2024 Las Vegas Major tournament report!

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2024 “Sin City” Classic

Las Vegas, Nevada

April 5-7

Nitro Circus RF Zach Sanford hits against LSR.

Las Vegas Team List

Las Vegas Major Video and Article Links

2024 Las Vegas Major Results & Bracket Link

2024 Las Vegas Picture Album link

Nitro Circus vs LSR Championship condensed game link

LSR vs Nitro Circus “If” game condensed link

Friday highlight video link

I-57 Roofing vs NFM Lending condensed game link

Nitro Circus vs LSR winner’s final condensed game link

LSR vs I-57 Roofing condensed game link

Nitro Circus vs Dirty Vegas condensed game link

LSR vs I-57 Roofing condensed game link

Cheap Suits vs Dirty Vegas condensed game link

Las Vegsas Archived Games link

Las Vegas Stats link (Updating throughout the week)

Big League Dreams Field Dimensions

Las Vegas BLD Field Dimensions:
Yankee 285-308-290-286-286
Fenway (Men’s Main Field) 274-303-308-297-256
Angels 285-289-305-272-270
Wrigley (Women’s Main Field) 287-295-300-291-286
Dodger 275-305-321-304-274
Crosley 274-283-301-280-275

Friday Recap

The 19th season of Conference USSSA began in Las Vegas, Nevada at the 6 MLB replica fields at the Big League Dreams park. The fields played small, Conference teams put up huge 1st innings, and DBO’s (dead ball out home runs) were plentiful as more than half of the outs at the end of many games were home runs for an out. The weather was cooler than normal especially on Friday when it was in the low 50’s with the wind gusting out on Fenway, Wrigley, Dodger, and Yankee and it blew in on Crosley and Angel as the scores can attest. There were 35 teams including 8 teams from Conference USSSA. The action began at 10 am Pacific time with non-conference ‘B’ and ‘C’ teams trying to win 3 play in games to get to the “Round of 32”. In the “Round of 32” HA/Premier from California turned a double play after the ball ricocheted off of the pitcher to end their game vs Hitting Bombs with a 14-13 victory. Conference ‘A’ team Cheap Suits from Cali scored 6 in the bottom of the 5th and 10 in the bottom of the 6th to beat Dynasty Brothers 23-15. There were only 9 HR hit between the two teams with the wind blowing in hard on Angel field. Juan Castaneda, Justice Aranda, and Carlos Abrigo were all 4-4 in the win. BigKids knocked off Hustledank 29-20 in a battle of non-conference teams. Dirty Vegas 30 run mercy ruled Hoodlums scoring 21 runs in the 2nd and 14 more in the 3rd. Jared Hunt was 5-5 with 2 HR and 7 RBI for Dirty Vegas. JK Inc beat AZ Athletics 23-3. Nitro Circus, the only ‘AA’ team in the tournament and #1 seed beat SSB 43-19 scoring 28 runs in the top of the 2nd inning on Fenway where the wind was blowing straight out. Filip Washington and Josh Kirsten were each 6-6. Classy a non-conference ‘A’ team beat NSG 17-15. CutThroatSports the 2nd year California Conference ‘B’ team beat Exclusive Sports 21-3 scoring 13 in the 1st inning and only hit 3 home runs. In the bottom half of the bracket SOB’S from Arizona beat Suspect from California by a run 16-15. Bay Area Legends (CA-A) run ruled Sply 31-11. LSR (IN-A) won their opener 31-1 over Haters as Zach Goleniak, Justin Lutheran, Frank Fisk, and Tyler Cobb all went 4-4. Fatboy Apparel beat MAJ 26-10 and Bennett Homes beat a very good 1-Step Ahead team 40-25 in non-conference matchups. NFM Lending (AZ-A) beat Hitta Apparel 28-5 as CJ Shepherd and Dustin Wager each went 4-4. Shut-D a non-conference ‘A’ team beat ICON 9-8 in another one of those Angel field wind blowing in games. And I-57 Roofing (IL-A) the Beechy’s team from last year with some new firepower beat Prolific 31-4 as Mitch Carriger, Orlando Olivera, and Nic Perkins each went 4-4.

