Category: Gordie Heagle

2005 Home Run Leaders

Stats provided by Bill “TAZZ” Tassinari

Rank Player Team HR
1 Wallace, Jeff Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 104
2 Helmer, Brett Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 91
3 Cocco, Tim Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 86
4 Baker, Bryson Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 80
5 Bumgardner, Rusty Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 77
6 Howerton, Roy Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 76
7 Beggs, Dal Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 74
8 McCraw, John Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 71
9 Mattox, Tim Team Stucco/TPS 69
10 Hall, Jeff Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 68
11 Krause, Howie Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 67
12 Ballard, Shaun Berardi’s/Team LTP/TPS 65
13 Brown, Scott Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 63
14 Gulash, Rich Team Stucco/TPS 59
15 Rainwater, Brian Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 59
16 Striebel, Scott Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 59
17 Devine, Jim Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 57
18 Glidewell, John Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 54
19 Harkins, Shawn Berardi’s/Team LTP/TPS 53
20 Edington, Jeff Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 52
21 Carter, Jimmy Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 49
22 Purcell, Andy Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 49
23 Dykes, John Team Stucco/TPS 48
24 Phelps, JC Team Stucco/TPS 48
25 Thompson, Tom Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 48
26 Kendrick, Jason Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 47
27 Ellis, Tom Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 46
28 Higgenbotham, Brian Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 46
29 Linson, Tim Team Stucco/TPS 44
30 Watson, Shaun Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 44
31 Davis, Albert Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 43
32 McCullough, Shane Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 42
33 Joerling, Todd Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 40
34 Roesch, Jason Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 38
35 Genter, JD Team Stucco/TPS 36
36 DeDonatis, Don Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 35
37 King, Scott Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 35
38 Martin, Todd Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 35
39 Peterson, Adam Long Haul/Miken 35
40 Hughes, Bobby Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 34
41 Baker, Rick Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 31
42 May, Brian Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 31
43 Robbins, Ryan Team Stucco/TPS 31
44 Dalbey, Lance Long Haul/Miken 30
45 Ott, Jeff Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 30
46 Robbins, Rickie Team Stucco/TPS 29
47 Filby, Kevin Team Stucco/TPS 27
48 Turner, Dennis Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 26
49 Helewicz, Steve Berardi’s/Team LTP/TPS 25
50 Paturzo, Tom Checking/Hit n Run/Lotierzo’s/Worth 25
51 Roberts, Dustin Team Stucco/TPS 25

2005 On Base Percentage Leaders

Stats provided by Bill “TAZZ” Tassinari

Rank Player Team PA H BB ROE OBP
1 Phelps, JC Team Stucco/TPS 156 114 9 4 0.814
2 Helmer, Brett Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 293 182 49 1 0.792
3 Ballard, Shaun Berardi’s/Team LTP/TPS 183 143 0 0 0.781
4 Harkins, Shawn Berardi’s/Team LTP/TPS 183 141 0 0 0.770
5 McCraw, John Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 232 152 25 1 0.767
6 Bumgardner, Rusty Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 309 190 33 8 0.748
7 May, Brian Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 222 145 19 1 0.743
8 Robbins, Ryan Team Stucco/TPS 227 127 39 2 0.740
9 Higgenbotham, Brian Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 160 100 16 2 0.738
10 Wallace, Jeff Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 346 214 38 3 0.737
11 Mattox, Tim Team Stucco/TPS 281 185 18 1 0.726
12 Howerton, Roy Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 230 140 22 2 0.713
13 Cocco, Tim Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 236 155 10 3 0.712
14 Beggs, Dal Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 253 152 25 2 0.708
15 DeDonatis, Don Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 337 193 41 4 0.706
16 Brown, Scott Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 260 150 30 3 0.704
17 Thompson, Tom Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 134 83 11 0 0.701
18 Martin, Todd Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 257 155 22 3 0.700
19 Krause, Howie Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 310 152 61 4 0.700
20 Hall, Jeff Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 259 141 40 0 0.699
21 Baker, Bryson Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 342 207 23 7 0.693
22 Dykes, John Team Stucco/TPS 240 160 5 1 0.692
23 Ellis, Tom Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 216 135 12 1 0.685
24 Purcell, Andy Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 302 193 8 4 0.679
25 McCullough, Shane Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 230 123 25 8 0.678
26 Devine, Jim Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 214 130 11 4 0.678
27 Davis, Albert Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 189 99 27 2 0.677
28 Glidewell, John Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 231 116 33 7 0.675
29 Gulash, Rich Team Stucco/TPS 259 159 14 1 0.672
30 Carter, Jimmy Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 215 134 9 0 0.665
31 Genter, JD Team Stucco/TPS 206 126 8 3 0.665
32 Kendrick, Jason Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 304 164 31 7 0.664
33 Roesch, Jason Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 190 114 11 1 0.663
34 Rainwater, Brian Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 277 158 20 5 0.661
35 Joerling, Todd Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 219 129 12 3 0.658
36 Baker, Rick Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 242 130 27 2 0.657
37 Edington, Jeff Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 215 132 7 1 0.651
38 Hughes, Bobby Bell Corp/Backman/Taylor/Easton 191 98 23 3 0.649
39 Reckart, Brad Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 208 115 20 0 0.649
40 Ott, Jeff Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 179 98 13 5 0.648
41 Striebel, Scott Resmondo/Smith/Menosse 318 156 45 5 0.648
42 Watson, Shaun Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 217 121 13 6 0.645
43 Wert, Larry Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 183 106 12 0 0.645
44 Jones, Brad Watanabe/Kattus/Alpine/TT/WHW/TPS 135 75 12 0 0.644
45 Robbins, Rickie Team Stucco/TPS 181 95 18 1 0.630
46 Shrum, Dennis Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 137 74 7 4 0.620
47 Kunz, Mike Team Combat/Kluever Snap-On 171 90 7 9 0.620
48 Allen, Willie Berardi’s/Team LTP/TPS 151 93 0 0 0.616
49 Linson, Tim Team Stucco/TPS 238 124 22 0 0.613
50 Blount, Brian Team Stucco/TPS 210 106 20 1 0.605

