2025 Battle on the Chesapeake tournament report!

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2025 Battle on the Chesapeake

Glen Burnie, Maryland

June 6-7

Chick-fil-a takes on Pittsburgh Sports Bar to open the Maryland Major.

Maryland Team List

Maryland Major Video and Article Links

Maryland Results & Bracket Link

2025 Maryland Picture Album link

Maryland Major Archived Games link

Maryland Major Stats link

Maryland Link to BallClubz Boxscores

Maryland Link to BallClubz Team Stat Reports

Fishers vs Fish Head condensed game link

Chick-fil-a vs Pittsburgh Sports Bar condensed game link

Chick-fil-a AA vs Chick-fil-a B condensed game link

Friday Night Recap

DreamWorn pulls the upset over AUIT.

The annual Maryland Major, also known as the Battle on the Chesapeake, was played on June 6-7 at the Bachmann Sports Park in Glen Burnie, Maryland outside of Baltimore. There were 13 teams from 6 different states and 3 of the teams were from the Conference USSSA. They played on 3 – 300 foot dirt and natural grass fields with the Dudley Pro-M ball. All of the games had an 8 home run limit except games that Chick-fil-A/Shore OL/LS/Skyren/BAF (VA-AA) played in. Because they were a ‘AA’ team those games had a 14 home run limit. The tournament began on Friday night at 5 PM eastern time. In the 6 “play in” games all of the ‘B’ teams advanced. Pittsburgh Sports Bar (PA-B) beat CLA/BAF Sports (MD-C by a run 17-16. Ez duz it Treedem sports EVG (MD-B) beat Diamond Dynasty/PTG (NJ-C) 16-11. The Chick-fil-A / BAF Sports (VA-B) conference team beat Team Pinnacle/Fat Boys (MD-C) 25-24 carrying a 7 run lead to the 7th where they did not have to bat in the bottom of the inning. PF Softball (MA-B) run ruled Fathom Realty/Baf (MD-C) 26-5. In one of the better games of the night DreamWorn/LunarSteel (NJ-C) upset AUIT/Demieri Properties Inc/BD (NY-B) 32-29. And in a bit of a grudge match Fish Head/Beloli/DCI beat Nitro Circus / Shore Outdoor Living 15-12 in a battle of long time Maryland ‘C’ teams. Then the “Final 8” played on Friday night as the sun went down. #2 seeded Chick-fil-A/Shore OL/LS/Skyren/BAF (VA-AA) trailed Pittsburgh Sports Bar early on 6-3 but held PSB scoreless in the bottom of the 2nd. When the PSB infield struggled on the rock hard infield (lots of bad bounces), Chick-fil-a took advantage and had leads of 19-6 after 3 innings and 26-13 after 4 before run ruling PSB 42-19. The Chick-fil-a ‘B’ team won another solid game over EZ Duz It 27-22. PF Softball pulled off another run rule win, this time 29-8 over upset minded DreamWorn. And in the final game of the night #1 seed Fishers/StoltzfusWelding/All Hustle (PA-B) battled a feisty Fish Head team. Fish Head kept the game close due to 3 great diving catches by their right fielder in the game and led 6-3 after 1 inning and 11-3 after 2 innings. But Fish Head failed to score in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th innings and used their last homer (8) in the 6th inning and Fishers made a slow comeback to take a 19-12 lead going into the bottom of the 7th. With no homers left, Fish Head scratched out 2 runs but lost 19-14 even though their leadoff hitter Marquill Barnes was 4-4 and pitcher Keandre McGee was 3-4 with 3 HR and 5 RBI. Michael Kelbaugh 4-5 and Andrew Stoltzfus 4-4 with 3 HR and 7 RBI led Fishers. An interesting stat, Fisher’s pitcher Levi Stoltzfus allowed no walks in the game which is very important when home run rules are constantly being met with this year’s Pro M ball.

Fish Head pitcher Keandre McGhee snaps one off vs Fishers.

Final 4 Recap

Chick-fil-a ‘AA’s Nick Canfield hits against Chick-fil-a ‘B’ in a big first inning in semifinal #1.

On Saturday morning it poured rain so the first two rounds of the loser’s bracket was played in mud. The rain stopped just in time for the winner’s semifinals on field #2. The first semi was Chick-fil-a AA vs Chick-fil-a B, both teams sponsored by John Natolly. In the top of the 1st the Chick-fil-a B team (known from here on as CFA-B) walked the bases loaded and walked a run in. That led to a grand slam homer by Zach Ross and Chick-fil-a-AA led 16-2 after 1 inning. Meanwhile on defense, shortstop Travis Tucker made the first 4 putouts. Note, Tucker was playing SS for the injured Tre Porter who pulled a hamstring early in their game Friday night. CFA-AA was also playing without infielder Matt Brady and pinch hitter John Brock who were playing a military tournament. With all of the walks CFA-AA were drawing, the game really had no feel or rhythm to it and when Justin Lutheran hit a 3 run homer in the top of the 4th, they went on to win 42-22 by the 20 run mercy rule in 4 innings.

PF gets an assist from the outfield in semifinal #2 vs Fishers.

In the 2nd semifinal Tyler Barrett for PF Softball hit a 3 run homer in the top of the 1st inning against Fisher’s. In the bottom of the 1st a great diving stop by the PF 2nd baseman and a stab on a liner by pitcher Chuck Rohrbach held Fishers in check. In the bottom of the 2nd after PF scored 6 more runs to go up 12-2, they flashed the leather again turning a double play and getting an assist on a Fishers hitter trying to stretch a single into a double. In the top of the 4th PF Softball used the last of their 8 home runs to go up 18-6. But PF without home runs would not score in the 5th, 6th, or 7th innings and Fisher’s who scored in every inning including a 9 run bottom of the 5th on 3 run homers by Trevor Lapp and Michael Kelbaugh then got a 2 run homer for the lead by Matt Kaufmann and finished off PF Softball 24-18 scoring 4 runs with two outs in the bottom of the 6th. Fishers leadoff hitter Jacob Esh was 5-5 and Elmer Fisher 4-5 in the win.

