2015 Nationwide Conference USSSA
“Last Chance” Michigan Major
Detroit, MI
August 14-16
Resmondos Jimmy Salas homers against Smash It Sports in their winners bracket finals victory 43-34!
Link to the picture album of the Michigan Major
USSSA Michigan tournament info and bracket link
Resmondo finishes off Smash It Sports in the winner’s bracket final 43-34
The “Last Chance” is really the “second last chance” these days for teams to qualify for the USSSA Major World Series as there is the Conference Qualifier where the highest finishing non-qualified team can pick up the #17 seed. However it is the last chance for teams to qualify in the top 16 in regular season points. The tournament began on Friday night with all of the favorites winning their opening games. VCH coming from 14 down to beat P&P 333. Then the home run derby followed with 32 participants and was won by Mike Umschied of Smash It Sports who beat teammate Dale Brungardt in a one pitch hit off. On Saturday morning the 1st round of games continued as Compound Athletics came from 10 runs down to beat a good local ‘C’ team called 22 Below 31-13.
In the next round home town TG Brand upset Xtreme/Miken 30-17, and Reds, Backman, Precision, Resmondo, and Smash IT Sports all won easily. Also Team Combat came from 14 down including 6 down with two outs to beat VCH Worth 29-28 on a Chris Greinert walk off homer, and Pure Romance upset Albicocco 29-28 on a walk off single by Jackie Corn.
The round of 8 started at noon with Red’s jumping out to huge leads on Slugger rival Backman and ended up walk off run ruling them 36-20 on a Jason Branch homer. Resmondo rolled quickly through Pure Romance 23-3, Precision fought past Team Combat 25-23 with a late offensive surge and Combat almost came back down 7 in the bottom of the 7th, and Smash It Sports beat TG Brand 29-14.
In the final 4 at 8 PM Saturday Resmondo scored big early against Reds in a 40-10 shellacking and Smash It Sports handled a very good Precision team 40-24 by jumping out to a 13 run 1st inning lead. In the winner’s final Resmondo and Smash It battled back and forth with big innings early and it was tied 18-18 at one point. Dedonatis and Purcell had some big defensive plays for Resmondo to shut down Smash It in the 4th inning and Resmondo maintained a solid lead late and won by 9 runs 43-34.
In the losers bracket there were some crazy games like Albicocco who “flip flopped” P&P333 but only won by 2. And Broughton who had to beat VCH to have a chance at qualifying for the Major did so in a battle 33-24 in a game that featured a diving catch by Broughton right fielder Evan Jarman and a number of close plays at the plate that went to Broughton. But Broughton would come up 10 points short in their bid to qualify when they lost to Backman 31-18. At the end of a long day of hard fought wins and well played softball, especially defensively, it was Reds Astros, Precision, and Smash It still in the loser’s bracket and Resmondo standing undefeated.
On Sunday the games started at 8 AM with Precision jumping out to a very impressive 18-1 lead on Red’s Astros after 1 inning. Precision led 23-11 after 3 innings and shut down Red’s enough to win 24-16 with some great defense by Seth Burgmeier and pitcher Andy Vitcak. In the loser’s bracket championship game Precision gave Smash It all they could handle when they scored 12 runs on 5 homers in the top of the 1st inning but Smash It came back and needed just 1 run to tie with 4 home runs left in the bottom of the 7th but could come up with just one solo homer by Scott Kirby to tie. In extra innings though Brungardt homered in the bottom of the 8th and Luis Reyna hit a game winning gap shot to score Ryan Parfitt and Smash It Sports advanced to the championship game 27-26.
In the finals a fresh Resmondo team jumped out to a dominating 34-2 lead and flip flopped Smash It Sports and eventually finished them off 35-15 in impressive fashion. The defense, offense, and the way they played the game showed a renewed attitude in the Resmondo team from top to bottom.
Sunset on the Nationwide Conference USSSA regular season! Can’t believe its already over
Post season here we come!
Michigan Major Team Breakdown:
28 Teams Overall
19 Nationwide Conference USSSA Teams
4 Major Teams
5 ‘A’ Teams
10 ‘B’ Teams
4 ‘C’ Teams
5 ‘D’ and ‘E’ Teams
Championship game Resmondo vs Smash It Sports
Red’s Astros defend Precision in the first game Sunday morning playing for 3rd place
Smash It Sports Luis Reyna gets the walk off gapper to beat Precision in the bottom of the 8th
JBL pitches to Joel Ramos of Broughton on Friday night.
Joel Ramos is the “Robert Horry” of softball they were saying, because he always finds his way onto championship teams.
In a must win game to keep their Major World Series hopes alive #17 Broughton/Bad Draw/Worth beat #16 VCH Worth
on a number of close plays at the plate.