2006 Home Run Frequency Leaders

Stats provided by Bill “TAZZ” Tassinari

Rank Player Team PA HR BB FRQ
1 Howerton, RJ Team Combat 159 57 12 2.579
2 Phelps, JC Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 222 81 13 2.580
3 McCraw, Johnny Team Combat 179 57 30 2.614
4 Higgenbotham, Brian Team Combat 169 58 11 2.724
5 Hall, Jeff Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 237 82 11 2.756
6 Brown, Scott Team Combat 163 51 22 2.765
7 Wallace, Jeff Resmondo/KME 286 97 16 2.784
8 Lavorico, Alex K&C/Tai/Elite/Graphics 23/Easton 146 49 3 2.918
9 Dillingham, Dan Suncoast/AH/RBK/Easton 110 34 9 2.971
10 Gordon, Jamie Northwest Pipe/Bud Light/3N2/Easton 210 60 26 3.067
11 Briggs, Kenny Team Combat 139 44 4 3.068
12 Helmer, Brett Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 290 79 46 3.089
13 Connell, Greg Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 217 69 2 3.116
14 Taylor, Steve Cash Plus Pawn 113 34 7 3.118
15 Krause, Howie Resmondo/KME 215 62 21 3.129
16 King, Scott Herrin/M.I.T./Left Field Lounge/Easton 98 31 0 3.161
17 Cocco, Tim Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 269 81 12 3.173
18 Stevens, Tom Watanabe/Kattus/Tiny Town/B&A/Superior/TPS 113 33 6 3.242
19 Kirby, Scott Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 259 74 15 3.297
20 Crine, Denny Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 245 67 21 3.343
21 Hille, Scott Northwest Pipe/Bud Light/3N2/Easton 146 40 12 3.350
22 Herrera, Corey Team Worth/Barnes Logging/FBI 102 27 11 3.370
22 Chambliss, Mike Suncoast/AH/RBK/Easton 94 27 3 3.370
24 Billups, Barry Suncoast/AH/RBK/Easton 113 32 5 3.375
25 Bumgardner, Rusty Resmondo/KME 283 70 45 3.400
26 Wise, Jamie Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 176 50 0 3.520
27 Bisbee, Vince Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 271 69 28 3.522
28 Beggs, Dal Resmondo/KME 238 63 15 3.540
29 Carter, Jim Watanabe/Kattus/Tiny Town/B&A/Superior/TPS 115 30 8 3.567
30 Fulk, BJ Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 237 64 7 3.594
31 Keene, Zach Team Worth/Barnes Logging/FBI 117 28 16 3.607
32 Justice, Brian Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 240 59 24 3.661
33 Janack, Scott Northwest Pipe/Bud Light/3N2/Easton 138 31 21 3.774
34 Smith, Jerold Pace/TPS 100 23 13 3.783
35 Brannon, Paul Aubrey’s/MIT/Worth 131 34 2 3.794
36 Hatfield, Shane Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 244 59 14 3.898
37 Hughes, Bobby Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 209 48 21 3.917
38 Scott, Rusty Watanabe/Kattus/Tiny Town/B&A/Superior/TPS 105 25 7 3.920
39 Smith, Jeff Pace/TPS 91 20 12 3.950
40 Ballard, Shaun Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 204 51 2 3.961
41 Roe, Dale Northwest Pipe/Bud Light/3N2/Easton 224 52 18 3.962
42 Webber, Mark Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 169 38 18 3.974
43 Wegman, Brian Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 255 54 39 4.000
44 Baker, Bryson Resmondo/KME 271 63 17 4.032
45 Cowart, Kyle Aubrey’s/MIT/Worth 102 25 1 4.040
46 Martin, Keith Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 195 45 11 4.089
47 Overholt, Mike Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 189 45 4 4.111
48 Trotter, Lee Suncoast/AH/RBK/Easton 122 27 10 4.148
49 Burgsteiner, JD Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 184 44 1 4.159
50 Striebel, Scott Resmondo/KME 267 53 46 4.170

2006 Home Run Leaders

Stats provided by Bill “TAZZ” Tassinari

Rank Player Team HR
1 Wallace, Jeff Resmondo/KME 97
2 Hall, Jeff Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 82
3 Cocco, Tim Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 81
3 Phelps, JC Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 81
5 Helmer, Brett Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 79
6 Kirby, Scott Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 74
7 Bumgardner, Rusty Resmondo/KME 70
8 Bisbee, Vince Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 69
8 Connell, Greg Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 69
10 Crine, Denny Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 67
11 Fulk, BJ Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 64
12 Baker, Bryson Resmondo/KME 63
12 Beggs, Dal Resmondo/KME 63
14 Krause, Howie Resmondo/KME 62
15 Gordon, Jamie Northwest Pipe/Bud Light/3N2/Easton 60
16 Hatfield, Shane Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 59
16 Justice, Brian Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 59
18 Higgenbotham, Brian Team Combat 58
19 Howerton, RJ Team Combat 57
19 McCraw, Johnny Team Combat 57
21 Martin, Todd Resmondo/KME 55
22 Wegman, Brian Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 54
23 Striebel, Scott Resmondo/KME 53
24 Roe, Dale Northwest Pipe/Bud Light/3N2/Easton 52
25 Ballard, Shaun Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 51
25 Brown, Scott Team Combat 51
27 Hartwick, Greg Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 50
27 Wise, Jamie Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 50
29 Lavorico, Alex K&C/Tai/Elite/Graphics 23/Easton 49
30 Hughes, Bobby Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 48
31 Joerling, Todd Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 47
32 Rainwater, Brian Resmondo/KME 46
33 Martin, Keith Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 45
33 Overholt, Mike Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 45
35 Briggs, Kenny Team Combat 44
36 Burgsteiner, JD Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 44
37 Baker, Rick Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 43
37 Filby, Kevin Northwest Pipe/Bud Light/3N2/Easton 43
39 Devine, Jim Resmondo/KME 41
39 May, Brian Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 41
39 Nelson, Jamie Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 41
42 Hille, Scott Northwest Pipe/Bud Light/3N2/Easton 40
42 Kirian, Chris Northwest Pipe/Bud Light/3N2/Easton 40
42 Thompson, Tom Watanabe/Kattus/Tiny Town/B&A/Superior/TPS 40
45 Habermehl, Wayne Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 39
46 Webber, Mark Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 38
47 Glidewell, John Team Combat 37
47 Kendrick, Jason Resmondo/KME 37
49 DeDonatis, Don Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 36
49 Rulli, Dennis Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 36

