The 13th Annual Cincinnati Major at the Mid America Ballyard was played in near perfect weather and had a field of top teams that rivaled the best tournaments of the season. There were 36 teams overall, 18 Conference teams, and 7 of the top 10 teams in the computer rankings playing. Resmondo-Specialty Tank Worth won their 3rd tournament in a row and 6th of the year as they used defense and base hitting to beat all 6 of their opponents. Resmondo played most of the tournament without Smoky MVP Jeff Hall who pulled a hamstring and they were only really challenged by Line Drive Sportz/SSS Softball, a ‘B’ team based out of Michigan in their third game, when Line Drive had a chance to win down 4 in the 7th inning.
Resmondo beat Laservision in both the winner’s bracket championship on Saturday night and the championship game on Sunday.
The tournament started with festivities on Thursday as the Cincinnati All Stars took on a National All Star team in an exhibition game. The Cincy Stars came up just short with a chance to win in the bottom of the 7th.
Team Cincinnati vs. National All Stars
Bud Light National Team:
Dennis Rulli – Reebok
Johnny McCraw – Combat
Brett Helmer – Easton
Dustin Roberts – Reebok
Dal Beggs – Combat
Chris Larsen – Demarini
Kevin Filby – Demarini
Sam Lopez – Easton
Travis Clark – Easton
Geno Buck – Easton
Jason Kendrick – Combat
Team Cinci-Natti Light
Rick Baker – Combat
Brad Reckart – Watanabe/Easton
Shane Hatfield – Watanabe/Easton
Danny Tolbert – EAP/Worth
Brandon Bellamy – PRI/Easton
Brian Lakes – Sportsco/Easton
Brad Tabler – Watanabe/Easton
Jon Jamison – Watanabe/Easton
Larry Wert – 3rd Street Financial/TPS
Terry Rosenbalm – TYJA/Reebok
David Kessler – TYJA/Reebok
TJ Thompson – TYJA/Reebok
Frank Gruber – Watanabe/Easton
Brian Wegman – Easton
Then on Friday at 4 PM the tournament began with the only real upset of Friday being the Kimball/Mojo 27-22 win over Conference ‘B’ team Baughford as 15 of the 16 teams left in the winner’s bracket after Friday were Conference teams.
On Saturday Nordkap struggled past PRI. R&M Metals, Shoppe, and Team 454 escaped with wins in close 2nd round action while the favorites continued on.
In the round of 8, TYJA came from a run down in the bottom of the 7th to beat Nordkap/Desert Falls 29-28 on a Mike Stephany walk off homer. Laservision outslugged R&M 39-20, Team 454 run ruled Shoppe, and Resmondo slipped past Line Drive 23-19 with good defense.
In the round of 4 with a sense of “upset” lingering in the air, Laservision smoked TYJA 31-21 and Resmondo run ruled Team 454 22-5 as the big boys took care of business and set up the heavyweight matchup in the finals that everyone wanted to see. Resmondo however took control of both games against Laservision and although Laservision made a nice comeback in the championship game on Sunday it was too little too late and Resmondo wins again.
Overall the umpiring had a consistent but small strike zone, the scores were low for the most part, and the tournament was well played with lots of great matchups on as many as 4 fields simultaneously.
The Conference finishes its regular season with a tournament in Maryland this coming weekend and the “Last Chance” tournament in Sterling Hts, Michigan the following weekend. The Last Chance is shaping up to be just that, as 11 teams that are still on the “bubble” attempt to secure their spot in the Major World Series!
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!
