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2024 Hall of Fame Classic
Viera, Florida
April 11-14
Bubba Mack returns to Resmondo for 2024!
Hall of Fame Classic Video and Article Links
Austin Andrews makes another one of his ESPN highlight reel catches.
Hall of Fame #1 Classic Bracket and Results link
Hall of Fame #2 Classic Bracket and Results link
Hall of Fame Classic Picture Album link (Adding action photos as the condensed games are created)
RoofX vs Sonny’s Dual #1 Condensed Game link
Juno vs Resmondo Dual #1 Condensed Game link
Resmondo vs Sonny’s Championship condensed game link
Sonny’s vs Roofx loser’s final condensed game link
Roofx vs Sports Reach condensed game link
Resmondo vs Sonny’s winner’s final condensed game link
HOF2 – Resmondo vs LSR Championship condensed game link
HOF2 – Roofx vs LSR condensed game link
HOF2 – Sonny’s vs Roofx condensed game link
HOF2 – Resmondo vs LSR condensed game link
HOF2 – Resmondo vs Bay Area Legends condensed game link
HOF2 – LSR vs Str8play condensed game link
Roofx pitcher Justin Mucciarelli’s drop ball
HOF2 – Lady SNI vs Team 24 condensed game link
HOF2 – Sports Reach vs Juno condensed game link
Hall of Fame Classic Archived Games link
Hall of Fame Classic Dual #1 Stats link
Hall of Fame Classic Dual #2 Stats link
Ballclubz team by team stats link
HOF Team List
Space Coast Complex
Stadium and Red Quad were 325-365-385-365-325
Thursday Recap
The first video clip I shot with may camera Thursday morning was Str8play’s Chad Erickson robbing this Carlin Yoder home run!
Hall of Fame Classic Dual #1 began on Thursday at 8 AM eastern time on five 325-365-385-365-325 foot all turf baseball fields at the Space Coast Stadium Complex in Viera, Florida which is the home of the USSSA (United States Specialty Sports Association). There were 23 teams from Conference USSSA, and 1 Florida non-conference ‘A’ team named LOB in the tournament. There were 8 “play in” games as teams tried to make it into the “Round of 16”. It didn’t take long for the “March Madness” (even though it was April) type upsets to occur as LOB with a number of ex-conference players like Donnie Hammonds and Peter Seiden jumped out to 13-1 and 14-8 leads on Westpoint (IN-AA). Westpoint battled back scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the 6th to take a 17-14 lead, but LOB powered their way with home runs in the top of the 7th and pulled off the upset 20-18. The wind was a huge factor on Thursday blowing in or out depending on which field you were on, and it was mostly overcast and about 82 degrees. Primetime (GA-A) advanced when Thunder (NY-B) forfeited and didn’t make the trip due to one of their sponsors Joel Degennaro unfortunate passing of his father just prior to the tournament. Van Wert Frickers the Ohio team that won ‘B’ Worlds in 2023 jumped out to a 6-0 lead on I-57 Roofing on the Red Marucci field with the wind gusting straight in. I-57 recovered, scoring 7 in the top of the 5th and 2 more in the top of the 6th to take a 9-6 lead after not scoring in the first 4 innings. Van Wert answered in the bottom of the 6th scoring 9 runs including a 2-run triple by Quentin Walker and Van Wert won 15-11. Van Wert’s Greg Popatak had the only home run in the game which I believe was an in the park homer and Drew Kortokrax was on base 4-4. Over on the other side of the Red Quad on Red Rawlings field it was the exact opposite with the wind blowing straight out. Ely Reel (OH-B) the 4th place ‘D’ World team who moved up to Conference ‘B’ were taking on Str8Play (CA-AA) who won the ‘A’ Worlds in 2023 and picked up Brian Zirkle, the 2022 batting champ Brandon Streets, and Jeff Roxby from the Major division among others. It was a wild game and Ely Reel scored 9 in the 4th, 5 in the 5th, 16 runs in the top of the 6th, and they added 6 more in the top of the 7th to take a 40-20 lead going into the bottom of the 7th. Str8play answered as they hit for almost 20 minutes, scoring 16 runs before making the final out and losing 40-36. Ely Reel out homered Str8play 11-10 and John Schlabach the brother of the sponsor/manager Josh Schlabach led the way 6-7 with 3 HR and 9 RBI. Up in the stadium at 8 AM Rebel (MI-A) trailing Cheap Suits (CA-A) 13-0 going into the bottom of the 3rd, scored 10 runs to get back in it and slowly overcame Cheap Suits 21-17 without hitting a home run with the wind blowing in. Steven Smith and Joey Simmons each reached base safely 4-4 for Rebel in the win. In the rest of the “play in” games Dirty Vegas beat Seminoles 30-23 scoring at least 2 runs in every inning and out homering Seminoles 10-3. Erik Kanaby led Dirty Vegas going 4-5 with 2 HR, 2 doubles, and 6 RBI. LSR (IN-A) who finished 2nd in the Las Vegas Major last weekend, jumped all over Nally’s a new ‘A’ conference team from Kansas scoring 14 runs in the top of the 1st inning and 13 in the top of the 7th to finish them off 41-25. Leadoff hitter Zach Goleniak hit for the cycle 6-7 with 1 HR, 3 RBI, and 6 runs scored, and “Sir” Francis Fisk went 6-6 with 6 WALKS! In the last of the play in games for Dual #1 Bay Area Legends (CA-A) beat Legendz (OK-A) 6-4 in extra innings with the wind blowing straight in and there were zero home runs hit in the game. Joe Dorton and Zach Smith were on base 3-4 for Bay Area in the win.