2006 On Base Percentage Leaders

Stats provided by Bill “TAZZ” Tassinari

Rank Player Team PA H BB ROE OBP
1 Brown, Scott Team Combat 163 109 22 0.000 0.804
2 Phelps, JC Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 222 163 13 0.000 0.793
3 Helmer, Brett Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 290 183 46 0.000 0.790
4 Rulli, Dennis Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 272 172 41 0.000 0.783
5 McCraw, Johnny Team Combat 179 110 30 0.000 0.782
6 Buteaux, Shane Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 98 71 4 0.000 0.765
7 Crozier, Harold Pace/TPS 96 61 12 0.000 0.760
8 Bumgardner, Rusty Resmondo/KME 283 168 45 2.000 0.760
9 Wallace, Jeff Resmondo/KME 286 198 16 2.000 0.755
10 Wegman, Brian Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 255 153 39 0.000 0.753
11 Hall, Jeff Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 237 167 11 0.000 0.751
12 Murray, Brandon Herrin/M.I.T./Left Field Lounge/Easton 98 71 2 0.000 0.745
13 Garris, Hank Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 148 103 7 0.000 0.743
14 Briggs, Kenny Team Combat 139 98 4 1.000 0.741
15 Roe, Dale Northwest Pipe/Bud Light/3N2/Easton 224 147 18 0.000 0.737
16 Smith, Jeff Pace/TPS 91 55 12 0.000 0.736
17 Dutch, John Aubrey’s/MIT/Worth 142 89 15 0.000 0.732
18 Smith, Jerold Pace/TPS 100 60 13 0.000 0.730
19 Lowrey, Mike Team Worth/Barnes Logging/FBI 111 67 14 0.000 0.730
20 Howerton, RJ Team Combat 159 103 12 1.000 0.730
21 Billups, Barry Suncoast/AH/RBK/Easton 113 77 5 0.000 0.726
22 Webber, Mark Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 169 104 18 0.000 0.722
23 Justice, Brian Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 240 149 24 0.000 0.721
24 Lavorico, Alex K&C/Tai/Elite/Graphics 23/Easton 146 102 3 0.000 0.719
25 Nelson, Jamie Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 210 150 1 0.000 0.719
26 Dillingham, Dan Suncoast/AH/RBK/Easton 110 70 9 0.000 0.718
27 Spicer, Shane Watanabe/Kattus/Tiny Town/B&A/Superior/TPS 102 67 6 0.000 0.716
28 Mattox, Tim Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 139 94 5 0.000 0.712
29 Janack, Scott Northwest Pipe/Bud Light/3N2/Easton 138 77 21 0.000 0.710
30 Nastally, Scott Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 231 140 24 0.000 0.710
31 Martin, Keith Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 195 127 11 0.000 0.708
32 Martin, Todd Resmondo/KME 288 173 25 5.000 0.705
33 King, Scott Herrin/M.I.T./Left Field Lounge/Easton 98 69 0 0.000 0.704
34 Krause, Howie Resmondo/KME 215 126 21 4.000 0.702
35 Baker, Bryson Resmondo/KME 271 170 17 3.000 0.701
35 Bisbee, Vince Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 271 162 28 0.000 0.701
37 Ballard, Shaun Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 204 141 2 0.000 0.701
38 Burns, Heath Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 127 89 0 0.000 0.701
39 Genter, John David Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 247 150 23 0.000 0.700
40 Wise, Jamie Jean Shoppe/Team Mayhem/Worth 176 123 0 0.000 0.699
41 Hughes, Bobby Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 209 125 21 0.000 0.699
42 Kendrick, Jason Resmondo/KME 262 145 33 5.000 0.698
43 Crine, Denny Benfield/Reece/Shade/AM Las Vegas/Easton 245 150 21 0.000 0.698
44 Reckart, Brad Watanabe/Kattus/Tiny Town/B&A/Superior/TPS 128 77 12 0.000 0.695
45 Higgenbotham, Brian Team Combat 169 106 11 0.000 0.692
46 Santiago, Jose Aubrey’s/MIT/Worth 117 70 11 0.000 0.692
47 DeDonatis, Don Bell Corp/Taylor Bros/Belcher/Easton 295 161 43 0.000 0.692
48 Sedlacek, Rick Specialty Tank/Stucco/K&G/Worth 149 99 4 0.000 0.691
49 Beggs, Dal Resmondo/KME 238 146 15 3.000 0.689
50 Minges, Ryan Watanabe/Kattus/Tiny Town/B&A/Superior/TPS 106 70 3 0.000 0.689

