B) beat Future 1’s/Proton (TX-B) 37-8. And #4 seeded Pure Pressure (TX-B) beat PF (MA-B) 12-4. In the other 4 games Weather Pro knocked off Moneyball from Texas, ECS (FL-B) with Sean Ramsey pitching beat Chick-fil-a, J&L beat Bennett Homes (UT-B), and Eagle Paint beat SAL-8 10-9.

In the “Round of 8” on Tuesday night in the rain Ely Reel run ruled Eagle Paint 25-9 in 5 innings using all 8 of their home runs. Slicker was 5-5 again with 2 HR and 4 RBI and Ben Young, John Schlabach, Tim Kandel, Zach Sterry, and Joni Hostetler all had 4 hits. J&L Sports beat Pure Pressure 29-19. CutThroat run ruled ECS 30-11. And Weather Pro upset Thunder 19-14.

Final 4 Recap

Semifinal #1 – Carlin Yoder scores ahead of the tag.

The “Final 4” of the winner’s bracket was played Wednesday afternoon and the 1st semifinal featured a matchup between Ely Reel and J&L Sports who both come from the same town in Ohio and many of the players play league against each other. You can watch the condensed game here. Ely Reel jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the 1st against J&L Sports all on base hits as they batted through the lineup. In the bottom of the 2nd they held J&L to a zero, three up three down on some nice defense by middle infielder John Schlabach and pitching by Billy Malovrh. In the top of the 3rd Ely Reel got a 2 out 2 run single by David Schwartz after the pitcher didn’t cover the base and that led to the 1st home run of the game by Kyle Slicker, a 3 run shot to make it 13-3. In the top of the 4th down 14-4, J&L turned a bases loaded double play to keep them from being run ruled as they shut down Ely Reel the rest of the way and clawed their way back into the game. There was some great defense by both teams in this game. In the bottom of the 6th J&L scored 7 runs on a bunch of backside singles and a 3 run homer to close the lead to 15-12 but left the bases loaded when Schlabach for Ely Reel again in the middle made a diving catch. After J&L held Ely Reel scoreless again in the top of the 7th they trailed by just 3 but managed only 1 run in the bottom of the 7th and Ely Reel escaped with the win 15-13. Ely Reel hit 3 HR in the game as David Schwartz at the top of the lineup was 5-5 to lead the offense.

Semifinal #2 – CutThroatSports Josh Moore hits triples against Weather Pro.

You can watch the semifinal between Weather Pro and CutThroatSports in condensed form here.

An interesting tidbit about the Weather Pro team is that two years ago I went to Topeka, Indiana to video their league night tournament which began with a 17 and under all star game where a few of the Weather Pro players were featured. Check out that 17 under All Star game here. Weather Pro used some great defense and timely hitting to take down CutThroat 9-4 adjusting to the heavy winds blowing in a bit better than their opponent.

Winner’s Final Recap

Winner’s Final – Weather Pro and Ely Reel

The winner’s final which you can watch here began on White Rawlings at 3:30 PM with the wind still blowing across the diamond. In the top of the 1st Ely Reel’s Ben Young and John Schlabach hit back to back two out solo home runs to center field to go up 2-0. Then they got a David Schwartz 3 run single in the top of the 2nd to go up 5-1 on Weather Pro. In the top of the 3rd Weather Pro, known for their speed and defense, got an assist from their center fielder to end that half of the inning and came in and hit a 3 run homer to pull to within 1 run 5-4. In the top of the 4th Ely Reel went down in order 1-2-3 but Weather Pro answered with a zero of their own on some great pitching by Ely Reel’s Billy Malovrh. In the top of the 5th Carlin Yoder increased Ely Reel’s lead to 8-4 when he hit a 2 run homer, pinch hitter Joni Hostetler added a homer in the top of the 6th, and John Schlabach hit one in the top of the 7th, as Ely Reel went on to win 11-6. Ely Reel scattered 12 hits and hit 5 home runs in the game.

Loser’s Bracket

4th Place Game – J&L Sports hits against Chick-fil-a.

The Loser’s bracket played out late Tuesday night and all day on Wednesday. In the top part of the loser’s bracket Soldados/VSSI from Texas won 5 straight games including an 11-6 win over Thunder before losing to J&L and finishing tied for 5th. In the bottom part of the bracket it was GTL winning 3 games before losing to Pure Pressure. And Chick-fil-a winning 5 straight including wins over Eagle Paint, Pure Pressure, and CutThroatSports to make it to the 4th place game against J&L. CutThroat Sports thus finished tied for 5th. You can watch the 4th place game here. In that game it was all J&L as they used 2 out base hitting, some great defense with a 4 man outfield, and team speed to get out to a 22-3 lead in the top of the 4th inning batting around the order in the 3rd. J&L went on to win 25-9.

Losers’ Final – Weather Pro gets a tag out at the plate vs J&L Sports.

