2015 Nationwide Conference USSSA
47th Smoky Mountain Classic
Maryville, TN
July 10-12
Precisions Andy Vitcak pitches to Smash It Sports Scott Kirby in the championship game in the rain Sunday
Link to the picture album of the Smoky Major
USSSA Smoky tournament info and bracket link
Here is a link to an article from the Tennessee Daily Times
A view from Center Field at Sandy Springs main field #3
The 47th annual Smoky Mountain Classic was taking a familiar path when #1 Resmondo Specialty Tank Worth and #2 Smash It Sports/Compound/H Auto/ASP/Laservision/Easton each won their first 4 games by the run rule and met on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 2,000 people in the winner’s bracket finals. The two teams have squared off in the finals of many of the recent Smoky Mountain Classics and Resmondo has come out on top 7 years in a row either through the winners bracket or the loser’s bracket. But this year Smash It Sports got Resmondo down in the winner’s final and capitalized on some Resmondo miscues and never let up as they won 45-27. Also on Saturday night another great story was beginning to unfold as 4th ranked Precison/Easton/DO a ‘A’ team out of Illinois was starting an impressive run through the loser’s bracket. First they knocked off #3 Major Team Combat/Baugh Ford/Softball.com 39-23 in the fog, then early Sunday morning they beat arch rival Major team #5 Backman/Shoppe/Louisville Slugger 39-23, and then upset #1 Resmondo 43-38 in the loser’s bracket finals! They advanced to the championship game which was anti-climactic however as a fresh Smash It Sports team jumped out to a 7-0 lead and beat Precision in 4 innings by the 20 run rule 29-9 playing the last couple innings in the rain. Smash It Sports hit 21 homers in just 3 innings. Brian Wegman was 4-4 with 4 HR.
The Smoky Mountain Classic of course features unlimited homers and 80 foot bases and the main field is an old high school sized baseball field where all the top legends of slowpitch softball have created a name for themselves. One of those players is Smash It Sports Bryson Baker who started things off on Thursday night by outslugging Lee Powers in the final of the annual home run derby. Bryson hit 9 out of 10 in the final round to Lee’s 8 out of 10. 20 Major players hit in the derby and 2 local derby winners joined them. After the first round they paired it down to the top 6 which included Baker, Powers, Wegman, Helmer, Umschied, and Castillo. Bryson continued the onslaught when the tournament started as he was onbase 30-33 times (.909), hit 23 homers, and drove in 38 RBI. So he collected both the tournament MVP and the presigious most home runs award! He beat out Smash Its Scott Kirby who had 20 and Precisions Davis Bilardello.
The crowds were maybe a little bit bigger than in 2014. They came back Saturday night even after that torrential downpour in the early evening. The crews did a great job getting the fields ready after the storm in about an hour and a half. The stadium ZN ball was used on the main field and the conference ball on the other 5 fields. I went to 3 of the parks and 5 of the fields and witnessed walk off homers by Travis Dale of Reds Astros over Encompass over at Everett Park which was one of the best games of the tournament. I watched OC Swats Chente Granados hit a walk off homer against Fence Brokers and his brother Mario Granados hit a walk off shot into the net to beat Semper on field $4! I watched Adam Kaminski from TG Brand walk off 3rd Street, local ‘D’ team Solway send home VCH 16-13, Xtreme knock off Peak and Racks on Friday over at the Denso fields, and Pure Romance power hitter Stacy Mizelle walk off Combat NWA. I also witnessed Albicocco beat Fence Brokers 56-37 and combine for 58 home runs. Albicocco hit 38 and FBI hit 20! I watched long bombs from many of the top hitters but a few stood out. I thought Tim Bowsers homer against Albicocco may have been the furthest. Colby Hughes of FBI may have hit the highest. Howie Krause I thought may have hit one further than Bowser. For the lefties I witnessed Jeremy Isenhower hit the far fence on the tennis courts we “google earthed” at 465 feet and many players like Davis Bilardello short hopped that second fence at around 460. I know Kevin Filby, Greg Connell and many others wowed the crowd with some creatures.
