Day #4 – 2022 USSSA Major World Series
Saturday, October 8, 2022
2022 USSSA Major World Series Day #4 (Part 1) Video Clips Link
2022 USSSA Major World Series Day #4 (Part 2) Video Clips Link
Click here to re-live Day 1 of the Major World Series
Click here to re-live Day 2 of the Major World Series
Click here to re-live Day 3 of the Major World Series
2022 USSSA Major World Series Bracket Link
2022 USSSA Major World Series Stats link
2022 Major World Series pictures link (895 Pictures)
2022 Major World Series Condensed Games link
2022 Major World Series archived livestreamed games link
Day #4 of the 52nd annual USSSA Major World Series started on Saturday, October 8th at 8 AM at the Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida with a heavyweight battle between #4 Resmondo (the two time consecutive defending World Series Champ) and #1 seed Smash It Sports deep in the loser’s bracket. The weather was great in the 70’s and low 80’s with a slight wind blowing out and they used the Dudley Stadium ZN ball, the all turf field dimensions were 325-365-385-365-325, and there was no home run limit. The higher seeded team in each game was automatically made the Home team based on the seasons long Conference points standings.
Saturday Game Recaps!
Game #27 Recap – 8:00 AM
Smash Its Andy Purcell gets a clutch hit in the 7th inning with 2 outs!
#4 Resmondo/SmashIt/All American/Menosse (FL-Major)
vs
#1 SmashIt/Thunder/Chosen/Pure/RF/BD/TDB (NY-Major)
Resmondo and Smash It who met in the finals of the 2021 USSSA Major World Series found themselves playing deep in the loser’s bracket Saturday morning against each other. The ball was flying as Resmondo hit 12 home runs and Smash It 9. Resmondo used that power to gain a 21-15 lead midway through the game after Phil Matte, Kyle Pearson, and Bubba Mack hit back to back to back home runs in the top of the 5th. Smash It grabbed the lead in the bottom of the 5th scoring a game high 10 runs in the inning as pinch hitter Jason Martel hit a 2 run homer. Resmondo trailing 27-23 going into the top of the 7th tied the game on a 3 run homer by Patrick Ellwanger and made Smash It pay for a slew of infield errors to the tune of 9 runs mostly unearned to take a 32-27 lead. In the bottom of the 7th Smash Its Kyle Pearson and Ben Dunn singled between outs, Andy Purcell singled to keep the game alive and roll the lineup to the top of the order, Josh Riley hit a 2 run homer to cut the Resmondo lead to 1, Andrew Collins singled, Everett Williams was intentionally walked, and Buddy Wolf hit a walk off homer that went into the left fielders glove and when the left fielder hit the fence his glove came off with the ball in it and went over the fence for a game winning 3 run homer! Buddy Wolf was on base 6 out of 6 in the game with 2 home runs.
With 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th Smash It’s Buddy Wolf hits a deep shot to right field where the fence is 325 feet with his team trailing by 2 with 2 runner’s on. Resmondo right fielder Patrick Ellwanger leaps and appears to make the game winning home run robbing catch! But alas his glove comes off, the glove lays with the ball in it on top of the fence for a split second then drops over the fence for a 3 run game winning homer! The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!
Game #28 Recap – 10:00 AM
Rock Run pitcher Erik Lehman pitches to Sal Formosa of Classic Glass
#13 Rock Run/AllHustle/Pure/Beloli/Koval (IN-B)
vs
#11 Classic Glass/Easton (CA-AA)
Rock Run jumped out to leads of 8-0 in the 1st, 13-3 in the 3rd, and 17-4 in the 5th! In that 1st inning they did it with 8 base hits! In the 5th they got a 3 run inside the park homer from Marcus Miller and they used their defense and pitching to keep Classic Glass in check en-route to a 23-12 victory. Lead off hitter Arlis Miller was 4-6 on base and cleanup hitter Kyle Miller 5-6 in the victory. Daniel Kirkwood and Sal Formosa 4-4 in the loss.
