Resmondo-Specialty Tank / Worth, the #1 ranked men’s slow-pitch team in the nation came out of the loser’s bracket and “double dipped” Team Combat/Laser Vision/D2E/Supreme, the #4 ranked team in the country for the Conference Championship title. The Championship’s were held in their traditional loca¬tion, the Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee, Florida the weekend of September 2-4, 2011. Resmondo had dropped to the loser’s bracket on Saturday after losing to Team Combat/Laser Vision by an astonishing score of 23-4 in the winner’s bracket championship game. Then on Sunday they ran the table, winning 3 straight and picking up their 4th Conference Championship title in the 6 years the league has been in exis¬tence. Resmondo’s first win Sunday was a 26-23 win over Suncoast/Reebok after they trailed 15-4 in the second inning. Then they beat Combat/ Laser Vision 22-7 and finally 23-22 on a walk off bases loaded single by Jeremy Isenhower to take the title. All of the games in the Major portion of the Championships were played on baseball fields with 330-390-410-390-330 dimensions. The largest fields used in softball today.
2nd Place Team Combat/Laser Vision finally broke through with that 23-4 win over Resmondo. That was the first time Resmondo had been held under 10 runs since April of 2009 when Long Haul beat them 20-5 at the Hall of Fame Classic. This was the first time Combat has beaten Resmondo all year long. 3rd Place went to Suncoast/Reebok who knocked off Sinister, Sonny’s, Team 454 and GTL to make it to the Sunday final 4. 4th place went to GTL Cartel/Demarini who has tailed off here at the end of the season but still managed to maintain their #2 ranking in the standings and Conference points.
The Championships featured a new format where the top 16 teams in Conference points faced off in the Major bracket, but the loser’s in the first two rounds of games dropped down into the “Open” division and played their own double elimination tournament. The “Open” was won by the red hot R&M Metals/Troupe/TCP/Easton team based out of Waterloo, Iowa. They won the championship game in an offensive shootout 31-27 over Taylormade/TM Sports/Mizuno. R&M has a 3 tournament string of finishing at least 2nd or better in Conference and World tourna¬ment play.
There was also a ‘B’ Division which featured 5 teams from Conference USSSA playing in a 3 game guarantee bracket of their own. The Scene/A.J.S./Easton/D2E sponsored out of Florida and New York beat Blitz/Weller/Watanabe/ MAB/Easton out of Cincinnati, Ohio 28-23 in the Championship game. The Scene went 3-0 on the weekend.
The Conference Championship weekend is high¬lighted by a banquet for the teams on Saturday night at the Mystic Dunes country club, and awards for “All Conference” are given out to the players along with some other special awards like the inaugural John Glidewell Sportsmanship award which was given to Team Combat/Laser Vision center fielder Rick Baker.
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!