Team Breakdown – 34 Teams Total (31 Conference)
4 Major
7 ‘A’
15 ‘B’
5 ‘C’
2 ‘D’
It rained again during the Smash It Sports vs Precision finals
Smash Its Luis Reyna
A nice sunset
Fog rolled in for the late Saturday games
FBI and Albicocco locked in a game that had 58 homers!
Precisions Robert Blackburn congratulated by his new teammates
Field #4 Sandy Springs park Saturday night – TG Brand vs Precision
The big net on the short porch in right field on F4
The new fence installed at Everett #2
Denso field with Xtreme taking on Peak
Resmondo takes to the show field for the first time against local team Ecological
Before and after the rain. This is only 1.5 hours after that torrential downpour
The ball is always a question on the bigger fiels. The stadium ZN was used.
I estimated the largest crowd to be around 2,000 between the two fields
This was the crowd over at Everett to watch the 3 local teams play Friday. About 250 people
Bryson Baker won the HR Derby.
Picture by Jolanda Jansma/Blount Press Row
Howie Krause been doing this bomb hitting for a long time
Precisions Davis Bilardello hit one 460 and was among the home run leaders
Jeremy Isenhower hit one 465 of the back tennis court fence according to eye witnesses.
FBI’s Tim Bowser launches another homer
Smoky Major Awards and Final Standings
Player Tournament Awards | Players Name | Plays For |
Tournament MVP | Bryson Baker | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
Defensive Tournament MVP | Ryan Parfitt | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
All Tournament Team | Brett Helmer | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
All Tournament Team | Kevin Filby | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
All Tournament Team | Brian Wegman | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
All Tournament Team | Travis Clark | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
All Tournament Team | Scott Kirby | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
All Tournament Team | Luis Reyna | Smash it Sports/Compound Athletics/ |
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 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 236 | 127 | 39.3 | 21.1 | 18.1 | 50 | 300 |
2 | IL – Chicago | Precision/Easton/DO | USSSA-Mens-A | 7 | 2 | 0 | 236 | 198 | 26.2 | 22 | 4.22 | 43 | 225 |
3 | FL – Winter Haven | resmondo specialty tank worth | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 4 | 2 | 0 | 221 | 150 | 36.8 | 25 | 11.8 | 44 | 200 |
4 | IN – LAWRENCEBURG | backman/shoppe/louisville slugger | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 4 | 2 | 0 | 174 | 149 | 29 | 24.8 | 4.16 | 39 | 175 |
5 | MI – Flint | TG Brand | USSSA-Mens-B | 5 | 2 | 0 | 195 | 166 | 27.8 | 23.7 | 4.14 | 39 | 155 |
5 | WA – KENT | team combat/baugh ford/softball.com | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 3 | 2 | 0 | 136 | 123 | 27.2 | 24.6 | 2.6 | 34 | 155 |
7 | WY – Casper | TEAM RACKS EASTON | USSSA-Mens-A | 4 | 2 | 0 | 111 | 92 | 18.5 | 15.3 | 3.16 | 41 | 130 |
7 | MN – Dayton | Xtreme/Miken | USSSA-Mens-A | 3 | 2 | 0 | 164 | 143 | 32.8 | 28.6 | 4.2 | 41 | 130 |
9 | WA – Kent | combat/northwest athletics | USSSA-Mens-A | 3 | 2 | 0 | 126 | 110 | 25.2 | 22 | 3.2 | 34 | 110 |
