The Columbus, Indiana Conference Tournament #6 was played under overcast and rainy skies most of Saturday, May 16th. The tournament was delayed 3 hours Saturday morning because of a large amount of overnight rain. The delay forced the majority of the loser’s bracket to be played with games shortened to 5 innings or a 1 hour time limit until they caught back up.
This tournament was dominated by Resmondo-Specialty Tank-Worth who run ruled all 5 of their opponents en route to their 3rd consecutive tournament championship of 2009. Since Resmondo’s epic 45-40 loss to Bud Light in the winner’s final back in St. Louis two weeks earlier, they have won 13 consecutive games by an average score of 37-18 (10 of which were mercy rules). 11 of the 13 wins were against Conference teams. That is quite an impressive run! Resmondo clinched the tournament win in Indiana with a 39-17 win over Long Haul in the finals.
Long Haul came through the loser’s bracket late in the tournament to beat Jean Shoppe, Linedrive, and Blitz to finish runner-up and were led by Tournament Offensive MVP pitcher Mike Rhines (26-29 .897 10 HR’s 28 RBI).
While Resmondo was cruising through the field of 29 teams, the rest of the tournament provided some great games, some close finishes, and some huge upsets. The upset parade was led by Blitz/Watanabe/Weller/Minges/ Easton from Cincinnati, Ohio. Blitz, a “B” team, knocked off Bud Light/TPS/ LineDrive (22-21) and Long Haul/Miken/ Phonemasters (28-15) in back to back games to make it to the winner’s bracket final where they lost to Resmondo. Blitz wound up with a 3rd place finish.
4th place went to Linedrive/Triplesss/ Pipe/Easton out of Michigan who went 5-2 on the weekend and placed shortstop Steve Edwards (25-31 .806 10 HR’s and 33 RBI) and third baseman Scott Zaciewski (22-27 .815 10 HR’s 23 RBI) on the all tournament team.
Some of the other big upsets of the tournament were Linedrive over Bud Light 25-10. Also Pipac upset Jean Shoppe 21-15 and Hubs Pub shocked TCP 27-26.
About USSSA:
The United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA), headquartered in Osceola County, Florida, USSSA 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, Karate, Basketball, Soccer 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!
