Nightmare wins 1st Annual “Sooner Invitational” Nationwide Conference event!

2015 Nationwide Conference USSSA

“Sooner Invitational” Classic

Tulsa, OK

April 25th

Link to the Softballcenter.com picture album of the Tulsa Major

USSSA Tulsa tournament info and bracket link

The 1st Annual “Sooner Invitational” Tulsa Major was played in near perfect but windy and at times warm weather in one day at the Carl Smith Sports Complex on 300 foot fields with the regular Conference Dudley ZN ball. There were 15 teams total and 5 Nationwide Conference USSSA teams playing. At the end of a very long day which started at 8 AM and ended after 9 PM Saturday, it was Nightmare/Miken a ‘B’ team based out of Missouri that prevailed as they knocked off upstart Precision Recovery/Hooters from St. Louis, Missouri by just 1 run 29-28 in the winner’s bracket finals, and then Steel out of Texas 29-16 in the Championship. Leaving Precision Recovery 3rd and unheralded AttaBoys was an impressive 4th place.

The tournament began at 8 AM with Attaboys a local ‘C’ team knocking off Muscle Beach 23-18, and then upsetting Conference ‘B’ team Bear Hollow Ranch 23-22 after trailing by 12 runs late in the game. The other Conference teams Nightmare, Steel, and Midwest Hearing all won their first game, and Precision Recovery smoked SOCO Softball Club from Colorado 34-1. Then in the 2nd round Nightmare jumped on Mayhem early 13-2 and won easily 20-7. Midwest Hearing made it past the great pitching of Izzy Sports Mark Corey 28-21, and Precision Recovery used a Steel outfield miscue to finally pull away and win 37-32. Izzy Sports pitcher Mark Corey had a perfect windmill release strike three looking call against Midwest Hearing, probably the best trick pitch I have witnessed this season.

In the semi-finals of the winner’s bracket Midwest Hearing jumped out to a 13-2 lead on Nightmare. Nightmare would fight back with a 17 run top of the 3rd inning and got a double play ball in the bottom half to lead 19-13. Nightmare was just a little too deep, a little too fast, and a little better defensively than Midwest Hearing and won 32-27 to advance to the winner’s bracket finals. In the other semi-final it was the two unexpected teams Attaboys vs Precision Recovery. This would not be a game from the start as the consistent line drive hitting and timely homers of Precision crushed a
“food coma’d” Attaboys 17-2 in 5 innings quick innings.

In the winner’s bracket championship Nightmare held leads of 7-4 after 1 inning (using no homers), and 21-14 after 4 innings vs Precision Recovery. Some great defensive plays in the outfield, a full out diver by right fielder Clay Smitherman and plays on the fence by defensive sub Noah Wethington and center fielder Josh Charlton saved the game 29-28. Precision Recovery never gave up though and had a chance to take the lead in the 7th.

Meanwhile in the loser’s bracket, Bear Hollow was knocked out by a Steel team that played all day long 22-19. Steel played at 8:00 AM, 9:30, 12:30, 2:00, 3:30, 5:00, 6:30, and the championship at 8:00 PM. Wow. Steel ran the loser’s bracket with their offense and defense getting stronger as the day went on. They beat MOJO 21-19, Bear Hollow 22-19, Midwest Swing 34-33 (close the whole way), Attaboys 25-10, and Precision Recovery impressively 31-9 to make it to the championship game.

In the championship an energetic Nightmare team jumped on Steel and although Steel had a second wind and had the heart to avoid the run rule on a couple of occasions, Nightmares power, speed, and pitching overwhelmed the tired Steel team 29-16 in 7 innings.