The “Round of 16” was also played mid day in windy and cooler conditions. Cheap Suits beat Ha/Premier 23-17 as Justice Aranda went 5-5. Dirty Vegas 20 run mercy ruled BigKids 34-14 scoring 23 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. Pitcher Caleb Ladner was 4-4 with 3 HR and 10 RBI in the win. Nitro Circus hammered JK Inc 35-5 in 3 innings as Filip Washington, Chris Greinert, Josh Cardwell, and Craig Pellegrin all went 4-4. Classy led the whole way to beat CutThroatSports 29-22 after leading 25-13. Bay Area beat SOB’s 43-32 when both teams scored in every inning and each hit their 12 HR limit. Bay Area scoring 16 in the top of the 1st and were led by Isaac Gonzalez who was 7-7 with 2 HR and 9 RBI. Bryson Baker in his return to the Conference was batting leadoff and was 5-7 with 5 singles. LSR run ruled Fatboy Apparel after a slow start 30-11 as Zach Goleniak and Matt Brady at the top of the order were each 5-5. NFM Lending run ruled Bennett Homes 38-23 in 5 innings as Richard Rollice and Ryan Murphy went 5-5. Murphy had 3 HR and 9 RBI. And I-57 Roofing scored 12 in the bottom of the 1st and run ruled Shut-D in 5 innings as Mitch Carriger went 5-5 in the leadoff spot and both teams hit just 6 of their 12 HR on Yankee with the wind blowing across the diamond.

The “Round of 8” then was made up of 7 of the 8 Conference teams in the tournament plus Classy the Arizona ‘A’ team with a number of players including Matt Fox who have played Conference in the past. The quarterfinals were all played one after the other on the show field, Fenway, with the wind blowing straight out. NFM Lending jumped out to a 15-6 lead but I-57 Roofing came right back with 14 runs in the bottom of the 3rd. The scoring continued by both teams but NFM scored 13 runs in the top of the 6th and then Cory Miller on in relief for NFM stabbed a hard middle shot and they got an assist for the 3rd out in the bottom of the 6th leading 37-29. I-57 Roofing though held NFM who was out of home runs to zero in the top of the 7th and then came in and scored 10 to tie the game, the last coming on a 2 out RBI single by Jacob Hoskins who was 7-7 in the game! In extra innings I-57’s Zac Perkins laid out to make a catch and doubled off the runner to hold NFM to zero. In the bottom of the 8th after a Dante Broome double and an intentional walk Nic Perkins singled home the winning run 40-39!

Bryson Baker leads off against LSR

In the 6:30 PM semifinal Bay Area Legends scored 10 on 4 in the top of the 1st against LSR then they scored 14 in the top of the 2nd on 5 home runs to go up 24-4. But LSR battled back scoring 22 runs in the bottom of the 2nd to go up 26-24 with both teams already out of their allotted 12 home runs. But that didn’t stop the big innings as Bay Area scored 12 in the 4th and LSR scored 12 in the 5th. Both teams then began to struggle without home runs and Bay Area made a last ditch effort scoring 5 in the top of the 7th to pull within 3 runs 43-46 but LSR held on to win. There were 90 hits between the two teams and Colby Cornelius and Justin Lutheran for LSR were both 6-6 in the win. Bryson Baker and Zack Smith were 7-7 for Bay Area in the loss.

Dirty Vegas and Cheap Suits in a shootout on Fenway.

In the 3rd quarterfinal it really began to get cold but that didn’t stop Cheap Suits from scoring 22 in the top of the 7th and Dirty Vegas from scoring 23 in the 1st two innings. Cheap Suits struggled more than Dirty Vegas though when the home runs were out and Dirty Vegas escaped with a 39-36 win and didn’t have to bat in the bottom of the 7th. Jared Hunt was 5-6 with 3 HR and 7 RBI.

Nitro vs Classy late Friday night.

In the final game Friday night Nitro Circus scored 16 in the top of the 1st and then blanked Classy in the bottom of the inning. Everyone in the park thought this would then be a blowout, but Classy scored 13 in the bottom of the 2nd and 10 in the bottom of the 4th to pull to within 34-25 and they hung around all 7 innings trailing 45-38 going into the bottom of the 7th where they could only muster 2 runs and lost 45-40. Chris Greinert and John Williams were both on base 7-7 and John hit for the cycle!

