2015 Nationwide Conference USSSA
“Windy City” Major
Carol Stream, IL
June 5-7
Smash It Sports Brandon Dillon bats against Resmondo in the Saturday night winners bracket finals
Link to the picture album of the Chicago Major
USSSA Chicago tournament info and bracket link
The “Windy City” Major this year was moved from Joliet to Carol Stream because of the poor infield conditions in Joliet and the tournament this year was a hit with the teams and the nice artificial turf they had on 4 of the main diamonds. 38 teams started out on Friday night with 3 big upsets of conference teams in the first round. All American Restoration, a very good ‘C’ team with loads of conference experience knocked off Michigan ‘A’ team TG Brand 44-23. The ball was flying in the crisp air. KBI, an Illinois ‘C’ team who has upset teams in the past knocked off Indiana ‘B’ team KG/Slayer 30-21. And Cartel, a Wisconsin ‘C’ team knocked off Wyoming ‘A’ Team Racks 30-27. The upsets continued in the second round with Cartel knocking off Rebel Sports 32-16, and KBI knocking off VCH 25-22 after jumping out to a big early lead. Meanwhile the “Big 4” Major teams of this tournament, Smash It Sports, Resmondo, Backman, and Albicocco all advanced to the final 4 of the winner’s bracket. Smash It Sports, Resmondo, and Albicocco winning all three of their games by the run rule. Backman on the other hand was down in the 3rd round to local ‘A’ team Precision 22-1 before climbing back into the game late and winning 29-26 on a walk off homer by newly acquired infielder Matt Crawford.
In the highly anticipated “Final 4” Resmondo jumped on Albicocco and annihilated them 39-7 and Smash It Sports separated and walked through Backman 39-18. In the Resmondo game there was some controversy over whether pitchers hit by line drives – Justin Mucciarelli for Albicocco and Andy Purcell for Resmondo warranted the bat being retested. In the winner’s final Resmondo, who had been putting up 20+ run innings in most of their games, came out blazing and had Smash It Sports down almost 20 runs. But Smash It never gave up and made it close with Resmondo pulling out a 43-39 win.
The real entertainment and better games were in the loser’s bracket as Precision knocked off All Season 27-11, 3rd Street 47-33, KBI (in a league night matchup) 24-9, Red’s Astros 29-13, and then avenged their earlier loss to Backman with a late night 39-24 win! On Sunday Precision sent home their second major team in a row with a 46-34 win over Albicocco after a rain/lightning delay and finally lost to Smash It Sports 41-22. Smash It Sports then rematched with Resmondo in the finals and trailed the first championship game the whole way until a big 7th inning led to a Scott Kirby walk off homer and forced the “if” necessary game 47-45. The second game was more of a roller coaster game where Smash It Sports led by as many as 18 runs but Resmondo made a couple of comebacks only to put up a zero in the 7th and Smash It held on 39-37 to win their 4th Conference event in 5 tournaments. They run their record against rival Resmondo to 5-3. Smash It Sports should take the Nationwide Conference USSSA points lead after Maryland when both teams will have the minimum 6 tournaments under their belts.
The weather was perfect for softball until the rain on Sunday morning. The ball was the conference classic M and was flying pretty good except on fields where the wind was coming in hard. There was conference umpires on all the main fields. The tournament was seeded by total points. Bat testing was in full effect.
VCH left fielder Zane Trammell was using his height to rob homers easily on the short fences. The best catch of the tournament was Red’s Astros center fielder Ben Dunn with a diver coming straight in on a line drive hit by Pure Romance. There was some great diving stops but the best infield play was turned in by Resmondo 3rd baseman Jimmy Salas who got a shot in the 5-6 hole and spun from being half on the ground with his cat like quickness and got the runner. Also Red’s shortstop John Sullivan who smothered a shot up the middle while being distracted by diving middle infielder Troy Krider and seemed to throw out the runner from his knees behind the bag at 2nd base but the batter was called safe.
Team Breakdown – 38 Teams Total (20 Conference)
4 Major
8 ‘A’
4 ‘B’
12 ‘C’
10 ‘D’
Precisions Davis Bilardello bats against Red’s Astros pitcher Brendt Newbill
Resmondo defending against Smash It Sports on the turf Saturday night
Albicocco taking on Resmondo in the semi finals
Precision batting against KBI in a game with a bunch of players from each team that play league against each other.