In the “Round of 16” on Thursday, the teams still dealing with the gusting winds, the upsets continued as LOB scored 14 runs in the top of the 7th to go up 45-34 on Classic Glass and they held on to win by the same score. Nitro Circus (MD-AA) who won the Las Vegas Major last weekend, scored 16 in the top of the 4th and 12 in the top of the 6th vs Primetime to take a 39-15 lead and held off Primetime 45-36 even though Prime scored 21 runs in the last two innings. Josh McAdams, the left fielder for Nitro Circus was 6-7 with 3 HR and 13 RBI and Josh Cardwell was 7-7 in the win. Rod Armour walked 5 times and Ira Brown was 5-6 with 1 HR and 8 RBI in the loss for Primetime. Nitro out homered Primetime 12-10. RoofX the new Major team playing for the first time beat Dirty Vegas in a long game 45-32 scoring 10 in the 3rd and 13 in the 4th. They scored at least 3 runs in every inning and out homered Dirty Vegas 10-6 while Dirty Vegas stranded 13 runners. RoofX had 4 players – Jeremy Fry, Tyler Ervine, Mitch Lendenski, and Ryan Mcclanahan all hit for the CYCLE! Wow! I am not sure I’ve ever witnessed that before? Ely Reel was at it again getting out to a 26-19 lead on Sports Reach (KY-AA) after scoring 12 runs in both the top of the 2nd and 3rd innings. When they put up 9 in the 6th to go up 41-27, they were looking good for a win. But Ely Reel zeroed in the top of the 7th and a veteran Sports Reach team scored 10 runs in the bottom of the 7th and walked down and walked off Ely Reel 42-41 on a Joey Kampfer 3 run homer! Dagmar Pena was 6-6, hit for the cycle, and had 3 HR and 11 RBI in the win for Sports Reach. Kyle Slicker hit 4 HR for Ely Reel in the tough loss. Due to the wind, there were 22 walks in the game. Sonny’s (WY-Major) the #2 seed and Major World Series runner up a year ago played Van Wert Frickers on Red Marucci where the wind was still gusting in. The two teams did not hit a single home run as Sonny’s cruised to a 14-3-win, blanking Van Wert in the last 4 innings. Mark Wik had 2 extra base hits for Sonny’s. LSR upset JBL (OH-AA) who was playing their 1st game in Conference play this year. LSR broke open a tight 24-22 lead with a 15-run top of the 6th and held JBL scoreless in the bottom of the 6th to win by the run rule 39-22. Christian Glisson and Francis Fisk were each on base 6-6 and Glisson the lefty hit 4 home runs. Juno Athletics (NJ-Major) playing their first game at noon on Red Marucci with the wind gusting in trailed Bay Area Legends 4-1 going into the top of the 5th inning when their offense started firing and they outscored Bay 11-4 down the stretch as Andrew Collins and Ben Dunn hit the first home runs on that field in 3 games! Juno won 12-8 and Chad Mullins was 4-4 with a homer. Resmondo (FL-Major), the #1 seed rolled through Rebel 23-3 leaving them on the field in the bottom of the 4th inning. They out homered Rebel 6-0 with the wind blowing in and Bubba Mack was 3-3. And to close out the “Round of 16” LOB, the non-conference ‘A’ team from Florida beat their second ‘AA’ team in a row, this time beating Classic Glass 45-34 in a shootout on Red Easton. LOB scored 14 runs in the top of the 7th in that one.
A storm came through Thursday afternoon delaying the games for an hour.
The “Round of 8” began at 11 AM in the stadium and each of the 4 games were played one after the other. Resmondo got things started vs the upset minded LOB. They jumped out to a 7-5 lead, scored in every inning, and after scoring 12 in the top of the 4th Resmondo won by the run rule in 5 innings 27-5. Resmondo hit 6 HR as the wind was still blowing in and Riley, Pearson, Jones, Matusik, and Williams were all on base 4-4 or 4-5. In the next game Sonny’s pitcher Bill Pinkham and the defense did a nice job of holding down Sports Reach in a 22-11 win. Sonny’s out homered Sports Reach 5-3 and Tyler Storey and Jason Magnum were each 4-4. In the 2:30 PM game it was Nitro Circus and Roofx. The game was delayed after a couple of innings by a massive wind/rainstorm for about an hour. But when they restarted it was all Roofx as they scored 14 in the bottom of the 3rd and left Nitro on the field by the 20-run mercy rule 25-5 in the bottom of the 4th. Roofx out homered Nitro 7-2 as leadoff hitter Arlis Miller and 6 hitter Terry Lambright were each 4-4 with 6 RBI. After that rainstorm the ball started to fly in the stadium a little bit better. Juno, the old MPT team with a bunch of ‘AA’ pickups held off a late charge by LSR to win 24-21. Brandon Jackson in left field for Juno made a number of running and diving catches to help Juno separate from LSR. Ryan Harvey was 4-4 with 3 HR in the win.
RoofX middle infielder Jeremy Fry lays out for another one vs Sonny’s in the Thursday night semifinals.
