Added Juno vs Str8play —> 2024 Conference Championship tournament report!

2024 Conference Championship

Oxford, Alabama

September 13-15

Resmondo run ruled their way through 3 games on Friday.

Conference Championship Team List

Conference Championship

Video and Article Links

Primetime tries to take down Str8play after upsetting Sonny’s

Conference Championship Bracket and Results link

Conference Championship Picture Album link (Adding with each condensed game)

Conference Championship Archived Games link

Conference Championship Stats link (Updating throughout the week)

BallClubz boxscores link

BallClubz team stats link

Friday Night Recap

Choccolocco Park

I-57 Roofing upsets Sports Reach in the stadium.

The Conference Championship double elimination tournament was played in Oxford, Alabama at the beautiful Choccolocco Park with the top 18 teams. It was played under the threat of rain as the tail of Hurricane Francine dropped a lot of moisture on the southeast. The tournament began on Friday at 4 PM Central time on the 3 muddy baseball fields and 2 softball fields. In the 3 “play in” games – Legendz (OK-A) beat rival Dirty Vegas (TX-A) in 8 innings 35-32, Classic Glass (CA-AA) advanced by forfeit over Pure Pressure (TX-B) who didn’t show up, and WestPoint (IN-AA) beat Van Wert Frickers 30-20 as Kendall Welborn went 5-5 with 4 home runs and 13 RBI! The “Round of 16” also began at 4 PM on the baseball fields with the stadium ZN ball as Juno Athletics (NJ-Major) held off Cheap Suits (CA-A) 15-10 out homering them 7-4 as leadoff hitter Joe Joe Bennett was 4-5 with 2 home runs. JBL Roofing (OH-AA) 20 run ruled Bay Area Legends (CA-A) 26-5. And I-57 Roofing (IL-A) upset Sports Reach (KY-AA) in the stadium 7-2 as lefty Jake Hathaway hit the only home run of the game with the wind blowing in on the big 325-383-386-374-322 foot field. At 5:45 PM as it rained even more and the fields became even muddier, Str8play (CA-AA) came from an 18-15 deficit to score 11 runs on just 2 homers to beat LSR (IN-A) 26-22 without having to hit in the bottom of the 7th. Joey Capparelli, Dan Herren, Jeff Roxby, Tyler Dickens, and Cole Campbell were all on base 4 times and Herren drove in 7 runs even though LSR out homered them 8-7. In the stadium #1 seed RoofX (IN-Major) went up 6-2 after the 1st inning but upset minded Legendz scored 7 in the top of the 2nd, 7 in the top of the 4th, and they scored at least 1 run in every inning as they pulled off a shocking upset 24-18. Jason Branch and Luke Boyster at the top of the Legendz order were both 4-5 in the win. RoofX just never adjusted to the wind conditions and lost even though they won the home run battle 5-3. And Nitro Circus (MD-AA) beat Classic Glass 14-12 back on field #9 also with the wind blowing across to the 1st base dugout. At 7:00 PM PrimeTime (GA-A) back on field #8 with the wind blowing out came from behind twice to upset Sonny’s (WY-Major) 36-33 as leadoff hitter and pitcher Rod Armour went 6-6 with 3 doubles. Sonny’s lost after the home runs were gone and they put up two zeroes in a row to end the game although they out homered PrimeTime 14-12. And #2 seed Resmondo (FL-Major) beat WestPoint 34-19 in 6 innings, out homering them 13-5. Josh Riley, Greg Connell, Travis Clark, and Cory Briggs were all on base 4 times and Clark hit 3 home runs and drove in 7.

Adam Ussery and JBL hammer Bay Area.

Legendz takes down #1 seed RoofX.