2007 HR Frequency Leaders

Stats provided by Bill “TAZZ” Tassinari

Rank Player Team PA HR BB FRQ
1 Garris, Hank Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 262 84 28 2.786
2 Phelps, JC BW3/Columbus Pipe/Mojo/Easton & Aubrey’s 127 38 18 2.868
3 Wallace, Jeff Resmondo 268 81 31 2.926
4 Gordon, Jamie Jean Shoppe/Tanel/Worth 203 66 7 2.970
5 Hall, Jeff Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 169 46 32 2.978
6 Fulk, BJ Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 299 92 23 3.000
7 Baker, Bryson Resmondo 249 78 14 3.013
8 Krause, Howie Resmondo 211 61 23 3.082
9 Bumgardner, Rusty Resmondo 264 73 33 3.164
10 McCraw, Johnny Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 282 77 31 3.260
11 Brown, Scott Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 264 69 39 3.261
12 Helmer, Brett Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 316 80 55 3.263
13 Kendrick, Jason Resmondo 242 55 49 3.509
14 Murray, Brandon Taylor Made/Titan Erosion/Floyd Env/Mizuno 136 35 11 3.571
15 Carter, Jim Chaney/Easton 133 34 11 3.588
16 Rainwater, Brian Resmondo 226 59 14 3.593
17 Bisbee, Vince Resmondo 205 48 32 3.604
18 Cocco, Tim Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 265 65 15 3.846
19 Higginbotham, Brian Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 171 41 11 3.902
20 Burgsteiner, JD Fence Brokers Inc 132 32 7 3.906
21 Cox, Andy Laser Vision/Easton 143 35 5 3.943
22 Brannon, Paul Laser Vision/Easton 126 31 3 3.968
23 O’Hara, Kris Chaney/Easton 169 34 33 4.000
24 Filby, Kevin Jean Shoppe/Tanel/Worth 173 39 11 4.154
25 Crine, Denny Chaney/Easton 153 35 6 4.200
26 Gallegos, John Chaney/Easton 149 33 10 4.212
27 Habermehl, Wayne Aubrey’s/MIT/Phone Masters/Elite/Worth 133 28 15 4.214
28 Bowory, Bryon BW3/Columbus Pipe/Mojo/Easton 94 18 18 4.222
29 Bailey, John Chaney/Easton 173 37 16 4.243
30 Thorp, Russell GTL/Combat 151 31 19 4.258
31 Kirby, Scott Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 257 54 22 4.352
32 Beggs, Dal Resmondo 217 42 34 4.357
33 Blackburn, Rob Laser Vision/Easton 164 33 20 4.364
34 Janack, Scott Chaney/Easton 187 37 25 4.378
35 Holcomb, Nate GTL/Combat & Wood Law/Cash Plus Pawn 155 34 5 4.412
36 Keene, Zach Fence Brokers Inc 113 23 9 4.522
37 Dutch, John Jean Shoppe/Tanel/Worth 205 39 27 4.564
38 Striebel, Scott Resmondo 163 31 21 4.581
39 King, Scott Aubrey’s/MIT/Phone Masters/Elite/Worth 196 41 6 4.634
40 Campbell, Wes Laser Vision/Easton 167 32 17 4.688
41 Webber, Mark Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 201 37 25 4.757
42 Wegman, Brian Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 308 56 40 4.786
43 Connell, Greg Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 251 50 9 4.840
44 Durick, Chad Fence Brokers Inc 125 25 3 4.880
45 Hughes, Bob Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 223 42 17 4.905
46 Mello, John Laser Vision/Easton 112 18 22 5.000
47 Gigerich, Brent Fence Brokers Inc 137 26 6 5.038
48 Cowart, Kyle Aubrey’s/MIT/Phone Masters/Elite/Worth 179 33 11 5.091
49 Dillingham, Dan Suncoast/Reebok 112 21 4 5.143
50 Thomas, John Aubrey’s/MIT/Phone Masters/Elite/Worth 121 22 7 5.182

2007 HR Leaders

Stats provided by Bill “TAZZ” Tassinari

Rank Player Team HR
1 Fulk, BJ Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 92
2 Garris, Hank Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 84
3 Wallace, Jeff Resmondo 81
4 Helmer, Brett Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 80
5 Baker, Bryson Resmondo 78
6 McCraw, Johnny Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 77
7 Bumgardner, Rusty Resmondo 73
8 Brown, Scott Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 69
9 Gordon, Jamie Jean Shoppe/Tanel/Worth 66
10 Cocco, Tim Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 65
11 Krause, Howie Resmondo 61
12 Rainwater, Brian Resmondo 59
13 Wegman, Brian Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 56
14 Kendrick, Jason Resmondo 55
15 Kirby, Scott Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 54
16 Connell, Greg Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 50
17 Bisbee, Vince Resmondo 48
18 Genter, JD Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 48
19 Hall, Jeff Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 46
20 Baker, Rick Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 44
21 Justice, Brian Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 43
22 Beggs, Dal Resmondo 42
23 Hughes, Bob Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 42
24 Hatfield, Shane Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 41
25 Higginbotham, Brian Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 41
26 King, Scott Aubrey’s/MIT/Phone Masters/Elite/Worth 41
27 Joerling, Todd Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 40
28 Dutch, John Jean Shoppe/Tanel/Worth 39
29 Filby, Kevin Jean Shoppe/Tanel/Worth 39
30 Phelps, JC BW3/Columbus Pipe/Mojo/Easton (Aubrey’s) 38
31 Bailey, John Chaney/Easton 37
32 Janack, Scott Chaney/Easton 37
33 Webber, Mark Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 37
34 Martin, Todd Resmondo 36
35 McDonald, Sean Jean Shoppe/Tanel/Worth 36
36 Cox, Andy Laser Vision/Easton 35
37 Crine, Denny Chaney/Easton 35
38 Murray, Brandon Taylor Made/Titan Erosion/Floyd Env/Mizuno 35
39 Carter, Jim Chaney/Easton 34
40 Holcomb, Nate GTL/Combat & Wood Law/Cash Plus Pawn 34
41 O’Hara, Kris Chaney/Easton 34
42 Blackburn, Rob Laser Vision/Easton 33
43 Cowart, Kyle Aubrey’s/MIT/Phone Masters/Elite/Worth 33
44 Gallegos, John Chaney/Easton 33
45 Burgsteiner, JD Fence Brokers Inc 32
46 Campbell, Wes Laser Vision/Easton 32
47 Hartwick, Greg Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 32
48 Brannon, Paul Laser Vision/Easton 31
49 Striebel, Scott Resmondo 31
50 Thorp, Russell GTL/Combat 31