So, after all of the upsets the “Final 4” teams in the winner’s bracket were all Major teams who were also the top four seeds. The semifinals were played under the lights Thursday with the wind blowing across the field. The RoofX defense and pitching held down Sonnys 12-5 until a 7-run bottom of the 5th tied the game at 12 each. When RoofX only answered with 3 in the top of the 6th, Sonny’s had a big 10 run inning with most of the damage coming with 2 outs and an “OG” Kyle Pearson 3 run homer. The RoofX offense never did have a big inning and Sonny’s with that late charge won 22-16 to advance to the Friday morning winner’s final. Both teams hit 7 HR. In the 2nd semifinal, which was the last game of the night, Juno Athletics put up 2 runs on no homers and you just knew watching that Resmondo was about to explode. Resmondo put up 18 runs in the bottom of the 1st and 13 more in the bottom of the 2nd and left Juno on the field in the bottom of the 4th 35-15 out homering them 11-7. Phil Matte and Travis Clark were each 4-4 with 2 HR and Kyle Pearson was 5-5 in the win.
Roofx and Sonny’s semifinal of Dual #1.
Juno hits against Resmondo in the semis of Dual #1.
Friday Recap
Resmondo’s Kyle Pearson hits against Sonny’s in the winner’s final.
The winner’s bracket final was moved to Friday morning, and it was played between the two top seeds and the 2023 MWS finalists Resmondo and Sonny’s. Resmondo led 7-6 early on after putting up a zero in the top of the 2nd. But Resmondo as they did all 4 days put up an 18 spot in the top of the 3rd, Sonny’s answered with 10 in the bottom of the 4th, but Resmondo used all of their 16 home runs and pulled out an entertaining 39-30 victory. Jason Matusik led the way 6-6 with 3 HR, a triple, and 7 RBI batting in the 5 slot for his new team.
The loser’s bracket played out all afternoon and evening Thursday and throughout the morning Friday. In the top half of the bracket Primetime beat 4 fellow ‘A’ teams – Nally’s, Legendz, LOB, and Cheap Suits before dropping a Friday morning game to the RoofX major team and finished tied for 5th. In the lower half of the loser’s bracket Bay Area Legends and Rebel made a little run before being beaten by Sports Reach and Nitro Circus respectively. Then Sports Reach beat Nitro in the stadium at 8 am Friday morning 26-25 on clutch home runs by Parker Strader and Tyler Kahlke. The game featured an ESPN highlight level catch by Sports Reach CF Austin Andrews. The video was sent into ESPN. Sports Reach then went on to beat Juno Athletics in the stadium and then lost to RoofX and ended up 4th. At 1:15 PM Friday afternoon Roofx played Sonny’s in the loser’s bracket finals. Sonny’s continued to have big innings vs RoofX while Roofx only batted around the lineup once in the game. Sonny’s scored 9 in the 2nd, 13 in the 3rd, and 10 in the 5th as they beat Roofx 45-27. 45 runs tied the highest score of Dual #1 which had 4 teams reach that amount – Nitro, Roofx, LOB, and Sonny’s. Wow!
Sonny’s throws out a Resmondo runner at 2nd base in the championship Friday afternoon.
The championship was played Friday afternoon in great weather with the wind blowing out some. Sonny’s was not sharp as they made a base running error in the bottom of the 5th and had quite a number of balls go off of infielders gloves throughout the game. Resmondo led 20-3 early on and added 11 in the top of the 6th to go up 41-23 going into the bottom of the 7th where Sonny’s who avoided some run rules throughout the game, made it respectable by scoring 7 runs to lose 41-30. Resmondo out homered Sonny’s 16-15 and were led by Kyle Pearson who was named MVP and was 7-7 with 3 HR and 6 RBI.
The 2nd dual tournament began as the first one was ending and to be quite honest with you it was impossible to follow both tournaments at the same time so this part of the report will not be as in depth. The upsets in Dual #2 were incredible and happened Friday as the Major teams were all tired from Dual #1. After the 8 “play in” games the “fresh” or “fresher” lower-level teams took it to the Major division. Bay Area Legends in the “Round of 16” went up 18-16 on Roofx going into the top of the 7th and held Roofx scoreless to win, blanking Roofx in the 6th and 7th innings! Mario Moralez and Chente Granados were each 4-4 and the legendary Bryson Baker in the leadoff spot was 3-4. Both teams hit just 1 HR in the game. Late Friday night in crisp cool conditions the “Round of 8” played out and the upsets continued. Str8play who had gone 0-2 in the first dual knocked off Sonny’s 45-19 breaking open a 24-17 game in the top of the 7th by scoring 22 runs! Former batting champ Brandon Streets was 8-8 with 6 runs scored in the win and Jeffrey Redden was 7-7 with 2 HR and 7 RBI while Jeff Roxby went 7-8, hit for the cycle, and had 9 RBI and they out homered Sonny’s as a team 10-6. Meanwhile over on Red Easton Juno who had just beaten Legendz 26-20 was down 30-22 to LSR and only managed 4 runs in the top of the 7th as LSR an ‘A’ team pulled of the upset of Juno 30-26 out homering Juno 10-4. Matt Brady was 5-6 in the win for LSR. With 3 of the Major teams upset before the “final 4” what would Resmondo do? In the stadium after just winning the first dual tournament, Resmondo beat Cheap Suits 37-7 and then played the ‘AA’ team Westpoint. Resmondo led 16-8 after the 1st inning but trailed 24-18 going into the bottom of the 3rd when Westpoint put up 13 runs! The two teams each scored in each of the first 6 innings, but Resmondo scored 4 in the bottom of the 6th to go up 33-30 on home runs by Jason Matusik and Bubba Mack. Down 3 in the top of the 7th, Westpoint who had played an incredible game did not score and Resmondo escaped as the only Major team to make the “Final 4” of the winner’s bracket 33-30. To complete the “Final 4” picture Bay Area Legends followed up their upset of Roofx with a 13-11 upset of JBL as they led 12-5 early and Bryson Baker and Mario Moralez each went 4-4 with the wind blowing in.