9 | CAS – Yorba Linda | oc swats doerflinger/miken/lcp | USSSA-Mens-B | 3 | 2 | 0 | 117 | 121 | 23.4 | 24.2 | -0.8 | 35 | 110 |
9 | IN – Indianapolis | red’s astros/louisville slugger | USSSA-Mens-A | 2 | 2 | 0 | 136 | 139 | 34 | 34.7 | -0.7 | 51 | 110 |
9 | NYU – Commack | albicocco/the scene/easton | USSSA-SPMensMajor | 2 | 2 | 0 | 118 | 118 | 29.5 | 29.5 | 0 | 56 | 110 |
13 | OH – Cincinnati | pure romance/foulks adjusting/headl | USSSA-Mens-B | 2 | 2 | 0 | 101 | 112 | 25.2 | 28 | -2.7 | 35 | 70 |
13 | IL – CHICAGO | COMPOUND ATHLETICS/EASTON | USSSA-Mens-B | 2 | 2 | 0 | 81 | 47 | 20.2 | 11.7 | 8.5 | 37 | 70 |
13 | MN – Champlin | encompass / eurotech / easton / ca | USSSA-Mens-B | 2 | 2 | 0 | 123 | 108 | 30.7 | 27 | 3.75 | 48 | 70 |
13 | DC – Washington | Semper Athletics/Demarini | USSSA-Mens-B | 2 | 2 | 0 | 93 | 71 | 23.2 | 17.7 | 5.5 | 34 | 70 |
17 | TN – KNOXVILLE | tapout/ecological pest management | USSSA-Mens-C | 2 | 2 | 0 | 81 | 106 | 20.2 | 26.5 | -6.2 | 29 | 0 |
17 | VA – Sutherland | SFI/SAL/Easton | USSSA-Mens-B | 2 | 2 | 0 | 88 | 79 | 22 | 19.7 | 2.25 | 40 | 40 |
17 | GA – Macon | Primetime/Easton | USSSA-Mens-B | 1 | 2 | 0 | 56 | 88 | 18.6 | 29.3 | -10. | 20 | 40 |
17 | NC – Fletcher | worshamathletics/klutchbrand/worth/ | USSSA-Mens-C | 1 | 2 | 0 | 48 | 68 | 16 | 22.6 | -6.6 | 25 | 40 |
17 | OH – West Chester | 3rd street/hubs pub/louisville slug | USSSA-Mens-B | 1 | 2 | 0 | 53 | 60 | 17.6 | 20 | -2.3 | 25 | 40 |
17 | NJ – Jackson | above all landscaping/evo9x | USSSA-Mens-B | 1 | 2 | 0 | 55 | 76 | 18.3 | 25.3 | -7 | 29 | 40 |
17 | AR – Bryant | fence brokers inc/buzini/worth | USSSA-Mens-A | 1 | 2 | 0 | 103 | 109 | 34.3 | 36.3 | -2 | 37 | 40 |
17 | GA – Peachtree City | oi livingston/tnt hauling/brother’s | USSSA-Mens-B | 1 | 2 | 0 | 47 | 69 | 15.6 | 23 | -7.3 | 23 | 40 |
25 | NC – Greenville | broughton pharmacy/bad draw/worth | USSSA-Mens-A | 1 | 2 | 0 | 59 | 69 | 19.6 | 23 | -3.3 | 26 | 40 |
25 | TN – Solway | Solway Hardware | USSSA-Mens-D | 1 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 67 | 10.3 | 22.3 | -12 | 16 | 40 |
25 | WI – Eau Claire | The Sportsman Shop | USSSA-Mens-C | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 59 | 5.5 | 29.5 | -24 | 8 | 40 |
25 | OH – Middletown | rsc/tom wood honda/ combat | USSSA-Mens-C | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 66 | 4 | 33 | -29 | 7 | 40 |
25 | MO – St. Louis | precision recovery/hooters | USSSA-Mens-C | 0 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 48 | 18.5 | 24 | -5.5 | 24 | 40 |
25 | IN – Lanesville | kg/slayer/wilson/louisvilleslugger | USSSA-Mens-B | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 54 | 12 | 27 | -15 | 14 | 40 |
25 | AR – Rogers | bear hollow ranch/cl/buzini/easton | USSSA-Mens-B | 0 | 2 | 0 | 40 | 66 | 20 | 33 | -13 | 21 | 40 |
25 | CO – Colorado Springs | peak softball/rockland llc | USSSA-Mens-B | 0 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 72 | 17 | 36 | -19 | 26 | 40 |
33 | TXN – Dallas | VCH Worth | USSSA-Mens-B | 0 | 2 | 0 | 30 | 35 | 15 | 17.5 | -2.5 | 17 | 40 |
33 | TN – Rutledge | DeadEnd BBQ/GoTeez | USSSA-Mens-D | 0 | 2 | 0 | 36 | 44 | 18 | 22 | -4 | 19 |
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