Saturday Semifinals

The semifinals were played early evening Saturday when it was cool but nice on the Fenway field with no real wind to speak of. Both LSR and I-57 Roofing scored in every inning but there were no double digit innings like the day before. The hits and even home runs were “sort of” earned on this day even with the short porches. LSR ran themselves out of the top of the 3rd and I-57 was staying in the game with good defense by 3rd baseman Mitch Carriger and center fielder Dante Broome. Going into the top of the 6th the game was tied 17-17 and both teams had hit 7 home runs which means they had 5 left. Steve Myers the I-57 veteran pitcher got 2 strike out looking’s but the LSR offense managed to score 5 in both the 6th and 7th innings to hold off I-57 27-22 and advance to the winner’s final. I-57 also left 2 homer’s on the table.

In the 2nd semifinal between Nitro Circus and Dirty Vegas there was a bit of a middle war as Nitro pitcher Tom Bloom was hit 3 times but made some incredible defensive plays on 2 of those shots. In the top of the 5th with Nitro Circus up 28-16 and everyone thinking run rule, the Nitro Circus players hit middle and grounded into a double play and then a 3rd out up the middle and put up a zero? To be honest though neither team played what one would call “winning softball” and Dirty Vegas was only able to answer with 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th when they needed a big inning. But they did outscore Nitro Circus down the stretch 16-9 to make it a 5 run Nitro win instead of a blowout 37-32. Josh Cardwell was 6-6 and hit for the cycle and Cody Collins had 10 RBI in the victory.

Winner’s Final

Michal Rainer hits for LSR vs Nitro Circus in the winner’s final.

The winner’s final was played late Saturday night in the cold. LSR pulled out to an impressive 18-1 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd but Nitro Circus answered with 18 runs and then 14 more in the bottom of the 4th to go up 33-27. Down the stretch Nitro Circus scored more when the 14 home runs were gone for both teams and wound up with a solid 42-32 win. Chris Greinert was 6-6 with 4 HR and 9 RBI and Josh Mcadams was 6-6 with 3 HR and 10 RBI in the victory. Or was it a win? After the game Nitro Circus was found to have an extra bat in the bucket which triggers an automatic re-test of all bats. If any bat fails the compression testing then the team forfeits. And that is what happened as 3 bats failed. So Nitro Circus dropped into the loser’s bracket finals on Sunday and LSR moved on as the undefeated team to the championship game.

Loser’s Bracket

Saturday it was cool but nice and sunny and the loser’s bracket played out all day long with 1-Step and ICON making deep runs. ICON a ‘C’ team from Nevada beat Prolific, SOB’s, 1-Step, Classy on a walk off, then upset Cheap Suits 28-23 leaving them on the field after an 8 run bottom of the 6th! ICON finally ran out of gas late Saturday night in the final game losing to I-57 33-26 to finish tied for 5th, the highest non-conference finisher. Meanwhile in the lower half of the bracket Conference ‘B’ team CutThroatSports beat Dynasty and JK inc to get to Bay Area Legends where they upset them 39-23. Eric Mattos and Cody Anthony leading the way 5-5. Then NFM Lending dropped down and beat CutThroat 39-27 late Saturday night. Thus CutThroat was the highest finishing ‘B’ team tied for 5th.

Sunday Recap

NFM and Dustin Wager take down I-57 early Sunday morning.

The livestream view of the loser’s final

Sunday began with beautiful weather and a matchup between ‘A’ teams I-57 Roofing and NFM Lending but I-57 didn’t seem to show up and NFM pitcher Cory Miller and the NFM infield shut them down and NFM cruised to a 22-2 run rule win. In the loser’s bracket finals then Nitro did the same to NFM. I actually went over to do a condensed game of the women’s Major and Nitro beat NFM so fast 24-8, that I didn’t see a single batter hit… Then the championship began with a re-match of LSR and Nitro Circus. LSR the home team led 11-9 going into the top of the 3rd where Nitro Circus “freed up” and scored 18 runs. Both teams scored 9 in the 4th but after the home runs were out Nitro held a 43-34 lead going into the bottom of the 7th where LSR could muster just 5 runs and Nitro forced the “if” game 43-39. Josh Kirsten was 6-7 with 3 HR and 10 RBI in the win. In the “if” game LSR jumped out to a 15-7 lead until the bottom of the 4th when Nitro Circus hit 4 two out 2 run homer’s to tie the game at 15-15 and then they went on to leave LSR on the field in the bottom of the 5th or was it the 6th? 32-17.