Bay Area pulls off upsets over Roofx and JBL Friday night.
Str8play takes down Sonny’s.
LSR takes down Juno.
Saturday Recap
The semifinals and winner’s final of dual #2 played out Saturday evening in great weather with the wind blowing out for the most part. LSR jumped out to an 8-1 lead on Str8play and actually ended up leaving them on the field in the bottom of the 5th 24-8. LSR out homered them 8-1 as Str8play who had scored that 22 run inning the night before just could not get the offense going collecting just 11 hits in the game. Tommie Baugh was doing the pitching for LSR and Francis Fisk and Jagger Harjo were on base 4-4.
Next Resmondo led Bay Area 11-3 going into the top of the 3rd where they scored 18 runs on 5 homers to go up 29-3 and they won the game in 4 innings 30-6 out homering Bay Area 10-2. Kyle Pearson was again 5-5 and Everett Williams, Tyler Marshburn, and Travis Clark each 4-4.
In the winner’s final it was all Resmondo who scored 17 in the top of the 1st against LSR and cruised to a 37-18 win out homering LSR 10-1. Greg Connell was 5-5 with 3 HR and 9 RBI and Phil Matte was 4-5 with 3 HR and 10 RBI in the win.
Cheap Suits comes from 10 down in the bottom of the 8th to beat Juno!
The loser’s bracket played out all day Saturday in what many consider dual #2’s loser’s bracket Saturday as the “longest day in softball”. Nitro Circus starting at 8 am beat Nally’s, Legendz, Westpoint by a run on a walk off hit by Josh Mcadams in extra innings, JBl, and Str8play. Quite a run. In the lower half of the loser’s bracket Roofx starting at 10 AM beat Dirty Vegas, Primetime by scoring 52 runs, and Sonny’s 23-22 on a walk off single by Jeremy Fry. Meanwhile up in the stadium Cheap Suits pulled off an incredible upset over the Major team Juno Athletics after Cheap Suits failed to win the game in the bottom of the 7th tied at 22-22 when they grounded into a double play. In extra innings Juno put up 10 runs in the top of the 8th inning to go up 32-22 but Cheap Suits walked them down and won on a sacrifice fly by Orlando Cano 33-32. Cheap Suits had beaten Juno even though they were out homered 13-4. Cheap Suits then had to “travel” back to the Red Easton field to play Roofx. In that game Justin Mucciarelli the veteran pitcher for Roofx with some incredible defense behind him pitched a PERFECT GAME against an injured and depleted Cheap Suits team and won 25-0. He let up no hits, noone reached-on error, and there were no walks as Roofx run ruled them in 4 innings. “Mooch” threw just 29 pitches! After already winning 4 games in a row, Roofx then beat Bay Area 25-7 and Nitro Circus late Saturday night 29-9 to make it to Sunday. So, Nitro Circus finished 4th and Bay Area and Str8play tied for 5th while Roofx advanced to Sunday.
Perfect game complete.
Sunday Recap
Sunday morning loser’s bracket game between Roofx and LSR.
On Sunday morning at 8 AM in the loser’s final LSR had some early defensive woes leading to a 15-8 Roofx lead. But LSR chased the Roofx starting pitcher Mooch in the bottom of the 2nd and grabbed a 17-15 lead. In the bottom of the 4th Roofx intentionally walked Christian Glisson who already had hit 3 home runs and the next batter “Sir” Francis Fisk hit a grand slam then Jagger Harjo and Michael Rainer homered and LSR was up 30-20. Roofx answered in the top of the 5th on a Faron Fry grand slam followed by a Patrick Center homer as they scored 13 runs to go up 33-30. But it was all LSR down the stretch as they out scored Roofx 10-5 in the last 2.5 innings as their defense played better to win 40-38. Jagger Harjo and Michal Rainer were each 5-5 in the win and both teams hit 12 HR.
Resmondo’s Josh Riley led off the bottom of the 1st with and infield single and then they scored 35!
In the championship game Resmondo in the bottom of the 1st put up the most impressive offensive inning in Hall of Fame Classic history, scoring 35 runs on 9 home runs and they went on to win their 2nd tournament of the week over LSR 40-10 in 2.5 innings. Kyle Pearson who was again MVP, Jason Matusik, and Tyler Marshburn were all perfect on base in the final game.
Long Bomber of the Week!
Drew Hall from LSR is the Long Bomber of the week as he hit one Thursday that broke a car window in the 4th row. It was measured at 494 feet!
Hall of Fame Classic Dual #1
Results and Awards
HOF #1 MVP – Resmondo’s Kyle Pearson
HOF #1 Offensive MVP – Sonny’s 3B Kyle Pearson
HOF #1 Defensive MVP – Resmondo’s Tyler Marshburn
Hall of Fame Classic Dual #2
Results and Awards
HOF #2 MVP – Resmondo’s Kyle Pearson
HOF #2 Offensive MVP – LSR’s SS Michal Rainer
HOF #2 Defensive MVP – Resmondo’s Tyler Marshburn
Hall of Fame Classic
Team by Team Notes
1st Place – Resmondo/All American Restoration/O (FLS-Major)
Avg Finish: 1.0 Record: 10-0
Dual #1 1st (5-0) Runs: 33.0 Allowed: 16.6 Diff: 16.4
Dual #2 1st (5-0) Runs: 35.4 Allowed: 14.2 Diff: 21.2
Resmondo picked up where they left off last year when they won just about everything. They dominated teams with huge early innings and then with the comfort of a huge lead it seemed to focus them defensively. Travis Clark held down team after team with his pitching and it was teams that had just gotten done putting up big runs in their prior game. The addition of Bubba Mack at 3rd helps the infield defense. Kevin Bazat and Cory Briggs up the middle look healthy and playing like their old selves. And Jason Matusik looked healthy and played left field and proved he is one of the best stadium players in the game. The stats are off the chart for a dual tournament on baseball fields and many of their dual 1 games were played with the wind blowing in. I will just post the stats below instead of discussing them. The offense was probably the best in the history of this tournament. Lets just say Kyle Pearson is laying the ground work for another batting title. And the Marshburn and Clark led defense looks better than last year.