There were 5 Conference umpires in attendance. The fields played short but the games and matchups were competitive. Nightmare was just too much for the field of teams even though they did not start out playing all that great they did finish up strong. Attaboys, Precision Recovery, and Steel with their loser’s bracket run were all playing well until their last games when each went silently into the night…

Team Breakdown – 15 Teams Total (5 Conference)
2 ‘B’
10 ‘C’
3 ‘D’

1st Place Nightmare/Miken

Nightmares Mike Brown hits and sits

Precision Recovery 4 hitter Jason Kirby lays into another one agains Attaboys in the semi finals

The left side of the Nightmare defense TD Thrash, Toby Letak, and Reb Smith

View from left field on Field #5

Fields were a symmetrical 300 feet and played short with lots of foul territory

Muscle Beach wins the best uniforms award

Small crowds

Tulsa Major Awards and Final Standings

Player Tournament Awards	Players Name	Plays For
Tournament CO-MVP	COREY TAPP	Nightmare/Miken
Tournament CO-MVP	Corie Waldrop	Nightmare/Miken
Offensive Tournament MVP	Mark Cridland	Steel
All Tournament Team	Mike Brown	Nightmare/Miken
All Tournament Team	Scott Morrison	Nightmare/Miken
All Tournament Team	Clay Smitherman	Nightmare/Miken
All Tournament Team	Nolan Fogle	Nightmare/Miken
All Tournament Team	jason guillory	Steel
All Tournament Team	David Prahm	Steel
All Tournament Team	SALOME LEYBA	Attaboys
All Tournament Team	Anthony Repplinger	Precision Recovery/Hooters
All Tournament Team	Chase Cleveland	Attaboys
All Tournament Team	Ethan Stuckly	Steel
All Tournament Team	Brad Hall	Precision Recovery/Hooters
All Tournament Team	mike burris	Precision Recovery/Hooters
All Tournament Team	Mathew Vasquez	Steel

Reb Smith Nightmare – All Tournament

Josh Charlton Nightmare – All Tournament

Place	State	Team	Team Class	Wins	Losses	Ties	Runs Scored	Runs Allow	Avg Runs	Avg Allow	Avg Diff	Max Runs	USSSA Points
1	MO – Branson	Nightmare/Miken	USSSA-Mens-B	5	0	0	144	100	28.8	20	8.8	34	300
2	TXS – Corpus Christi	Steel	USSSA-Mens-C	6	2	0	214	176	26.7	22	4.75	34	225
3	MO – St. Louis	precision recovery/hooters	USSSA-Mens-C	3	2	0	125	95	25	19	6	37	200
4	OK – OKC	Attaboys	USSSA-Mens-C	3	2	0	85	89	17	17.8	-0.8	27	175
5	AR – Arkansas	Mayhem/J&R Logistics/ASP	USSSA-Mens-C	3	2	0	92	99	18.4	19.8	-1.4	38	155
5	KS – Wichita	MIDWEST HEARING/SYNDICATE	USSSA-Mens-C	2	2	0	114	108	28.5	27	1.5	33	155
7	TXW – Amarillo	Throwbacks Sports Bar	USSSA-Mens-D	2	2	0	75	64	18.7	16	2.75	25	130
7	AR – Rogers	bear hollow ranch/cl/buzini/easton	USSSA-Mens-B	1	2	0	64	51	21.3	17	4.33	23	130
9	OK – Oklahoma City	IzzySports/TKO/Miken	USSSA-Mens-C	1	2	0	70	78	23.3	26	-2.6	31	110
9	OK – Stillwell	Seminoles	USSSA-Mens-C	1	2	0	42	74	14	24.6	-10.	28	110
9	MO – St lou	Mojo	USSSA-Mens-D	1	2	0	57	67	19	22.3	-3.3	21	110
9	AR – Little Rock	Muscle Beach/ST6	USSSA-Mens-C	0	2	0	55	61	27.5	30.5	-3	37	110
13	CO – Colorado Springs	SoCo Softball Club	USSSA-Mens-C	0	2	0	6	53	3	26.5	-23.	5	70
13	OK – Tulsa	Dirty Birds	USSSA-Mens-C	0	2	0	44	52	22	26	-4	25	70
13	OK – Oklahoma City	Oklahoma Clutch***	USSSA-Mens-D	0	2	0	42	62	21	31	-10	22	70