Pure Romance bats against Encompass/Eurotech
Back to the Thunder ZN Classic M ball this week
Chicago Major Awards and Final Standings
| Player Tournament Awards | Players Name | Plays For |
| Offensive Tournament M | Greg Connell | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Brad Reckart | Albicocco/The Scene/Easton |
| All Tournament Team | Dennis Rulli | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Andy Purcell | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Brett McCollum | Precision/Easton/DO |
| All Tournament Team | Greg Connell | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Justin Mucciarelli | Albicocco/The Scene/Easton |
| All Tournament Team | Jeff Keske | Precision/Easton/DO |
| All Tournament Team | Jimmy Salas | Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth |
| All Tournament Team | Matt Rear | Precision/Easton/DO |
| Place | State | Team | Team Class |
Wins | Losses | Ties | Runs Scored |
Runs Allow |
Avg Runs |
Avg Allow |
Avg Diff |
Max Runs |
USSSA Points |
| 1 | NYU – Cicero, NY | smash it sports/compound athletics/ | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 7 | 1 | 0 | 307 | 216 | 38.3 | 27 | 11.3 | 47 | 300 |
| 2 | FL – Winter Haven | resmondo specialty tank worth | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 5 | 2 | 0 | 248 | 159 | 35.4 | 22.7 | 12.7 | 45 | 225 |
| 3 | IL – Chicago | Precision/Easton/DO | USSSA-Mens-A | 7 | 2 | 0 | 261 | 186 | 29 | 20.6 | 8.33 | 46 | 200 |
| 4 | NYU – Commack | albicocco/the scene/easton | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 4 | 2 | 0 | 181 | 170 | 30.1 | 28.3 | 1.83 | 36 | 175 |
| 5 | IL – CHICAGO | COMPOUND ATHLETICS/EASTON | USSSA-Mens-B | 4 | 2 | 0 | 130 | 125 | 21.6 | 20.8 | 0.83 | 31 | 155 |
| 5 | IN – LAWRENCEBURG | backman/shoppe/louisville slugger | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 3 | 2 | 0 | 152 | 132 | 30.4 | 26.4 | 4 | 50 | 155 |
| 7 | TXN – Dallas | VCH Worth | USSSA-Mens-A | 4 | 2 | 0 | 157 | 138 | 26.1 | 23 | 3.16 | 35 | 130 |
| 7 | IN – Indianapolis | red’s astros/louisville slugger | USSSA-Mens-A | 3 | 2 | 0 | 117 | 132 | 23.4 | 26.4 | -3 | 35 | 130 |
| 9 | DC – Washington | Semper Athletics/Demarini | USSSA-Mens-B | 3 | 2 | 0 | 89 | 88 | 17.8 | 17.6 | 0.19 | 26 | 110 |
| 9 | WI – Racine | cartel | USSSA-Mens-C | 3 | 2 | 0 | 132 | 124 | 26.4 | 24.8 | 1.6 | 32 | 110 |
| 9 | OH – Cincinnati | pure romance/foulks adjusting/headl | USSSA-Mens-A | 3 | 2 | 0 | 104 | 119 | 20.8 | 23.8 | -3 | 25 | 110 |
| 9 | IL – Joliet | KBI (Ken’s Beverage) | USSSA-Mens-C | 2 | 2 | 0 | 78 | 103 | 19.5 | 25.7 | -6.2 | 30 | 110 |
| 13 | OH – West Chester | 3rd street/hubs pub/louisville slug | USSSA-Mens-A | 3 | 2 | 0 | 149 | 101 | 29.8 | 20.2 | 9.6 | 47 | 70 |
| 13 | MN – Champlin | all american restoration/combat | USSSA-Mens-C | 2 | 2 | 0 | 98 | 87 | 24.5 | 21.7 | 2.75 | 44 | 95 |
| 13 | MN – Champlin | encompass / eurotech / easton / ca | USSSA-Mens-B | 2 | 2 | 0 | 99 | 85 | 24.7 | 21.2 | 3.5 | 34 | 70 |