2nd Place – RoofX/BadDraw/CE/Pure/Envy (IN-Major)
Avg Finish: 3.0 Record: 10-4
Dual #1 3rd (4-2) Runs: 27.7 Allowed: 19.2 Diff: 8.5
Dual #2 3rd (6-2) Runs: 28.9 Allowed: 14.9 Diff: 14.0
Roofx is a merger between the ‘AA’ champ Roofx team, Competitive Edge the major team, and they also picked up Patrick Center from the disbanded Chick-fil-a team. Most people think this is a great mix and the chemistry appeared to be very good in Florida this past week. In Dual 1 they beat Dirty Vegas, Nitro Circus by 20, before losing to Sonny’s, beat Primetime, and Sports Reach before losing to Sonny’s again to finish 3rd. In Dual 2 they lost their first game to Bay Area Legends by 2 before knocking off Primetime 52-17, Sonny’s on a walk off single by Jeremy Fry, then Mooch pitched a perfect game against Cheap Suits with some incredible defensive plays behind him, then they run ruled Bay Area and Nitro Circus before losing to LSR Sunday morning and finishing 3rd again. A solid start to the season. They have the best defense and pitching again this year. At one point they were only allowing 11 runs a game, 7 of their 14 opponents scored less than 10 runs, and in 3 games against ‘AA’ teams this year they are allowing 6.3 runs per game. Sports Reach 5, Nitro Circus 5, and Nitro Circus 9. Mooch and Patrick Center did the pitching with a guest appearance by Mcclanahan. Center, Faron Fry, Logan Rogers, Jon Troyer, Joey Miller, and Kyle Miller are fighting for playing time but when this team gets in the loser’s bracket it seems like there is time and a role for everyone. Arlis Miller, Mitch Lendenski, Terry Lambright, Jeremy Fry, Tyler Ervine, and Patrick Center all were over .700 in dual 1. Ervine hit 8 HR, Lambright 7, and Jeremy Fry 6. In dual 2 Center, Ervine, the Fry brothers, Honneycut, Kyle Miller, and Troyer were all over .700, and Ervine hit 12 HR and Ryan Honeycutt drove in 30 RBI. They could end up being the team to beat on non-baseball fields but are a threat anywhere and should finish 2nd or 3rd in the points.
Tied for 3rd Place – LSR/BaughFord/TRU/Slugger/Riot (IN-A)
Avg Finish: 5.5 Record: 7-4
Dual #1 9th (2-2) Runs: 31.0 Allowed: 25.5 Diff: 5.5
Dual #2 2nd (5-2) Runs: 24.3 Allowed: 24.9 Diff: -0.6
LSR has had the best start to the season of any of the loaded ‘A’ teams. And all 9 are pretty much loaded with higher level experienced players. They are now 2nd in the points since they finished 2nd at Las Vegas and HOF 2. They beat Nally’s and JBL in dual 1 and gave Juno a good run in a 24-21 loss. In dual 2 they beat Nitro Circus (finally), Juno, and Str8play before losing to Resmondo in the winner’s final, beating Roofx Sunday morning, and losing to Resmondo again in the championship. Drew Hall and Frank Fisk were over .800 on base in dual 1. Zach Goleniak at the top of the order was over .700 in both duals. Christian Glisson hit 7 HR in dual 2. Michal Rainer was offensive mvp of dual 2 .800, 8 HR, 26 RBI. And Tommie Baugh was a workhorse on the mound defeating higher level teams consistently and with a broken finger. The entire offense has been impressive this year and they have overcome any slumps and or defensive woes like a good chemistry team should. Mike Lacy and the sponsorship group has done a nice job putting this team together.
Tied for 3rd Place – Nitro/Beloli/Ataraxis/SBT/SOL/BAF/K (MD-AA)
Avg Finish: 5.5 Record: 7-4
Dual #1 7th (2-2) Runs: 27.3 Allowed: 28.8 Diff: -1.5
Dual #2 4th (5-2) Runs: 25.6 Allowed: 23.4 Diff: 2.1
Nitro Circus now leads the Conference points having won Las Vegas and they had two solid finishes at the dual. In dual 1 they beat Primetime, lost to Roofx, beat Rebel, and lost to Sports Reach to finish 7th. In dual 2 LSR upset them in the “round of 16” and they made a huge Saturday run in the loser’s bracket beating Nallys, Legendz, Westpoint, JBL, and Str8play to finish 4th. Sport Williams and Tom Bloom did the pitching. They played without Filip Washington (family leave). We don’t have the final stat totals yet but John Williams, Josh Kirsten, and Kyle Overstreet led the offense in dual 1. Zach Sanford, Zane Migues, John Williams, Craig Pellegrin, Kirsten, and Josh Cardwell led dual 2. Cardwell had 7 HR and 24 RBI in the dual 2 games that are scored in ballclubz. They showed some heart in dual 2 and that salvaged their week. They should be the #1 seed for Euless, TX next weekend. Hope you are feeling better Keith.