Middle was open all tournament long. Luckily I don’t believe any pitchers were injured.

Long Bomber of the Week!

The Long Bomber of the Week was Nitro Circus right fielder Josh Mcadams! He hit this one into the parking lot over the net for a crowd pleaser. Of course it was so cold the crowd was about 35 people. 🙂

Las Vegas Results and Awards

MVP – Nitro Circus pitcher Sport Williams

Defensive MVP – Nitro Circus center fielder Josh Kirsten

Offensive MVP – LSR 2nd baseman Zach Ross

Team by Team Notes

1st Place – Nitro/Beloli/Ataraxis/SBT/SOL/BAF/K

MD-AA Record 7-1

Nitro was “real good”. The only thing that could stop them in Las Vegas was putting too many bats in the bucket. 🙂 Too soon? Sport Williams was MVP and his .900 on base percentage and Flip Washington hitting it down allowed Chris Greinert to rack up the RBI. Josh Kirsten tracked everything in center field and Big John Williams at shortstop showed off his cannon. Nitro maxed out on points, 212 for winning. Tom Bloom also pitched and seemed to be a ball magnet on the mound. All of Nitro’s elite players played the game and did their job, Josh Cardwell was using the whole field, and Chris Greinert had 14 HR and 33 RBI. John Williams played a pretty good shortstop on turf that is old and had a lot of bad bounces on hard shots.

2nd Place – LSR/BaughFord/TRU/Louisville Slugger

IN-A Record 5-2

LSR was “best in class” out of 8 ‘A’ teams and only lost to Nitro Circus in the tournament. They seemed to adapt to the long high scoring games better than their opponents. Zach Ross was slinging it all over the park which led to him being offensive MVP. Tommie Baugh and Matt Chromy did the pitching. Andrew Hall had 10 HR and 31 RBI. Matt Brady and Zach Ross were over .800.

3rd Place – NFMLending/KB/Chasse/BeHappy

AZ-A Record 6-2

NFM played well enough to finish 3rd after a dominating win on Sunday morning over I-57 Roofing where their defense and pitching shined. CJ Shepherd was over .800 with 14 HR and “rookie” Ryan Murphy was .784 8 HR 30 RBI.

Corey Miller pitched a gem on Sunday.

4th Place – I-57 Roofing/Beechy’s/Royce Geo/SA

IL-A Record 4-2

I-57 looked solid with Mitch Carriger leading off .759 and Jacob Hoskins from S&E and Orlando Olivera from JBL have added power to the lineup. The Perkins brothers? made some nice plays, they have the veteran Steve Myers on the mound, and Lynn Yoder was all tournament leading the team in on base percentage while patrolling the middle infield with a lot of range.

Tied 5th – ICON

NV-C Record 5-2

ICON was doing major damage in the loser’s bracket while I was over covering the winner’s bracket so I didn’t see them much. They are a ‘C’ team playing on their home fields and took down some big names. Congratulations!

Tied 5th – Dirty Vegas/Steel/Kilmans/Ark Fab

TX-A Record 3-2

Dirty Vegas did well in the winner’s bracket with Nick Day, Erik Kanaby, Josh Tallent, and Ryan Mullen all over .800 on base. Caleb Ladner did most of the pitching, Jared Hunt led off, and Donald Hollingsworth ran RF as he returns to regular conference play.

Tied 7th – CutThroatSports/CourseyRealty/Soares

CA-B Record 4-2

CutThroatSports is a 2nd year California ‘B’ team who won the ‘C’ Worlds in 2022. They lost to Classy but had a nice run in the loser’s bracket after being down 14 late in the game vs Dynasty Brothers and won and they had a nice follow up win over Bay Area Legends. Eric Mattos led the offense with an .800+ on base percentage and 8 HR.

Tied 7th – Cheap Suits/Republic/Realty/ESP

CA-A Record 3-2

Cheap Suits played Dirty Vegas close but didn’t get a win vs any conference teams. Dale Swinford was over .800 on base and Carlos Abrigo from Str8play led the team with 7 HR.