| 13 | NC – Greenville | broughton pharmacy/bad draw/worth | USSSA-Mens-A | 2 | 2 | 0 | 87 | 70 | 21.7 | 17.5 | 4.25 | 25 | 70 |
| 17 | IL – Hoffman Estates | Demolition Shirts & Logos | USSSA-Mens-D | 2 | 2 | 0 | 60 | 86 | 15 | 21.5 | -6.5 | 23 | 65 |
| 17 | IL – Rockford | Miken/BD Softball | USSSA-Mens-D | 2 | 2 | 0 | 100 | 65 | 25 | 16.2 | 8.75 | 31 | 40 |
| 17 | MO – St. Louis | precision recovery/hooters | USSSA-Mens-C | 2 | 2 | 0 | 81 | 68 | 20.2 | 17 | 3.25 | 31 | 40 |
| 17 | OH – Middletown | rsc/tom wood honda/ combat | USSSA-Mens-C | 2 | 2 | 0 | 54 | 71 | 13.5 | 17.7 | -4.2 | 27 | 40 |
| 17 | WY – Casper | TEAM RACKS EASTON | USSSA-Mens-A | 1 | 2 | 0 | 80 | 60 | 26.6 | 20 | 6.66 | 43 | 40 |
| 17 | MI – Dearborn | rebel sports/linedrive sportz | USSSA-Mens-C | 1 | 2 | 0 | 76 | 98 | 25.3 | 32.6 | -7.3 | 33 | 40 |
| 17 | MI – Lansing | p&p333/suburban/larry’s tire/cmt/va | USSSA-Mens-C | 1 | 2 | 0 | 65 | 75 | 21.6 | 25 | -3.3 | 32 | 65 |
| 17 | MN – Ham Lake | all season / dsti / streakless / dc | USSSA-Mens-C | 1 | 2 | 0 | 47 | 62 | 15.6 | 20.6 | -5 | 25 | 65 |
| 25 | WI – Eau Claire | The Sportsman Shop | USSSA-Mens-C | 1 | 2 | 0 | 48 | 60 | 16 | 20 | -4 | 28 | 40 |
| 25 | IN – Lanesville | kg/slayer/wilson/louisvilleslugger | USSSA-Mens-B | 1 | 2 | 0 | 57 | 77 | 19 | 25.6 | -6.6 | 21 | 40 |
| 25 | IL – Chicago | Ball Hogz Softball Qualified | USSSA-Mens-D | 1 | 2 | 0 | 57 | 84 | 19 | 28 | -9 | 25 | 40 |
| 25 | IN – South Bend | StreetKidsSoftball.com | USSSA-Mens-C | 1 | 2 | 0 | 43 | 65 | 14.3 | 21.6 | -7.3 | 20 | 40 |
| 25 | IL – Chicagoland Area | Polkatz Softball | USSSA-Mens-D | 1 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 49 | 7.66 | 16.3 | -8.6 | 15 | 65 |
| 25 | MI – Flint | TG Brand | USSSA-Mens-A | 0 | 2 | 0 | 40 | 76 | 20 | 38 | -18 | 23 | 40 |
| 25 | IL – Lombard | Fury Softball | USSSA-Mens-D | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 64 | 5 | 32 | -27 | 6 | 65 |
| 25 | WI – Janesville | Venom/SNL | USSSA-Mens-C | 0 | 2 | 0 | 46 | 59 | 23 | 29.5 | -6.5 | 23 | 65 |
| 33 | WI – Stevens Point | Flatline | USSSA-Mens-C | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 43 | 5.5 | 21.5 | -16 | 7 | 65 |
| 33 | IL – Carol Stream | Filthy Softball | USSSA-Mens-D | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 45 | 9 | 22.5 | -13. | 11 | 40 |
| 33 | IL – Joliet | Illinois Bombers | USSSA-Mens-D | 0 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 50 | 12.5 | 25 | -12. | 13 | 0 |
| 33 | IL – Channahon | Trailstone Financial Qualified | USSSA-Mens-D | 0 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 56 | 18.5 | 28 | -9.5 | 19 | 40 |
| 33 | WI – Appleton | elite/dockside/a+ | USSSA-Mens-D | 0 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 39 | 14.5 | 19.5 | -5 | 15 | 40 |
| 33 | IL – Frankfort | WinCity/HangRite | USSSA-Mens-D | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 28 | 19 | 28 | -9 | 19 | 40 |