Winner’s Final Recap

Winner’s final underway as Jacob Esh singles.

The winner’s final was played in the early afternoon as the fields started to dry out. Chick-fil-a AA who lost to Fishers in the championship of the Connecticut Major a month ago, jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a 3 run homer by Greg Downing. Then in the top of the 3rd they hit 3 straight solo homers to go up 8-5. When Fishers scored just 1 in the bottom of the 2nd, Chick-fil-a opened up scoring 13 runs on 7 homers in the top of the 3rd to go up 21-6. Fisher’s did not answer by putting up another 1 run inning. In the top of the 4th Chick-fil-a hit the rest of their 14 homers and put on a hitting clinic taking advantage of multiple Fishers errors to score 19 runs and they won 40-12 in 4 innings.

Gregg Downing homered 3 times for Chick-fil-a in the winner’s final.

Loser’s Bracket Recap

Nitro Circus walks off CLA in the bottom of the 7th.

The loser’s bracket played out all day Saturday starting in the rain and mud. CLA/BAF Sports in the bottom half of the bracket knocked off DreamWorn, Diamond Dynasty, and Chick-fil-a ‘B’ to make it to the 4th place game. In the top of the bracket Nitro Circus had a harder road beating 3 straight ‘B’ teams – EZ Duz It, AUIT, and PF Softball to make it to the 4th place game against CLA. In that game Nitro Circus came from behind and walked off CLA with a base hit 24-23. Then in the loser’s bracket final early Saturday evening Fisher’s scored 22 runs on 7 homers in the top of the 1st against Nitro Circus and cruised to a 31-9 win in 4 innings. The top of the Fishers order Esh (4-5), King (4-5) and Kelbaugh (5-5) were a combined 13-15 with 3 HR, 9 extra base hits, 11 RBI, and 12 runs scored.

Nitro Circus celebrates getting an out against Fishers who scored 22 on 7 in the top of the 1st inning.

Championship Recap

Fisher’s left fielder Elmer Fisher robs an extra base hit.

The championship game got off to a slow start as Fishers put up a zero in the top of the 1st. Chick-fil-a scored 2 in the bottom half. Then Fishers scored 4 on 2 in the top of the 2nd and Chick-fil-a went down in order as Fishers middle infielder Jacob Esh made two nice plays and pitcher Levi Stoltzfus got a strike out looking. In the top of the 3rd Chick-fil-a pitcher Justin Ogletree returned the favor getting a strike out looking and Fishers put up a zero of their own. In the bottom of the 3rd the lethal Chick-fil-a offense opened up scoring 11 runs on 6 HR to go up 13-4 and they increased their lead to 21-11 scoring 8 in the bottom of the 4th. With Fishers down 10 and needing a big inning they went down in order in the top of the 5th and Chick-fil-a needing 5 runs on 3 homers to win by the 15 run rule, did exactly that, getting a 2 our 3 run homer by Travis Tucker to win 27-11. Chick-fil-a won their first tournament of the year and jumped up to 9th in the conference points standings!

Chick-fil-a’s Travis Tucker hits a walk off run rule homer in the championship.

The Conference now has 9 different winner’s in 11 events in 2025.

Long Bomber of the Week!

Long Bomber of the week goes to Robert Holland of the Chick-fil-a ‘B’ team. I guesstimate this homer went 430 feet over the trees. Honorable mention to Jacob Clifton and Nick Canfield.

Maryland Major Results and Awards

MVP – Chick-fil-a 1st baseman Cody Collins

Defensive MVP – Chick-fil-a pitcher Justin Ogletree

Offensive MVP – Fishers Matthew Kaufmann

Team by Team Notes

1st Place – Chick-fil-A/Shore OL/LS/Skyren/BAF

VA-AA Record 4-0

Chick-fil-a playing short handed won with dominating offense. They had a .758 on base percentage as a team and hit all 56 of their allowed home runs even though all of their games went 5 innings or less. They averaged almost 10 runs an inning. Cody Collins .870 was MVP, and Canfield, Ross, and Natolly were .800+ while 4 other players were over .750. Downing, playing with turf toe, led the team in HR with 9 and RBI 21. Natolly pitched Friday night but Ogletree who got Defensive MVP pitched the rest of the way. A much needed tournament win for CFA and a nice boost in the points standings.

John Natolly pitcher, Travis Tucker SS, Tanai Alston MI.

2nd Place – Fishers/StoltzfusWelding/All Hustle

PA-B Record 3-2

Fisher’s gets another podium finish and now have a big lead in the points for the #1 seed at ‘B’ Worlds. Kaufmann, Fisher, and Kelbaugh were all over .700 on base. Levi did most of the pitching. The team found ways to win and let the games come to them late even when they weren’t playing their best ball, except for the two games against Chick-fil-a who owed them from Connecticut. Daniel Stoltzfus left the Championship game with a knee injury. We wish him the best.

The heart of the Fishers defense. P Levi Stoltsfus, SS Matt Kaufmann, MI Jacob Esh, CF Nate King.

Kaufmann lays out for one.

3rd Place – Nitro Circus / Shore Outdoor Living

MD-C Record 4-2

Nitro Circus lost early and made an impressive run in the loser’s bracket finishing 1 run better than 4th place CLA. Nitro led by manager Charles have fun playing softball in their own way. 🙂