Tied for 3rd Place – Sonny’s/Worsham/RedAthlete/Haymak/R (WY-Major)
Avg Finish: 5.5 Record: 5-4
Dual #1 2nd (4-2) Runs: 27.2 Allowed: 23.0 Diff: 4.2
Dual #2 9th (1-2) Runs: 24.0 Allowed: 32.7 Diff: -8.7
Sonny’s knocked off Van Wert Frickers, Sports Reach, Roofx by 6, then lost to Resmondo 39-30 in the winner’s final, beat Roofx again in the loser’s final and lost to Resmondo 41-30 in the championship of dual 1. That was a solid start. But in the 2nd dual fatigue set in Friday night as they beat I-57 on a walk off double by Austyn Dawe, then they lost a marathon game to Str8play, and in the loser’s bracket Roofx finally beat them on a walk off single 23-22. Bill Pinkham was a workhorse on the mound. Heath Barnes and Kyle Pearson (OG) led the offense in dual 1. Pearson .913, 9 HR, 18 RBI. Barnes .821, 6 HR, 14 RBI and 7 doubles. Daniel Cayton, Steele Lewis, Jeremy Yates, Dawe, and Pearson were all double digit home runs for the dual overall.
Tied for 6th Place – Bay Area Legends (CA-A)
Avg Finish: 7.0 Record: 6-4
Dual #1 9th (3-2) Runs: 10.6 Allowed: 10.2 Diff: 0.4
Dual #2 5th (3-2) Runs: 11.2 Allowed: 17.2 Diff: -6.0
Bay Area Legends has played all 3 tournaments and is 5th in the Conference points. In Florida they played a number of games with the wind blowing in but knocked off Legendz, Seminoles twice, upset JBL twice, and upset Roofx. Quite a week. Mario Moralez was .933 in dual #2 and players we haven’t seen in awhile Bryson Baker and Chente Granados were over .700 in dual 2 as well as Kyle Hancock. They only hit 12 HR in 10 games which shows how the wind affected their offense. Shawn Jones and Mychael Evans did the pitching.
Tied for 6th Place – Cheap Suits/Republic Realty/ESP (CA-A)
Avg Finish: 7.0 Record: 7-4
Dual #1 7th (3-2) Runs: 20.4 Allowed: 22.2 Diff: -1.8
Dual #2 7th (4-2) Runs: 21.5 Allowed: 24.0 Diff: -2.5
Cheap Suits having played all 3 tournaments this year is 4th in the Conference points standings. They finished 7th in both dual tournaments and racked up 7 wins! They beat Van Wert twice, Rebel, LOB, Ely Reel, and was one of the few, maybe the only team to beat LSR as an ‘A’ team. And they had that huge extra innings win over Juno at the end of dual #2 and did so with a depleted roster, a few injuries, and missing players.
Tied for 6th Place – Juno Athletics (NJ-Major)
Avg Finish: 7.0 Record: 3-4
Dual #1 5th (2-2) Runs: 16.0 Allowed: 24.0 Diff: -8.0
Dual #2 9th (1-2) Runs: 28.0 Allowed: 27.7 Diff: 0.3
Juno, the old MPT major team, had a rough weekend failing to finish in the top 4 in either event. They lost to Resmondo, Sports Reach, LSR, and Cheap Suits and struggled to pull out wins in their 3 victories. The elite players that they have mixed with the up and comers they grabbed from ‘AA’ should be a fun team but they struggled and probably just need to relax and remember how to have fun playing again. They experimented with Andrew Collins at 2nd base. Had a substitution at pitcher error in the Cheap Suits game that hurt them. Brandon Jonas and Mason Farmer pitched. And Joe Joe Bennett, Collins, and Ryan Harvey led the team in HR and RBI. Juno is in jeopardy of not finishing top 4 in Conference points even though they are a Major team.
9th Place – PrimeTime/Easton/BallHawk (GA-A)
Avg Finish: 9.0 Record: 7-4
Dual #1 5th (5-2) Runs: 20.6 Allowed: 17.7 Diff: 2.9
Dual #2 13th (2-2) Runs: 12.8 Allowed: 19.3 Diff: -6.5
I apologize to Primetime as I was sitting there watching the end of their last game and forgot to get a team picture. They beat Nally’s, Legendz, LOB, Cheap Suits, and Nally’s again, and only lost to higher level teams. They come away with solid points and a lot of hard fought long games. Ira Brown had 7 HR and 23 RBI in the first dual and Tanai Alston .800, Aaron Jackson .769, Angel Ortega .769, and Jarvis Riggins .769 led the offense in dual 2.
10th Place – JBL Roofing/Pauer (OH-AA)
Avg Finish: 10.0 Record: 3-4
Dual #1 13th (1-2) Runs: 13.7 Allowed: 19.3 Diff: -5.7
Dual #2 7th (2-2) Runs: 14.8 Allowed: 18.0 Diff: -3.3
JBL Roofing was upset by LSR then won by forfeit over Thunder and lost to Bay Area in dual 1. In dual 2 they beat Primetime, lost to Bay Area, and beat I-57 before losing to Nitro. They did just enough to earn “ok” points but their offense seemed sluggish for the stacked lineup that they have.