2007 Top 50 On Base Percentage

Stats provided by Bill “TAZZ” Tassinari

Rank Player Team PA H BB ROE OBP
1 Wallace, Jeff Resmondo 268 183 31  4 0.813
2 Phelps, JC BW3/Columbus Pipe/Mojo/Easton & Aubrey’s 127 84 18  0 0.803
3 Kendrick, Jason Resmondo 242 136 49  4 0.781
4 McCraw, Johnny Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 282 189 31  0 0.780
5 Hall, Jeff Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 169 99 32  0 0.775
6 Wegman, Brian Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 308 196 40  0 0.766
7 Garris, Hank Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 262 171 28  0 0.760
8 O’Hara, Kris Chaney/Easton 169 95 33  0 0.757
9 Donaldson, Rhodney Scene/Jolt/Mattingly 103 78 0  0 0.757
10 Helmer, Brett Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 316 182 55  0 0.750
11 Thorp, Russell GTL/Combat 151 94 19  0 0.748
12 Bowker, Jack Scene/Jolt/Mattingly 95 71 0  0 0.747
13 Genter, JD Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 281 184 25  0 0.744
14 Fulk, BJ Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 299 196 23  0 0.732
15 Chamizo, Jason Chaney/Easton 137 91 9  0 0.730
16 Murray, Brandon Taylor Made/Titan Erosion/Floyd Env/Mizuno 136 88 11  0 0.728
17 Baker, Bryson Resmondo 249 165 14  2 0.727
18 Gallegos, John Chaney/Easton 149 98 10  0 0.725
19 Brown, Scott Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 264 152 39  0 0.723
20 Bailey, John Chaney/Easton 173 109 16  0 0.723
21 Rulli, Dennis Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 260 160 27  0 0.719
22 Campbell, Wes Laser Vision/Easton 167 100 17  3 0.719
23 Sedlacek, Rick Jean Shoppe/Tanel/Worth 207 133 15  0 0.715
24 DeDonatis, Don Resmondo 277 156 38  4 0.715
25 Blackburn, Rob Laser Vision/Easton 164 96 20  1 0.713
26 Crine, Denny Chaney/Easton 153 103 6  0 0.712
27 Janack, Scott Chaney/Easton 187 108 25  0 0.711
28 Goins, Bryan GTL/Combat 166 96 22  0 0.711
29 Bowory, Bryon BW3/Columbus Pipe/Mojo/Easton 94 48 18  0 0.702
30 Krause, Howie Resmondo 211 123 23  2 0.701
31 Bumgardner, Rusty Resmondo 264 148 33  4 0.701
32 Justice, Brian Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 260 158 24  0 0.700
33 May, Brian Aubrey’s/MIT/Phone Masters/Elite/Worth & Combat 150 89 16  0 0.700
34 Filby, Kevin Jean Shoppe/Tanel/Worth 173 110 11  0 0.699
35 Robbins, Ryan Jean Shoppe/Tanel/Worth 206 124 20  0 0.699
36 Baker, Tim Chaney/Easton 119 78 5  0 0.697
37 Wilson, Donald GTL/Combat 158 81 29  0 0.696
38 Martin, Mike Laser Vision/Easton 148 76 24  3 0.696
39 Hughes, Bob Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 223 138 17  0 0.695
40 Baker, Rick Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 272 152 36  0 0.691
41 Beggs, Dal Resmondo 217 114 34  1 0.687
42 Webber, Mark Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 201 113 25  0 0.687
43 Schmitt, Chris Suncoast/Reebok 105 60 12  0 0.686
44 Melton, Brett Suncoast/Reebok 95 55 10  0 0.684
45 Holcomb, Nate GTL/Combat & Wood Law/Cash Plus Pawn 155 101 5  0 0.684
46 Calcutt, Chris Taylor Made/Titan Erosion/Floyd Env/Mizuno 117 77 3  0 0.684
47 Hatfield, Shane Combat/Benfield/Reece/Dalsanders 245 152 15  0 0.682
48 Striebel, Scott Resmondo 163 88 21  2 0.681
49 Joerling, Todd Bell Corp/Belcher/TAI/Backman 263 157 22  0 0.681
50 Gordon, Jamie Jean Shoppe/Tanel/Worth 203 131 7  0 0.680

2003 Softball Reports

USSSA NIT in Seattle, Washington – July 18 & 19, 2003

Perkins Roofing won this USSSA NIT and now there’s one berth left to begot. The Last Chance Tournament in Sterling Heights, Michigan will set the bracket for the teams who won the USSSA NIT berths for the season. I can tell you it’s been a battle in the USSSA NIT’s this season, and there have been some great NIT’s this year. Perkins Roofing, who hasn’t done much this season gets the win here in Seattle having to beat some mighty fine teams on route to the Championship. Congratulations to Perkins Roofing on winning this NIT. Second place went to KC Drywall from out west and Budweisier/Worth who has been struggling most of the year got third place in this one. Fourth place went to TPS Northwest, another good A team out of the western part of the country. I want to take some time and write about the 2003 season in Big Time softball. First of all I’ll start with the USSSA, who this season had put together a travel expense system that would help bring out more teams to their NIT’s. I for one believe this is a very good system to use to help bring out more lower class teams to participate in these NIT’s. I hope the USSSA can find a way in 2004 to keep this system in place because I think it’s very good for the game, but remember this is only my opinion. I think this system gives teams a chance at winning some money to help them get to a World Tournament, that even if they didn’t play in it and earn money they wouldn’t be able to go. I’m looking forward to the 2003 Super World Series in Florida and would like to say good luck to all the teams who battled to reach this great tournament all season long. Hope to see you all there.