In the loser’s bracket finals at 6:30 PM it was two Amish teams J&L from Ohio and Weather Pro from Indiana and you can watch that game here in condensed form. This game looked like it was a great matchup but in fact ended up being all J&L as they got a home run from lead off hitter Bryan Yoder to start the game and then they scored 5 on 1 in the top of the 2nd to take a 6-1 lead. Meanwhile their 4 man outfield was shutting down the Weather Pro offense and J&L never stopped scoring as they grabbed a 17-1 lead in the 4th and went on to win 17-2.

Championship Recap

Championship – Ely Reel’s Kyle Slicker homer’s!

The championship game, a rematch of the semifinals between undefeated Ely Reel and upstart J&L was a battle early on. As mentioned before the two teams are from the same Sugarcreek area of Ohio. In the top of the 1st J&L Sports scored 3 runs on base hits but a double play ended the inning. In the bottom of the 1st Ely Reel’s Kyle Slicker homered but the J&L 4 man outfield held Ely to 2 runs. In the top of the 2nd J. Miller hit a 2 run triple and J&L had an early 6-2 lead. In the bottom of the 2nd Slicker struck again hitting a 3 run homer and John Schlabach hit a solo to put Ely Reel up 8-6. In the top of the 3rd the J&L pitcher hit a home run to pull to within a run but an inning ending double play made it so J&L did not make Ely Reel pay for a throwing error earlier in the inning. In the top of the 4th J&L went down in order 1-2-3 and in the bottom half of the inning Ely Reel’s John Schlabach (brother of the sponsor and manager Josh) hit a 3 run homer and Ely Reel separated 16-7. In the bottom of the 5th Ely Reel added 7 more runs as they wore out the right center gap after forcing J&L into a 3 man outfield and Joni Hostettler hit an inside the park homer to put them up 23-9, and they went on to win in 6 innings by the run rule 25-10! Ely Reel who also won the USA ‘B’ Nationals earlier in 2024 was your new USSSA ‘B’ World Champions! Kyle Slicker was 5-5, 2 HR, and 6 RBI in the final game. David Schwartz, John Schlabach, and Carlin Yoder were each 4-5. And the pitching, middle defense, and timely hitting by MVP pitcher Billy Malovrh was huge throughout their undefeated run.

Long Bomber of the ‘B’ World!

Kyle Slicker from Ely Reel is the Long Bomber of the Week for the ‘B’ Worlds. He was .833 on base with a team high 7 home runs with the wind blowing in for the most part. His home runs and 10-10 start to the tournament was a big reason for their success.

USSSA ‘B’ World Results and Awards

MVP – Ely Reel’s Billy Malovrh

Defensive MVP – Ely Reel’s John Schlabach

Offensive MVP – Derek Miller from J&L Sports

Manager of the B World – Josh Schlabach – Ely Reel

Team by Team Notes

1st Place – Ely Reel/Schlabach Trucking/MSGA Sports

Conf ‘B’ from Ohio – Record 5-0

Ely Reel was the best team in the ‘B’ division all year long after taking a core of players from their 2023 ‘D’ World Championship team and moving up to Conference ‘B’. Billy Malovrh on the mound and a good defense behind him led by middle infielder John Schlabach set the tone and kept the team in games all year long. Manager Josh Schlabach pulled all the right strings on pinch hitters and substitutions throughout the tournament. The players would take turns having big games offensively but Schwartz at the top of the lineup set the table for veteran Kyle Slicker and the rest of the team pitched in throughout the tournament. Congratulations! This was a true ‘B’ team with really no “chips” except for Slicker and they did it the right way. Slicker .833. Schwartz .750. Hostettler .714. Sterry .667. John Schlabach .652 in some tough hitting conditions.

2nd Place – J&L Sports/Beachy’s Electric/Mt Hope

‘B’ from Ohio Record 6-2

J&L Sports another true ‘B’ team with no chips showed some grit and toughness using great defense and timely gap hitting to finish 2nd.

Bryan Yoder was on it in the final games.

3rd Place – Weather Pro/Cedar Creek/TSC

‘B’ from Indiana – Record 4-2

Weather Pro was yet another true ‘B’ team with zero “chips”. They finish 3rd using defense, team speed, and timely power to beat some veteran ‘B’ teams. All of the players on this team are from the same area around Topeka, Indiana and a few are related to some of the RoofX major team players. And they are managed by former Conference Manager of the year Marcus Fry.

Yes he caught this. Check out the best defensive plays for the tournament here.

4th Place – Chick-fil-a/BAF/Slugger

‘B’ from Virginia – Record 6-2

John Natolly the pitcher and sponsor of Chick-fil-a had to step away from the Conference for a year but still played non-conference ‘B’ and led his team through the loser’s bracket to finish 4th. They will be back with 2 Conference teams in 2025, a ‘AA’ team and a ‘B’ team.