2025 Northeast Shootout tournament report!

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2025 Northeast Shootout

presented by Marucci

Branford, CT

May 16-17

Fisher’s Softball’s Levi Stoltzfus homers vs Chick-fil-a.

Northeast Shootout Team List

Northeast Shootout Video and Article Links

Northeast Shootout Results & Bracket Link

2025 Northeast Shootout Picture Album link

Link to Northeast Shootout Conference Stats

Link to Conference Advanced Stats

Link to BallClubz Boxscores

Link to BallClubz Team Stat Reports

National Gold vs Proaxion condensed game link

Rev vs Proaxion condensed game link

Chick-fil-a vs Scrubs condensed game link

Fishers vs Proaxion condensed game link

Chick-fil-a vs AUIT condensed game link

Winner’s Final – Fisher’s vs AUIT condensed game link

Championsip – Chick-fil-a vs Fisher’s condensed game link

Friday Night Recap

Canadian ‘A’ team Proaxion opens the Northeast Shootout vs Revs.

The Conference returned to the Northeast Shootout for the first time in over a decade. There were 14 teams from 7 states and Canada and they played a double elimination tournament starting Friday night at 5 PM at the Connecticut Sportsplex in Branford. The weather was perfect for softball with temperatures in the mid 60’s to low 70’s all weekend with little to no wind. The scores were off the charts as they used the Dudley Hardcore ball because the directors thought the fences were 325 feet when in actuality they were only 295-300 feet. The 5 fields had artificial turf infields and grass outfields. On Friday the play in games were basically all regional ‘B’ and ‘C’ teams competing against each other as the 2 Conference teams received first round byes. National Gold/Clean Air/Ascend (MA-C) (Jay Arriols team) knocked off ROC Nation/Drawbridge/Busch Light (CT-C) 35-27. ChecKing/Alter Ego/Miller Carting (CT-C) beat Titans/JTC (NY-C) 26-25 on a walk off single by Chad Cahoon. The Canadian ‘A’ Team Proaxion run ruled REV/NP/MW/M2$/J2/Adell/Mr.Eds (CT-C) 36-21 taking advantage of a number of REV infield mistakes. PF Softball (MA-B) beat Cheefs (NJ-C) 27-21. AUIT/Demieri Properties Inc/BD (NY-B) (Keith McCormacks team) beat YETI25 (MA-C) (Dustin Merrill’s team) 25-12. And Scrubs/BD/6B (CT-C) took down SZN Athletics/RMA/JVE (MA-C) 31-27.

The “Round of 8” was also played Friday night. Team Proaxion knocked off Checking 27-15. AUIT beat PF Softball 32-28. The #2 seeded Fishers/StoltzfusWelding/All Hustle (PA-B) who got a bye shut down National Gold in the top of the 1st and put up 10 runs on 3 homer’s and 5 doubles in the bottom of the 1st. National Gold responded with 7 runs in the top of the 2nd and some nice defense by their pitcher, right fielder, and center fielder shut down Fisher’s in the bottom of the 2nd. But Fisher’s put up 11 in the 3rd and their defense and 2 out hitting secured a 27-17 victory. Both teams used all 8 of their home runs. The first 5 batters in the Fisher’s lineup were either 4-5 or 4-6 and 18 of their 29 hits were for extra bases. The last game of the night featured the only ‘AA’ team in the tournament, Chick-fil-A/Shore OL/LS/Skyren/BAF (VA-AA) the #1 seed who played Scrubs. This was an entertaining game. Chick-fil-a jumped out to a 12-0 lead going into the bottom of the 2nd where Scrubs scored 9 runs. In the middle innings Chick-fil-a scored 10 in the top of the 4th when Greg Downing hit a grand slam, and 14 more in the top of the 5th to go up 39-16. But Scrubs didn’t give up scoring 11 in the bottom of the 5th and 5 more in the bottom of the 7th to lose by 11 runs 43-32. Both teams hit all 14 home runs. The leadoff hitter for Chick-fil-a, Trey Porter, was 7-7 and hit for the cycle. Justin Lutheran was 6-7, hit for the cycle, and drove in 11 runs. Greg Downing was 6-6 with 3 HR and 10 RBI. And in the loss according to the Ballclubz stats, Scrubs Anthony Hoegemann was 6-6 with 5 HR and 10 RBI.

Anthony Hoegemann was 6-6 with 5 HR and 10 RBI for Scrubs against CFA.

Saturday Recap

Fisher’s runner for the pitcher tagged out at home vs Proaxion in semifinal #1.