Now the NSA has had another good season in Big Time softball. There’s nobody who has given more to their organization and the game than Jim Kimmel. I can tell you it has been very difficult for all the associations to get teams to attend all these tournaments because of the number of events being held. It is my opinion that if the associations don’t make a move and cut back the amount of NIT’s they hold, then Big Time softball is in trouble. The math is very simple, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the sponsors of the teams that are playing today cannot afford to play all these tournaments, it is totally impossible. You look at the associations and the NIT’s today, you’ll find that most of the teams will play approxiamately 10 NIT’s a year and between 3-5 World Tournaments combined in all associations. I propose that the NIT’s in each association being the USSSA, the NSA and the ASA cut down to five NIT’s each. Each can have their World Tournament along with the ISA and WSL World Tournaments. Fifteen NIT’s and five World Championships are plenty of tournaments for these Class A and Super teams to play in. I believe if there were 15 tournaments, 5 in each association along with five World Tournaments, that each tournament would be filled with 16-20 teams in each event instead of 5, 8 and 10 team tournaments that most of the NIT’s are drawing today. There’s no reason that the Big 3, USSSA, NSA & ASA, can’t settle on five tournaments each and make these great events for everybody, not just a few like it is today. Like it or not, the Dudley and the Smoky are the two elite tournaments in the U.S .who draw 32 teams year after year. Obviously they’re doing the right things to get these teams back every year. Little Rock and College Station have proven to be great tournaments because of the C,D,B and Women’s events hooked together with them. I can tell you that this is how Big Time softball must go to keep it a-float. This is only my opinion remember.

Now in the ASA I can tell you that they have a lot of teams who still attend their events all over the country in all classes and in big numbers too. I personally attended some of these events this season, and it was great to see all the participating teams at all levels. This my friends is the grassroots of softball in rural America. John Daniels and his WSL Association joined together this season with some of the oldest and biggest ASA softball tournaments in the world. I’ll give you an example of some of these tournaments that John and his WSL Association joined forces with this season; Bismark, North Dakota with D,C,B & Women’s. This has been an ASA event for years and John was asked by their organization to join forces and be an ASA/WSL event in 2003. This tournament drew 397 teams. Greg Huchinson and John Daniels joined together in this ASA College Station, Texas event which drew 219 teams. John also joined forces with Doc Barr and Rhonda’s Speak Easy in Sioux City, Iowa that drew 86 teams. John ventured in partners with another ASA event held in Big Lake, Minnesota that also drew 90 teams. John was also asked to join forces in another ASA tournament in Bloomington, Minnesota that drew another 100 teams. John ventured out to places like Doltham, Alabama; Waterloo, Iowa; Cleveland, Tennesse; Houston, Texas and Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and these tournaments drew another 500 teams total. Overall John and the WSL combining with these great ASA events drew well over 2,000 teams in these venues for 2003. The climax of all this season will end for John in Panama City Beach, Fla. on Sept. 27-29, 2003 with their World Championships in all divisions. This event will start off with a huge golf tournament on Thursday. Make your plans to attend and play this beautiful golf course in Panama Beach. For information email me or John. Friday the tournaments will start in Classes D,C, A & B and Women’s Divisions and also the Super end of the tournament will begin on Friday with 14 teams entered, 11 of which are in the Top 15 in the country. This fabulous event will all end with an awards banquet Sunday at the host hotel, the beautiful Edgewater Resort. You won’t want to miss this event. I guarantee you will see the most unbelievable trophys presented to all Division Champions that you’ll have ever seen. Don’t forget the tryout camp, which gets underway Friday morning open to all ages of players from youth to seniors. I urge all softball players to attend who want to get seen and learn hitting & fielding techniques and other parts of the game from some of the top players in the world who will be instructing. Some of the great managers, coaches and sponsors will be on hand at this tryout camp. This camp will be at the ballfields where the tournament is being held. The cost for this event is only $20, and very well worth it. There’ll be an exhibition game played between the tryout team and some of the old time legends on Friday night. Remember don’t miss this spectacular event in Panama City Beach, Flrida.

Now for the ISA let’s not forget that Chet and his staff will run as usual their very good Super World Tournament in Anderson, S.C. in September. This is always been a very good event and I’m sure the 2003 will be as good as ever. Good luck to all the teams who enter this event.