Rock Run celebrates a 3 run inside the park homer by Marcus Miller in the 5th inning.
Game #29 Recap – 12:00 PM
Monsta’s Austyn Dawe homer’s against Smash It Sports.
#2 Monsta/Albicocco/Racks (CA-Major)
vs
#1 SmashIt/Thunder/Chosen/Pure/RF/BD/TDB (NY-Major)
The top half of the loser’s bracket where SmashIt beat Resmondo also had Monsta another Major team in it and Monsta played SIS at high noon. Smash It was out of gas though and Monsta took the wind out of them early on with a 12 run top of the 1st inning taking advantage of 4 walks, an error, and adding 7 hits including a 2 out 3 run double by Steele Lewis and then a grand slam by Daniel Cayton. Austyn Dawe added a 2 run homer in the top of the 2nd and a 3 run homer in the top of the 3rd and Monsta cruised to a 28-6 run rule win in 4 innings. They out homered SIS 6-1 and Austyn Dawe, Jeremy Yates, and Marc Wik all were on base 4-4 in the win.
Smash It’s Josh Riley avoids the tag with a nice slide to score their 1st run.
Game #30 Recap – 2:00 PM
Rock Run’s Arlis Miller hits in the 7th with a 3 run lead.
#13 Rock Run/AllHustle/Pure/Beloli/Koval (IN-B)
vs
#8 Proton/Dan Smith/Legacy Glove Co. (AZ-AA)
At 2 PM it was Rock Run taking on Proton who had not played since their semifinal loss on Thursday. Rock Run used a pair of triples by Arlis Miller and Kyle Miller to make Proton pay for some top of the 1st inning errors to go up 5-0. In the bottom of the 1st Chad Mullins hit a 3 run homer for Proton to make it 5-3. In the 2nd Rock Run extended their lead to 8-3 on 3 walks and 2 hits and then their defense kicked in the 4th as pitcher Erik Lehman and 2nd baseman Jason Slabach stabbed line drives. Proton closed the gap to 11-9 in the bottom of the 5th on a 2 out RBI double by Jon Nelson and a single by Brett Rettenmeier. After both teams zeroed in the 6th Rock Run added a run in the top of the 7th on a triple by Lehman to go up 12-9. In the bottom of the 7th proton got one out singles from Lex Ramirez and Brock Frentzel and a walk from Brad Lunda to load the bases. Then Chad Mullins hit a walk off grand slam homer to right field to win the game 13-12!
Proton’s Chad Mullins hits a clutch walk off grand slam homer to beat Rock Run.
Game #32 Recap – 4:00 PM
Monsta pitcher Andrew Vitcak pitches to Proton’s Brent McClure.
#8 Proton/Dan Smith/Legacy Glove Co. (AZ-AA)
vs
#2 Monsta/Albicocco/Racks (CA-Major)
In the loser’s bracket semi finals at 4 PM the game was tied at 2-2 after 2 innings as Protons Brock Frentzel tripled and Monsta’s Josh Fyffe tripled and Jason Matusik hit a 2 run homer. After Proton went down in order in the top of the 3rd inning, Monsta capitalized on another 2 run homer by Matusik to go up 6-2. Proton’s Jon Nelson homered in the 4th to make it 6-5 and Monsta’s Austyn Dawe hit a 3 run homer in the bottom of the 4th to go up 9-5. Nobody scored in the 5th and Proton scored just one run in the last 3 innings and Monsta advanced to the loser’s bracket finals 9-6.
Monsta left fielder Jason Matusik homered twice.
Game #33 Recap – 6:00 PM
Competitive Edge’s Joe Boland hits against Andrew Vitcak in the loser’s bracket finals!