The “Final 4” Saturday began at 9:30 AM with fog still hanging over the field. Fishers used their speed, defense, and line drive hitting to go up 9-5 after two innings against Proaxion. Then they went off for 23 runs in the top of the 3rd inning on 5 homers and 5 walks. Down 32-6, Proaxion could have rolled over and saved their energy for the loser’s bracket but instead after the first two batters in the bottom of the 3rd made outs, they proceeded to score 22 runs on 7 homers with the last out of the inning being an out on a homer because both teams were at their limit of 8. From there, Fishers scored 8 in the top of the 5th and led 41-30 going into the bottom of the 7th where Proaxion made things interesting scoring 8 runs but came up 3 runs short with 2 runners on at the end. Fisher’s was led by their tall 1st baseman David Smucker whom they call “Stretch” who was 7-7, Nate King who drove in 7 runs, and Matthew Kauffman who was 6-7 with 6 extra base hits and he hit for the cycle. Brandon Newton for Proaxion was 7-7 in the loss.

CFA’s Daontre Porter hit .889 for the tournament. Here he leads off in the fog.

In the other semifinal Chick-fil-a who put up some incredible offensive numbers in this tournament scored 6 in the top of the 1st, 9 in the 2nd, and 9 in the 3rd to go up 24-9 on AUIT. But the non-conference ‘B’ team AUIT answered with 7 in the bottom of the 3rd and when Chick-fil-a hit 2 DBO’s (dead ball out home runs) and put up a zero in the top of the 7th, the stage was set for an unlikely but incredible AUIT comeback. AUIT who still had 6 of their 14 home runs remaining and were down 32-22 scored 5 runs on 2 homers before the first out was recorded. Now down 32-27 with 4 to hit they tied the game on a Keith McCormack single and won the game on a 3 run walk off homer by Vincent Block! AUIT had scored 13 runs in the bottom of the 7th and punched their ticket to the winner’s bracket finals against Fisher’s. McCormack was 6-6 in the game with 5 runs scored and Vincent Block who had 2 hits in the final inning drove in 7 runs for the game.

AUIT’s Vincent Block hits a walk off grand slam to cap a 13 run bottom of the 7th and an upset win!

Winner’s Final Recap

Fisher’s left fielder Elmer Fisher makes a diving catch.

The winner’s bracket final was played at 2 PM in perfect weather. Fisher’s scored 3 on 1 in the top of the 1st inning. In the bottom of the 1st AUIT answered with 7 runs but did so with bad home run management using up 5 of their 8 homer’s. In the top of the 2nd Fisher’s hit 3 straight solo homer’s to throw away their home run advantage scoring 4 on 3 to tie the game at 7-7 and were hurt by a base running mistake that ended in a pickle. In the bottom of the 2nd Fisher’s held AUIT to 3 runs when Elmer Fisher the left fielder made a nice diving catch after a long run. In the top of the 3rd Fisher’s scored 3 runs as AUIT walked 4 straight batters but a bases loaded ground out ended the inning. In the bottom of the 4th another diving catch by Fisher in left looked like it would hold AUIT down but they got a 3 run go ahead homer by SS Nick Follo to go up 14-12 and used their last homer to go up 16-13. Fisher’s offense then refocused in the top of the 6th when Drew Stoltzfus hit a grand slam home run in an 8 run inning to put them up 22-18 and they iced the game away on a David Smucker grand slam in the top of the 7th to win 26-21 against AUIT who struggled when the home runs were gone. The 9-2 walk advantage definitely helped Fisher’s win.

“Stretch” hits a clutch grand slam for Fisher’s.

Loser’s Bracket Recap

Dustin Merrill homers for YETI in the loser’s bracket.

The loser’s bracket played out all day Saturday as PF Softball and SZN Athletics each won two games to finish tied for 5th. And Chick-fil-a went off offensively beating SZN 53-27 in 4 at bats. Team Proaxion 53-27 in 4 at bats as Cody Collins had 13 RBI. And AUIT in the loser’s bracket finals 38-23 in 4 at bats as a team plus 1 at bat in the bottom of the 7th to run rule them. So Chick-fil-a scored 144 runs in 12 at bats in the loser’s bracket which is 12 runs per inning! And subsequently AUIT finished 3rd and Proaxion 4th.