The “Round of 8” was also played Friday night under the lights in the mud. They used a hitting cage mat at home plate so batters wouldn’t slip. Nitro Circus in the stadium against JBL Roofing retired the first 5 batters of the game and jumped out to a 10-2 lead on a John Williams laser home run in the bottom of the 2nd. The game featured a number of nice running catches especially by Nitro right fielder Cabot Van Til and JBL made a small comeback to push the game 7 innings, but Nitro ended up winning 20-10. Then in the stadium Legendz and Juno were tied 3-3 after one inning but Juno scored 15 on 5 homers, 5 doubles, and a triple and rolled to a 22-7 run rule win. Brandon Jackson, Chad Mullins, and Joe Boland were each 4-4 in the win. Back on field #9 with the wind blowing across the diamond Resmondo hit 13 home runs and separated in the bottom of the 5th against a pesky I-57 Roofing team to win 35-20 in 6 innings. Josh Riley was 5-6 and Bubba Mack 5-5 with 3 HR and 7 RBI in the victory. And PrimeTime in a slugfest back on field #8 with Str8play got solo home runs from Rod Armour and Ira Brown to tie the game at 32-32 in the top of the 7th, only to lose in the bottom of the 7th on a Joey Capparelli 2 run homer 34-32. Capp was 5-6 win the win and Bryan Dezern drove in 7 runs.

Luis Reyna returns to the Conference with Nitro Circus.

Because of the weather forecast showing huge amounts of rain on Saturday, the semifinals were moved to late Friday night on the back baseball fields. Resmondo scored 10 in the bottom of the 1st inning after shutting out Nitro Circus in the top half. And Resmondo scored in every inning and added 11 more in the bottom of the 4th and left Nitro on the field in the 6th 31-16. Riley was again 4-4 and Travis Clark 4-4 with 3 home runs and 6 RBI. And over on the smaller baseball field #8 (309-349-352-331-313) Juno Athletics jumped out to a 10-5 lead to start against Str8play. Joey Capp for Str8play hit Juno pitcher Mason Farmer twice in the game after Juno hit Josh Jones in the top of the 1st. Remember Joey played for Juno to start the season. When Juno went down in order 1-2-3 in the top of the 3rd, Str8play scored 6 runs when walks and misplays led to a Capparelli 3 run homer. Juno then used up some homers to crawl back into it in the 4th and 5th and actually grabbed a lead 21-17. But in the bottom of the 6th Str8play “went off” scoring 19 runs on 6 homers including a 2 out 3 run homer by Capparelli to end it by the run rule 37-21. Juno had out homered Str8play 10-7 but Str8play had superior base hitting and made Juno pay for infield miscues. Capp was 5-6 with 8 RBI, Misael Tavarez 4-5 with 7 RBI, Bryan Dezern 5-5, and Cole Campbell 5-5 in the win.

Joey Capp for Str8play ends Junos tournament.

The Dudley Stadium ZN was used on the baseball fields.

Winner’s Final/Championship Recap

Resmondo and Str8play in the finals Sunday.

The winner’s bracket final was scheduled for 9:45 AM Saturday with the loser’s bracket scheduled for all day Saturday as well but the overnight rain postponed all of that until noon and then another long lasting rain storm cancelled the loser’s bracket and set the winner’s final which would be the final game of the tournament for Sunday morning at 9 AM. In that game, Resmondo jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first inning, added 5 runs in both the 2nd and 3rd innings, and really separated in the bottom of the 4th scoring 9 runs on 6 homers to go up 26-8 on Str8play. When Str8play extended the game with a 4 run top of the 5th inning, Resmondo ended it in the bottom half on a Josh Riley solo homer 27-12. Kyle Pearson, Phil Matte, and Kevin Bazat were perfect on base in the game with Pearson and Bradley Jones each hitting 3 home runs. This was Resmondo’s 5th tournament win of the season, all on baseball fields, and the 256 Conference points earned pushed them past RoofX into the #1 spot in points and the #1 seed at the USSSA Major World Series in October. Like the Conference Championships the higher seed at the Major World Series is the home team.

Conference Championship Results

1st Place – Resmondo/All American Restoration/O (FL-Major)

2nd Place – Str8play/Rebel/LA Empire/CHAD (CA-AA)

Women’s Conference Championship

Monsta/LaFamiglia/GTL (FL-Major) rolled undefeated through the 16 team Women’s Conference Championship. They played at the same park as the men in the mud and only the winner’s bracket was completed. Monsta knocked off Derby Girls 14-10 in the winner’s final Sunday morning scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st which was the championship game since the loser’s bracket was dropped. Monsta finishes 1st in the 2024 points standings.