11th Place – Sports Reach/Demarini/Grizzy/SMHS (KY-AA)
Avg Finish: 10.5 Record: 4-4
Dual #1 4th (4-2) Runs: 22.7 Allowed: 23.2 Diff: -0.5
Dual #2 17th (0-2) Runs: 23.0 Allowed: 26.0 Diff: -3.0
Sports Reach down double digits in their opener in the bottom of the 7th vs Ely Reel, came back to walk them off on a Joey Kampfer 3 run homer! Then they lost to Sonny’s by 10 before beating Bay Area, Nitro Circus, and Juno Athletics to finish 4th and score some nice points. In the second dual they went 0-2 losing to Westpoint and LOB. Mark Blaziewske did a lot of the pitching. Dagmar Pena led all of dual 1 I believe in home runs with 10 as he was .880 with 27 RBI. And the team seemed to have a good vibe with their mix of Sports Reach, Precision, and S&E players. Get well Robby Speer!
Tied for 12th Place – LOB (FL-A)
Avg Finish: 11.0 Record: 3-4
Dual #1 9th (2-2) Runs: 19.0 Allowed: 22.5 Diff: -3.5
Dual #2 13th (1-2) Runs: 17.0 Allowed: 31.0 Diff: -14.0
LOB is a non-conference ‘A’ team who had to move up after finishing in the top 4 at ‘B’ Worlds last year. They added Donnie Hammonds who used to be on the Major list and Peter Seiden who played outfield for S&E for a couple of years. They went out and beat Westpoint and Classic Glass two Conference ‘AA’ teams out of the gate then lost to Resmondo in the stadium and Primetime in the loser’s bracket. In dual 2 they beat Sports Reach ‘AA’ but lost to Str8play and Cheap Suits to finish 3-4 overall. A nice tournament for the Florida team who will be an upset threat at ‘A’ Worlds this year.
Tied for 12th Place – Str8play / Rebel / MAJ (CA-AA)
Avg Finish: 11.0 Record: 3-4
Dual #1 17th (0-2) Runs: 29.5 Allowed: 33.5 Diff: -4.0
Dual #2 5th (3-2) Runs: 25.0 Allowed: 16.0 Diff: 9.0
Str8play went 0-2 in dual 1 losing to Ely Reel and Classic Glass. In dual 2 they made a nice run beating LOB, Classic Glass, and Sonny’s. In the Sonny’s game they scored 22 runs in one inning. Then they lost to LSR in the semifinals and Nitro Circus by 3 in the loser’s bracket. Acevedo, Nino, pitcher Josh Jones, Jeffrey Redden, Misael Tavarez, Cole Campbell, and Ike Worlow return from their 2023 ‘A’ World Championship team. Then they grabbed CF Brian Zirkle, and Brandon Streets from Competitive Edge. Bryan Dezern, Chad Erickson, Daniel Herren, Jeff Roxby, and Cabot Van Til from Nitro Circus. And Tyler Dickens from Bay Area. Quite a roster from two different parts of the country. Lets see how they mesh?
Tied for 14th Place – Ely Reel/Schlabach/MSGA Sports (OH-B)
Avg Finish: 13.0 Record: 3-4
Dual #1 13th (2-2) Runs: 29.8 Allowed: 30.5 Diff: -0.8
Dual #2 13th (1-2) Runs: 14.0 Allowed: 16.0 Diff: -2.0
Ely Reel came out of the gate similar to Rock Run a few years ago as they upset the Str8play ‘AA’ team and then lost on a walk off to Sports Reach while scoring 81 runs in the two games combined. They kind of validated their play by beating Westpoint in the loser’s bracket 23-22 and then in Dual #2 they beat Classic Glass. So their 3 wins were all against ‘AA’ teams. It is teams like this that Make Softball Great Again. 🙂 And they could use some additional sponsorship if anyone out there wants to jump onboard? The roster has a few players that have played Conference before like James Miller, Kyle Slicker, Carlin Yoder, Kyle King, Richie Mast, and Tim Kandel among others. But a lot of the other players are from the GSL ‘D’ World champs who also finished 4th at USSSA ‘D’ Worlds. John Schlabach was .773 with 6 HR and 18 RBI and Kyle Slicker had 8 HR and 20 RBI in the first dual.
Tied for 14th Place – I-57 Roofing/Beechy’s/Royce Geo/SA (IL-A)
Avg Finish: 13.0 Record: 3-4
Dual #1 17th (0-2) Runs: 9.0 Allowed: 21.5 Diff: -12.5
Dual #2 9th (3-2) Runs: 24.4 Allowed: 17.2 Diff: 7.2
I-57 went 0-2 in dual 1 losing to ‘A’ teams Van Wert Frickers and Rebel. They found their “mojo” in dual 2 when they beat Rebel, lost to Sonny’s on a walk off, then beat Van Wert, Ely Reel, and then lost by 3 to JBL. So they really played well in dual 2 reminding us of the Beechy team they are from 2023. Jacob Hoskins led the way in dual 2 hitting 8 HR and driving in 25 runs.
Tied for 14th Place – Legendz/CE/Adiktiv (OK-A)
Avg Finish: 13.0 Record: 3-4
Dual #1 13th (1-2) Runs: 20.7 Allowed: 20.7 Diff: 0.0
Dual #2 13th (2-2) Runs: 25.0 Allowed: 24.3 Diff: 0.8
The new ‘A’ team Legendz beat rival Dirty Vegas twice and Seminoles. They gave one away to Bay Area Legends. And overall had a solid start to the season. Billy Sanders and Levi Cheatwood each hit 9 HR. Jason Branch their veteran leadoff hitter was .733 and .778. And they played without the big bat of Taylor Cobb (Competitive Edge) and manager Brandon Miller who we wish the best in his recovery from a car accident.