ASA Smoky Mountain Classic – July 11-13, 2003

Resmondo/Hague/Taylor Bros/Sunbelt/Miken pretty much rolled through this great tournament as they went 6-0 on route to the championship. They were on their way to run ruling every team, but stalled in their game against Alesium. The Resmondo boys had a chance to put them away in the 4th, 5th & 6th innings, but could not get it done. Alesium took advantage of it and clawed their way back into it and the game was tied at 39-39 going to the bottom of the 7th and Hague scored to win the game. It was not as close as it looked. Todd Martin, who has been struggling a little this year especially in the power numbers because of a bad back, finally got it going. Todd was 30-33 with 19 homeruns to almost double his homeruns for the season. Todd had 21 going into the tournament and came out with 40, and was chosen the tournament’s MVP. Howie Krause who also had a great tournament, was chasing Todd for MVP honors as he went 26-30 with 17 homeruns. I can tell you it was a total team effort in this win. The Resmondo team this past two weekends have really put it all together and have made it two wins in a row in ASA Supers. Some people want to say it’s just the bats, but I know one thing for sure that the other plastic bat being used in the game by some very good softball teams are not lacking anything. The facts are that some of the players are just not getting it done, and I think maybe that they ought to think more about their game than about what their opponents are swinging. I also know that the great hitters in the game like Jeff Hall and Brett Helmer’s numbers are as good as they always have been, not true about some of the other players who just aren’t hitting it. John McCraw has been using the other bat and has been killing it all season long, and he’s up among the leaders. I over heard some players this weekend making statements saying “how the hell is US Vinyl beating some of us top teams”. I’m going to tell you why and this is my own opinion, “the US Vinyl team has some of the best talent in the game right now, and I don’t care what bat they swing, this team has gotten better and better each week they play. When this club picked up shortstop Dennis Shrum it’s made this team a contender to win against the two elite teams anytime they play. This young man has played seven years of minor league baseball, and as high as AAA. I’m here to tell you he wouldn’t of played at that level if he couldn’t play the game, believe me. This young man is as good as it gets on the defensive side of the game in softball today and he is learning to hit it fast, and is definitely an impact player in softball today. This team also has more ex-minor league baseball players who know how to play. RJ Howerton is the “Real Deal” believe me. It doesn’t make any difference what this young man swings. Like it or not this kid has all the tools. Ronnie James has proven through the years he can hit the ball, “Big Jeff Ott” has also. Twinkie Jones has been a great hitter with some very good softball teams over the years, Brandon Murray is one of the best young pitchers in the game and can flat out hit it, young JD Genter is a very good player and is fast becoming a very good hitter, Bob Waldyke has been one of the game’s superior players and been playing longer than 99% of the players on the two big teams. Bob could play very well back in the 80’s and can flat-out still play well into his 40’s. Jamal Herrin is playing his first year at big time softball and is learning his game, just like other players this young have experienced over the years. He will be a good one. Kelly Hartman is also learning and can hit it as far as anybody who plays the game today. Veteran Ray Coward is the leader of this very good softball team along with Gregg Schulte who helped make this bunch a winner. John McCraw who was released from Resmondo a week ago, has brought just what it will take for this team to win a World, and I’m here to tell you that both Resmondo and Smith better be on their game or they could get beat, and believe me this is a very good softball team not just because of the bat they swing, but because they do have a lot of talent. I will end this part of the report with this, the Resmondo team has some of the best players whoever played at this level and also have some other talented players, and believe me they don’t have to use the plastic bats to win. They are swinging the bat that their sponsor gave them Miken when the association they play in allows it to be used. It’s no different than last year. These teams swing what the associations allow them to play with. Last year the #1 team in the country came out with their new plastic bat and won one World championship early and everybody started crying, that bat’s illegal, get it out! You know what? That team won one World Championship using that bat. I don’t believe it was the bat that didn’t allow them to win any more World’s, it was simply the players did not hit and get the job done period. I sat and watched this tournament all weekend long. I saw the two so-called hot bats being used, and I can tell you that balls were being hit equally as far off of both bats. I will also tell you the leading homerun hitter in this tournament was using the Synergy. All I’ve got to say is that they can cry and whine about the bats, but as long as the associations allow these bats to be played with, stop whining and play the game! I said in the start of the season, that it would be very difficult for some of the teams to compete against these bats, and that has been proven. If these teams are going to cry and whine, then the only solution I can see to the problem is that everybody swing the same bat and see what happens, that’s all I have to say about the bats”.

Now, one more issue before getting back to the tournament, and that is hitting the middle. I’ve been playing softball and watching this game since 1963, a lot more than the average person including the players. I have never seen any stop signs through the middle of the diamond put up. “Big Time” softball like it or not, is a professional game. Big money is spent at all levels. The players are very, very competitive and are paid by the sponsors to win. Remember there is no return on the sponsor’s money spent, only prestige to win. These sponsors ask the players to do their job, just like the man who goes to work 9-5 in the office, he must produce or he’s out of a job. If anybody thinks that these players would purposely try to hurt another player, or a sponsor would put a bounty on an opposing player, hasn’t got a clue of what’s going on in the game of softball. I have watched all season long on my board people bashing players who hit up the middle. I am sick and tired of hearing it and reading it, therefore beginning next week I will allow no bashing of any player on this board about anything to harm the integrity of the game of softball. or the player. I’m going to write about a player who played this game at the highest level there was, and I want to say he was one of the great hitters the game has ever known, God rest his soul. Dirk Androff could hit it as far as anybody whoever played and could handle the bat as well as anyone too. I’m here to tell you that Dirk hit many a pitcher up the middle in his day, not only with the bases loaded or nobody on, and they were all unlimited homerun tournaments, and there are a lot of pitchers who will attest to what I’m saying who wore the labels of Dudley, Steele’s, Star, Worth or any other .50 core ball that bashed upon their bodies. Just ask Ricky Huggins, Greg Canaday, Doug Byrnes, Butch Ovens and Stump Stanley. They will tell you how those .50 cores rocketed off their bodies. They have been bashing Jeff Wallace and Todd Martin, two of the nicest guys in the game of softball, and I guarantee you that this statement will come from their peers they play with and against. When you see Jeff, ask him about his first experience in big time softball with Steele’s when a .50 core rocketed off the bat of Dirk Androff and left the Dudley label on his chest for two weeks. I’ll end this part of the report by saying, yes it is dangerous and the equipment is very good, but the game has not changed from 1963-2003, the middle is open, it’s part of the game and it will always be part of the game. The competitive players who get paid to play this game will do what it takes to win, and I’ll guarantee you there not out to intentionally hurt anybody, Get A Clue!! The game hasn’t changed, just the players and the equipment have gotten better. The associations instituted the homerun rules thinking that this was the answer to making the game more competitive. What has happened is the homerun rule has increased hitting the middle on the 300′ fields is exactly a no brainier. The associations need to sit down and talk to the players, whom are the ones who know what the game is all about, not some director or head of an association who couldn’t play a lick and doesn’t have a clue what it’s all about at the professional level of this game, yet they’re the ones making the decisions on how this game should be played. The facts are let the people who know and play the game have a say on how it’s played, that’s another no brainier. Let the people who are making decisions now go out and pitch to the best players in the world and I guarantee you they won’t be making decisions anymore, let’s get back to the tournament.