Championship

This was ruled a no catch by Fisher’s CF Nate King

In the championship game early Saturday evening Chick-fil-a after averaging 12 runs an inning the previous 3 games only put up 2 in the top of the 1st and went down in order 1-2-3 in the top of the 2nd when Fisher’s right fielder Jake Ringold and left fielder Elmer Fisher made catches on the fence. Meanwhile Fisher’s put up 4 on 1 in the bottom of the 1st and in the bottom of the 2nd put up 11 on 3 and it would have been worse if not for a spectacular running/leaping catch by Chick-fil-a center fielder Greg Downing. In the top of the 3rd Chick-fil-a scored 6 on 3 but they would have more if not for a nice catch by Fisher’s center fielder Nate King. In the bottom of the 4th Fisher’s put up 11 runs getting a clutch 2 out 3 run homer from their pitcher Levi Stoltzfus to go up 26-11. Needing 1 run to keep the game going in the top of the 5th Chick-fil-a started with a lead off out but then scored 13 on 6 to get back in the game down 26-24. But in the bottom of the 5th Fishers hit 5 doubles in a row at one point, scored 16 runs, and won the game by the 15 run rule on a walk off grand slam by leadoff hitter Jacob Esh! Fisher’s had gone undefeated to win the Northeast Shootout in their 1st year as a Conference team. 27 of Fisher’s 41 hits were extra bases and they drew 8 walks while hitting 11 of their 14 home runs in just 5 innings. Elmer Fisher and Matthew Kauffman were 6-6, Andrew Stoltzfus hit 3 HR and drove in 8 runs, and the MVP went to Levi Stoltzfus who battled on the mound in some looonnnggg games and he went 6-6 with 5 RBI and 5 runs scored in the final game.

Fisher’s Jacob Esh hits a walk off run rule grand slam.

The conference now has 7 different winner’s in 7 tournaments so far in 2025. Can Resmondo make it 8 this weekend in Memphis?

Long Bomber of the Week!

Long Bomber of the Week was hard to tell because that hardcore ball was FLYING. But lets go with Chick-fil-a outfielder Justin Lutheran who dented that mountain with some long line smash homers!

Northeast Shootout Results and Awards

MVP – Fisher’s pitcher Levi Stoltzfus – .850, 3 HR, 12 RBI

Defensive MVP – Fisher’s center fielder Nate King

Offensive MVP – Chick-fil-a catcher Aaron Stidham – .926, 6 HR, 20 RBI

Team by Team Notes

1st Place – Fishers/StoltzfusWelding/All Hustle

PA-B Record 4-0

Fisher’s did it all. Pitching and clutch hitting by their MVP Levi Stoltzfus. Big innings, great defensive plays, range, speed on the bases, and timely power. If they had a downside it was too many zero run innings but that inconsistency will lessen with experience. The championship game may have been the most perfectly played game by any team in the Conference this year. Check it out on YouTube in condensed form when it comes out on Friday. The comparisons of Fisher’s to the old Rock Run team from Indiana 3 years ago are legit. Look for them to give Chick-fil-a another run at the Maryland Major in 3 weeks. Elmer Fisher, Matthew Kauffman, and Levi Stoltzfus were all over .800 on base percentage. Andrew Stoltzfus led the team in HR with 7 and RBI with 21.

2nd Place – Chick-fil-a/Shore OL/LS/Skyren/BAF

VA-AA Record 4-2

Chick-fil-a needed those 40 additional points a team gets when they win a Conference event but they came up short. They played without Kade Christensen. Matthew Brady was a walk machine, and he and Daontre Porter were over .800 on base while Greg Downing, and Offensive MVP Aaron Stidham were over .900! Cody Collins led the team with 9 HR and 32 RBI as Chick-fil-a scored 243 runs in 6 games most of which didn’t go more than 4 or 5 innings. Look for Chick-fil-a to rebound in Maryland in a few weeks.

John Natolly snaps off a middle shot in the championship game.

Greg Downing makes a leaping catch.

3rd Place – AUIT/Demieri Properties Inc/BD

NY-B Record 3-2

AUIT made things interesting with that 13 run bottom of the 7th to walk off Chick-fil-a in the semifinals. They have an entertaining team with a pitcher Garrett Clark who leads off, the extra base hitting of shortstop Nick Follo, and Keith McCormack who used to play Conference with Competitive Edge going 13-15 vs the Conference teams. “Doubles at the plex!”

4th Place – Team Proaxion

Canada-A Record 3-2

It is always a pleasure to have Team Proaxion at a USSSA event in the States. They always play hard, have a deep team, and they are capable of adjusting to the conditions. They were down big to Fisher’s in the semifinals and scored 22 runs in one inning after two straight outs to start the inning showing a lot of heart. Apparently on the condensed game videos I was calling Max – Goulet and Goulet – Max. Sorry. 🙂

Faces in the Crowd / More Pictures

Connecticut Sportsplex has 5 – 300 foot fields.

Sauce Media in the house.

The Hardcore ball is a senior ball and has been way too much ball for both the Phoenix 325 foot fences and especially the 300 foot fences in Connecticut. The conference is at an all time high for runs scored per inning, on base percentage, and umpire burnout. Something needs to change. Lets get back to playing softball.