#5 Competitive Edge/Olmito/Suncoast (FL-AA)
vs
#2 Monsta/Albicocco/Racks (CA-Major)
Competitive Edge and Monsta combined for 6 straight outs in the 1st inning. In the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings Competitive Edge pulled out to a slow 5-1 lead as lefties Ryan Honeycutt and Brandon Jackson homered. In the bottom of the 4th Monsta got a 2 run homer from Jason Matusik to cut the lead to 5-3. In the top of the 5th a seemingly fresh Competitive Edge team got an RBI single from Tyler Ervine, a 2 run homer from Joe Boland, and a solo homer from Mitch Lendenski to go up 9-3. In the 6th and 7th innings CE manufactured a few more runs and got some nice players from defensive sub Casey Scoggins in right field to beat Monsta 11-5 and advance to the championship against MPT! The 1st ‘AA’ team to do so since MPT themselves did it in 2020. Competitive Edge out homered Monsta 4-1 and out hit them 12-9.
Championship Game!
Game #34 Recap – 8:00 PM
MPT manager and sponsor Mark Carucci gives the pre-game lineup.
#5 Competitive Edge/Olmito/Suncoast (FL-AA)
vs
#3 MPT Rentals/Juno Athletics (NJ-Major)
The championship began under the lights on Saturday night with the two hottest teams Competitive Edge the ‘AA’ team based out of Florida with their contingent of Texas talent and MPT Rentals based out of New Jersey the 2nd year Major team who was undefeated and had to get beat twice. The weather was perfect and the crowd filled in upwards of 1,500 softball playing fans with another 1,500+ watching on USSSALive.com and Facebook. Competitive Edge was shut down in the top of the 1st inning by MPT 2nd baseman Filip Washington who took a hit away from Ryan Honeycutt and CE put up a zero when the hot hitting Mitch Lendenski’s home run bid came up short stranding two runners. In the bottom of the 1st Filip Washington doubled, Ryan Harvey singled him in, and big John Williams hit a big 2 run homer to give MPT a 3-0 lead. In the top of the 2nd Andrew Filoteo who was on base 4 out of 4 times in the game doubled and scored on pitcher Faron Miller’s single to get CE on the board. And CE blanked MPT in the bottom of the 2nd on a diving catch by 1B Tyler Ervine, and then Ervine and Lendenski homered in the top of the 3rd to put CE up 4-3. In the bottom of the 3rd inning Joe Joe Bennett and John Williams each hit solo homer’s to put MPT up 6-4. In the 4th CE cut the lead to one on a double by Ryan Honeycutt and they held MPT scoreless to make it 6-5. In the top of the 5th Mitch Lendenski who hit 12 of his 14 hits in the tournament for extra bases tripled and scored on a Jeff Roxby sacrifice fly to tie the game at 6-6 but again CE stranded 2 runners.
Mitch Lendenski triples!
In the bottom of the 5th MPT finally took control of the game as they got the lead 8-6 on a John Radich 2 run homer, made it 9-6 on a Chris Anninos 2 out double and Conner Murray RBI single, and extended the lead to 11-6 on a Joe Dorton 2 run pinch hit homer! In the top of the 6th Competitive Edge got 2 of those runs back on back to back solo homer’s by Ervine and Honeycutt but MPT answered again in the bottom of the 6th with back to back homer’s by Ryan Harvey and Joe Joe Bennett.
MPT’s Joe Dorton celebrates a clutch 2 out pinch hit homer!
MPT’s Ryan Harvey homers in the 6th inning and celebrates.
In the top of the 7th down 13-8 Competitive Edge got a 2 run homer from pinch hitter Jason Branch to make it 13-10 but would get no closer as MPT closed out the game with a flyout to left and the CELEBRATION WAS ON! MPT had become the 1st non Andy Purcell, non Brett Helmer, non Dan Smith team to win the major since Chase/Reece/Roosters/Easton won in 2002!
MPT’s Chris Annino’s who led the team in on base percentage for the tournament at .714 was named MVP. Pitcher Bill Pinkham who was a fireplug on the mound and held all 5 of their opponents to 10 runs or less was the Defensive MVP. And Competitive Edge 1st baseman Tyler Ervine was Offensive MVP at .593 on base percentage with a tournament high 8 Home Runs and 15 RBI.