Tied for 14th Place – Rebel/TG/Str8play/Koval (MI-A)
Avg Finish: 13.0 Record: 3-4
Dual #1 9th (3-2) Runs: 21.8 Allowed: 21.6 Diff: 0.2
Dual #2 17th (0-2) Runs: 12.5 Allowed: 30.0 Diff: -17.5
Rebel spent a lot of time in the stadium while I was at the back fields and they were at the back fields when I was in the stadium. I don’t believe I watched them play a single inning? But they beat Cheap Suits, I-57, and Classic Glass in Dual #1 to finish 9th and then went 0-2 in the second dual. So a pretty good start overall. Newly acquired Drew Rogers led the offense with 6 HR and 20 RBI in that first dual. And it looks like they played without pitcher Tyler Kincaid.
Tied for 14th Place – WestPoint (IN-AA)
Avg Finish: 13.0 Record: 2-4
Dual #1 17th (0-2) Runs: 20.0 Allowed: 21.5 Diff: -1.5
Dual #2 9th (2-2) Runs: 26.8 Allowed: 26.3 Diff: 0.5
Westpoint lost their opener to LOB 20-18 then were upset again by Ely Reel 23-22 in Dual 1. In Dual 2 they beat Ely Reel 19-16 and Sports Reach, and gave Resmondo their closest game of the week losing 33-30 and then lost a heart breaker to Nitro Circus in extra innings. I feel Westpoint is better than their 2-4 record showed and with the additions of Kendall Welborn (Sonny’s), Justin Gregory (Taylormade), Kyle Fisher (SIS) and the other Taylormade pickups they are better than last year although so is the entire ‘AA’ division.
19th Place – Classic Glass/Easton (CA-AA)
Avg Finish: 15.0 Record: 1-4
Dual #1 13th (1-2) Runs: 29.3 Allowed: 32.3 Diff: -3.0
Dual #2 17th (0-2) Runs: 15.0 Allowed: 23.5 Diff: -8.5
Classic Glass had a rough weekend losing to the non-conference ‘A’ team LOB in their opener, then they did beat rival Str8play, before Rebel clipped them 29-27. In the 2nd dual they lost to Str8play 32-17 and then lost to Ely Reel with the sun staring the batter’s in the face at 8 am Saturday morning. Note to future Space Coast directors – the game should have been moved to one of the two open fields due to the sun on those 8 am games. Classic Glass played without slugger Shannon Smith and their 2023 success on baseball fields did not translate to this year.
Tied for 20th Place – DIRTY VEGAS.STEEL.KILLMANS.ARK FAB (TX-A)
Avg Finish: 17.0 Record: 1-4
Dual #1 17th (1-2) Runs: 33.3 Allowed: 37.3 Diff: -4.0
Dual #2 17th (0-2) Runs: 13.0 Allowed: 28.0 Diff: -15.0
In HOF 1 they beat Seminoles, lost to Roofx, and then lost to Legendz. In HOF 2 Dirty Vegas lost to Roofx and Legendz again. They did play some long games and have a talented team with Jared Hunt leading the way 6 HR and 22 RBI and the big bats of Nick Day and Erik Kanaby. Caleb Ladner does a lot of the pitching.
Tied for 20th Place – Nally’s/Q Solutions/One Shot (KS-A)
Avg Finish: 17.0 Record: 0-4
Dual #1 17th (0-2) Runs: 19.5 Allowed: 31.5 Diff: -12.0
Dual #2 17th (0-2) Runs: 13.0 Allowed: 24.0 Diff: -11.0
Nally’s went 0-4 in their Conference debut losing to Primetime twice, LSR, and Nitro Circus. Spenser Washington who served as a backup for Resmondo one weekend last year did some pitching and they brought Michael Brown a professional hitter out of Conference retirement.
Tied for 20th Place – Seminoles/NACSF.INC/TPS/RS (OK-A)
Avg Finish: 17.0 Record: 0-4
Dual #1 17th (0-2) Runs: 13.5 Allowed: 19.0 Diff: -5.5
Dual #2 17th (0-2) Runs: 10.5 Allowed: 18.5 Diff: -8.0
Seminoles didn’t win a game and all 4 games were against ‘A’ teams. They have most of their team back from their 2nd place team at ‘A’ Worlds last year. It is a veteran group. They played without Zane Trammell, Matt Cochran, Hunter Ramirez, and Oliver Odle who are a big part of their offense. .
Tied for 20th Place – Van Wert Frickers (OH-A)
Avg Finish: 17.0 Record: 1-4
Dual #1 17th (1-2) Runs: 8.7 Allowed: 13.0 Diff: -4.3
Dual #2 17th (0-2) Runs: 12.0 Allowed: 21.0 Diff: -9.0
Van Wert last years ‘B’ Champs had a nice opening win over I-57 with the wind blowing in but then lost 4 straight with 3 of the losses to fellow ‘A’ teams. They brought back the core of their championship team plus they added Joe Horsley, Jordan Patterson, and Drew Smith from Westpoint. They should be fine and improve as the season goes on. Van Wert hit just 5 home runs in 5 games but the wind had a lot to do with that.
Faces in the Crowd / More Pictures
Jason Rowe from Bring It Podcast with his energetic and colorful commentating on USSSALive.com
There was a rocket launch during dual #2.
Legends of the game, Jeff Hall and Andy Purcell.
Jeff Hall’s son Preston is playing with Juno Athletics.
Thank your umpires before you leave the field! THANKS
Patrick Riporti with director Jim Pilla
The sun sets on another great dual in Viera!
