The 7th annual “Space City” Classic featured 64 teams, seven from the Nationwide Conference USSSA, and was won by ASPNation.com/Easton, a ‘C’ team out of Dallas, Texas. This is the first time a ‘C’ team has won a Nationwide Conference event that was not rain shortened with “Co-Champions”. ASPNation did so in dominating fashion as they made quick work of a tired Baugh Ford/Mojo/Louisville Slugger team in the Championship game 24-4.
In extra innings, Buzini Sports put up a zero and ASPNation got an inside the park home run that deflected off the glove of the diving right fielder. Ben Dunn came through with two outs in clutch fashion. This wild seventh and eighth inning truly determined the outcome of this tournament and ASPNation made the most of it and came out firing on Sunday in the Championship game.The tournament nearly took a drastic turn on Saturday night in the winner’s bracket final between ASPNation and Buzini/BuffaloWildWings/Worth, when ASPNation blew a double digit lead. Buzini scored 15 runs in the top of the seventh to take a four run lead and then a rash of infield mistakes let ASPNation tie the game at 22-22 in the bottom half of the seventh.
The tournament began early on Friday night, on all six fields at the League City Big League Dreams. The near perfect weather, artificial turf infields, and scenic replica Major League Baseball stadiums coupled with the more even competition of the ‘B’ and lower field of teams made for a solid tournament. There were very few upsets throughout the tournament however and the “wall ball” rule was used after the tournament director asked the 7 Nationwide Conference teams to vote on it. (6 teams voted for). I would say most teams did not use their 8 home runs in a given game and the “wall ball” didn’t really get too much out of hand. The wind blowing in on 3 of the fields may have had something to do with the reasonable scores during the “meat” of the tournament on Saturday.
One of the great things about Nationwide Conference softball is the variety of competition that can be seen on any given weekend. Different balls are used at different size parks. There are games on stadium fields and regular softball fields. We have Major versus Major games and we have just as competitive games with B and C teams. Every team is fighting for every point and they all have a different agenda. But in the end it is the best slowpitch softball in the world.
ABOUT USSSA SLOW PITCH:
USSSA Slow Pitch is where it all started. In 1968 USSSA was founded, originally called the United States Slo-Pitch Softball Association. While USSSA has since changed their full name to the United States Specialty Sports Association in order to include all of its sports programs, USSSA Slow Pitch is still a huge portion of the USSSA brand, with more teams and participants in USSSA Adult Slow Pitch than any other youth or adult sport program in USSSA. USSSA Slow Pitch ranges from Major Teams to purely Recreational Teams and offers several specialty divisions based on the common interests, experiences, and backgrounds of players.
ABOUT USSSA:
The United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA), headquartered in Osceola County, Florida, is the World’s Largest Multi-sport Athletic Organization. Founded in 1968, USSSA has grown to over 3.7 million participants, competing in 13 nationally sanctioned sports including Baseball, Fastpitch, Slow Pitch, Basketball, Soccer, Volleyball, Karate and more! For more information on USSSA and to register your team visit USSSA.com. Also be sure to visit USSSAToday.com for the latest USSSA News!
