The “if” game of the champioship of the 46th Annual Smoky Mountain Classic is being described as the greatest game in the Nationwide Conference USSSA’s 9 year existence! This may be true. For those fans that stuck around on Sunday, they watched Laservision/H Auto/JJ’s/Easton battle from 8 AM in the morning until 5 PM in the evening knocking off Baugh Ford/Doerflinger/Klutch Brand/Easton 65-33 in the loser’s semi final. Then they dropped Team/Albicocco/The Scene/Easton in a “revenge” win 46-31 in the loser’s bracket championship game after Albicocco had sent them to the losers bracket 26-11 on Saturday. Then in the championship which was one for the ages, Laservision knocked off Resmondo 37-27 in the first game setting up a showdown in the “if” game that would decide not only the Smoky champion but put one team in first place in the Nationwide Conference USSSA points!
The “if” game was played for over 2 hours. There were 122 runs scored and 59 home runs were hit. Bryson Baker had 5 homers for Laservision and Jeremy Isenhower had 6 for Resmondo. Laservision grabbed a lead and held it most of the way. Going into the bottom of the 6th, Resmondo trailed by 14 runs. In that half of the inning Resmondo scored 23 runs, half of them with two outs to take a 9 run lead. But in the top of the 7th Laservision who had been on the field for 9 hours dug deep again and put up a gut check 14 run inning, batting around the lineup with 2 outs to take a 5 run lead to the bottom of the 7th where they got the first batter out. With one out, Resmondo rallied to score 3 runs as Jeremy Isenhower and Greg Connell homered and then Andy Purcell and Jimmy Salas reached base safely on hits. Bubba Mack was then intentionally walked to load the bases for Lee Powers. With the longer 80 foot bases and an athletic Laservision infield, any ground ball would result in a doubleplay. With Resmondo down two runs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th with one out and a full count, Lee Powers drove a NO DOUBTER home run to center field making the 350 foot fence look like a t-ball field and Resmondo won their 10th Smoky Mountain Classic of their sponsor Travis Resmondo’s career!
Resmondo takes the lead in the points standings, most likely get the lead in the SoftballCenter.com Computer Rankings when they come out later this week, and position themselves for the #1 seed in Cincinnati this coming weekend. But there were no losers in this one as the fans who stuck around for the “if” game were treated to one of the greatest games in softball history and more than a dozen players on both sides who left every ounce of energy, hustle, and effort at the hallowed softball grounds of Sandy Springs field #3 in what can only be described as a true instant classic!
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!