Michigan Major Awards and Final Standings
| Player Tournament Awards | Players Name | Plays For |
| Tournament CO-MVP | Andy Purcell | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| Tournament CO-MVP | Jeremy Isenhower | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| Offensive Tournament MVP | Brian Wegman | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
| Defensive Tournament MVP | Don DeDonatis III | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Dennis Rulli | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Bryson Baker | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
| All Tournament Team | Kevin Bazat | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
| All Tournament Team | Greg Connell | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Jeremy Yates | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Dale Brungardt | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
| All Tournament Team | Ryan Parfitt | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
| All Tournament Team | Jimmy Salas | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Billy Fulk | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Lee Powers | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Jason Branch | Red’s Astros/Louisville Slugger |
| All Tournament Team | Walter (Wally) Maybrier | Red’s Astros/Louisville Slugger |
| State | Team | Team Class |
Wins | Losses | Ties | Runs Scored |
Runs Allow |
Avg Runs |
Avg Allow |
Avg Diff |
Max Runs |
| FL – Winter Haven | resmondo specialty tank worth | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 5 | 0 | 0 | 170 | 71 | 34 | 14.2 | 19.8 | 43 |
| IN – Indianapolis | red’s astros/louisville slugger | USSSA-Mens-A | 4 | 2 | 0 | 155 | 122 | 25.8 | 20.3 | 5.5 | 36 |
| NYU – Cicero, NY | smash it sports/compound athletics/ | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 4 | 2 | 0 | 172 | 149 | 28.6 | 24.8 | 3.83 | 40 |
| IL – Chicago | Precision/Easton/DO | USSSA-Mens-A | 4 | 2 | 0 | 157 | 135 | 26.1 | 22.5 | 3.66 | 35 |
| MI – Flint | TG Brand | USSSA-Mens-B | 4 | 2 | 0 | 143 | 133 | 23.8 | 22.1 | 1.66 | 39 |
| NC – Greenville | broughton pharmacy/bad draw/worth | USSSA-Mens-B | 3 | 2 | 0 | 112 | 120 | 22.4 | 24 | -1.6 | 33 |
| IL – CHICAGO | COMPOUND ATHLETICS/EASTON | USSSA-Mens-B | 3 | 2 | 0 | 132 | 105 | 26.4 | 21 | 5.4 | 31 |
| IN – LAWRENCEBURG | backman/shoppe/louisville slugger | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 3 | 2 | 0 | 128 | 117 | 25.6 | 23.4 | 2.2 | 34 |
| WA – KENT | team combat/baugh ford/softball.com | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 3 | 2 | 0 | 152 | 130 | 30.4 | 26 | 4.4 | 40 |
| NYU – Commack | albicocco/the scene/easton | USSSA-Mens-A | 3 | 2 | 0 | 122 | 108 | 24.4 | 21.6 | 2.8 | 32 |
| OH – Cincinnati | pure romance/foulks adjusting/headl | USSSA-Mens-B | 3 | 2 | 0 | 123 | 130 | 24.6 | 26 | -1.4 | 34 |
| TXN – Dallas | VCH Worth | USSSA-Mens-B | 2 | 2 | 0 | 111 | 87 | 27.7 | 21.7 | 6 | 31 |
| MN – Dayton | Xtreme/Miken | USSSA-Mens-A | 2 | 2 | 0 | 92 | 75 | 23 | 18.7 | 4.25 | 32 |
| NJ – Jackson | above all landscaping/evo9x | USSSA-Mens-B | 2 | 2 | 0 | 80 | 102 | 20 | 25.5 | -5.5 | 27 |
| WA – Kent | combat/northwest athletics | USSSA-Mens-A | 2 | 2 | 0 | 94 | 89 | 23.5 | 22.2 | 1.25 | 30 |
| WA – Bothell | newbreed/all american athletics/dem | USSSA-Mens-B | 1 | 2 | 0 | 55 | 62 | 18.3 | 20.6 | -2.3 | 24 |
| MI – Center Line | SandBaggers/Mush | USSSA-Mens-D | 1 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 55 | 8.33 | 18.3 | -10 | 11 |
| MI – Lansing | p&p333/suburban/larry’s tire/cmt/va | USSSA-Mens-C | 1 | 2 | 0 | 76 | 67 | 25.3 | 22.3 | 3 | 28 |
| MI – Holland | 22 Below | USSSA-Mens-C | 1 | 2 | 0 | 50 | 64 | 16.6 | 21.3 | -4.6 | 21 |
| MI – Portage | honey badgers/ advanced auto and tr | USSSA-Mens-C | 1 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 69 | 13.6 | 23 | -9.3 | 23 |
| GA – Macon | Primetime/Easton | USSSA-Mens-B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MI – Dearborn | rebel sports/linedrive sportz | USSSA-Mens-C | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 54 | 6 | 27 | -21 | 8 |
| MI – Sterling Heights | Great Lakes Smoke Qualified | USSSA-Mens-E | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 50 | 3.5 | 25 | -21. | 6 |
| MI – Tory | Michigan Made Military Qualified | SPMnAFA | 0 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 68 | 12.5 | 34 | -21. | 13 |
| MI – Sterling Heights | Bright Horizon / DO Qualified | USSSA-Mens-E | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 42 | 9 | 21 | -12 | 14 |
| OH – Kent | jbl/tailgaters/b&e | USSSA-Mens-B | 0 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 48 | 17 | 24 | -7 | 22 |
| OH – West Chester | 3rd street/hubs pub/louisville slug | USSSA-Mens-B | 0 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 46 | 18.5 | 23 | -4.5 | 19 |
| MI – Sterling Heights | linedrive/shattered shirts Qualified | USSSA-Mens-D | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 30 | 2.5 | 15 | -12. |
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