Second place went to US Vinyl/ Miken who have been playing very well the last couple of weekends finishing second in Arkansas and now finishing second in the Smoky’s. Third place went to Dan Smith/Backman/Menosse/Easton who just haven’t played well the last few weeks. Talking to some of the players and sponsors they told me they are just not hitting the ball right now and hopefully they will get it going before the World’s start. I have seen the same thing happen to this team a couple of years ago when another plastic bat came out and the players were thinking more about their opponent’s bat than their own game. They better focus on their own game and not worry about what the other teams are swinging and start playing their game. They are a lot better than they have been playing the last couple of weekends and it doesn’t matter what bat they swing, and they do have a very, very good one. I over heard one of their guys say, “They didn’t beat us, the bat did.” I don’t think so, I think their bat beat them when the boys didn’t hit it like they are capable of. Everybody knows you’ve got to hit when it counts and stop making excuses like “the bat beat us”. Last week they scored 5 runs and 13 runs you can’t win with that. This week they lost one game by one run. I think it’s all about hitting and catching the ball and if you can’t get that done you don’t deserve to win. It’s only my opinion, but I believe the Dan Smith team is a lot better than what they have showed the last few weeks and I believe they need to stop crying about their opponents bat and play their game, and I think they will find themselves back in the race. Fourth place, went to Alesium/Chase Reece/Shade Restaraunt/Easton who played extremely well this weekend as usual and showed the character of what kind of team they are when they could have got run ruled in three different innings in the game against Resmondo and just came up short by a run. Remember the Alesium boys swing that other plastic bat and they’re sure doing a very good job with it. Once again, this is the number one tourney in the USA simply because of the very talented teams who participate in this great event. This tournament is better than the Worlds because of the competition involved. If this tournament was played on bigger fields I am not sure who might have won. Speaking of talented teams I will go on record saying that I missed the boat on a couple of teams that showed me they have some very good players and can play with any of the A teams in the country and compete against the big boys. These teams are Sports Den and McNair Sports. These two belong in the Top 15 and will be. I apologize to both of them for not doing my job knowing how good they were. My mistake boys. There also were some other good softball teams who played great this weekend and upset some teams. I will once again say what a terrific job Joe Huff and his Maryville Parks and Rec. Dept. along with his staff of the Smoky did running this tremendous event. Joe runs a first class tournament along with his fine assistant Chris, and I can tell you talking with sponsors, players, coaches and fans that all of the teams agree that this is the best tournament in the world and they prove that by coming back year after year. Talk about coming back, Joe has told me that there will be a Smoky tournament in 2004 no matter what happens. I personally hope that the people from the ASA for which Joe has been a part of for 24 years will stay with Joe in the Smoky Mountain Classic in 2004. I believe this is a historic tournament along with four others Little Rock, College Station, Sanford and the Twitty, which the major teams should support and I believe the ASA can keep the Super Division and their World Tournament in 2004 with the help of Joe Huff, Clint Albright, Tom Farnsworth, Greg Hutchinson and Dave LaMarbre could make this happen. This great tournament is the oldest association going in softball, and I would also give my time to work with these people to keep this best event in Big Time Softball an on-going yearly event.


ASA WSL Super, Little Rock, Arkansas – July 4 – 6, 2003

Resmondo/Hague/Taylor Bros/Sunbelt/Miken rolled through this ASA Super in a big way! The Miken boys played a total of 18 innings on route to the championship. When this team gets to swing their Miken bats they are very hard to beat. Taking nothing away from other bats that are used by other teams in this tournament. The Resmondo squad were hitting it and scoring a lot of runs all weekend long. MVP JC Phelps was tearing it up again. Resmondo might be just getting tuned up for the Mighty Smoky’s in which they will also be swinging their Miken bats. It should be interesting. The second place team in this event who were also swinging Miken’s was US Vinyl who has played extremely well in unlimited home run tournaments. The Miken boys who have won four tournaments using their bat also played well in last weeks Limited home run tournament. This team has improved each time they go to play, Ray and Steve have made the changes to both help on the defensive side and the offensive side. John McGraw who was released after this tournament was picked up by US Vinyl and should shore up their outfield problems and give them just what they needed a left fielder and another power hitter. This team will be a force in the Super Worlds I guarantee it. They may win one and probably knock someone out in the tournament. The Hague team looks like they are coming together and were just a little short at the Dudley, watch out for this bunch, especially when they use the Miken Ultra II. We will see this weekend at the Smoky’s. Third place went to Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton who struggled on the offense this week but make no mistake it won’t happen to often. The battle between Backman and Resmondo is beginning to heat up and should continue this weekend at the mighty Smoky. Their will be no time to rest for any of the top team in the country as they will all be battling for the top spot this weekend. Fourth place went to another one of those teams, the boys of the Budweiser/Sunnyvale/Fairweather/Worth, who when they step on the field you’d better be ready to play or you will find yourself in the losers bracket. This bunch has a lot of talent and Greg and his partners are always trying to improve their team. I look for this bunch to be a force at the Smoky again like last year when they were the runner ups. I would have liked to have been at the Little Rock tournament this year but of course I was in Canada but I am told that it was a great weekend and that as always Clint and his wife were great host again for the awesome 4th of July tournament. I was also told that the lower division was a great success and the teams had a great time. I have said in the past both the PIF and the Little Rock are great events and their are enough for both teams to be successful.


THE PIF – Fleurimont Quebec, Canada – July 4-6th, 2003

I have been to many PIF tournaments throughout the years, not only as the Old Scout but with teams as a manager, with Jerome and as a fan. I also have been at the old field as well as the new field and I thought I had seen it all, but this 2003 PIF was the biggest and most spectacular event I have ever seen in the game of softball. The softball was very good, the fireworks were gigantic and spectacular but the main attraction a production called the “The Movie Show” which was a video of movies being shown and the songs to the movies being sung by live singers, dancers and lighting performance that I have never seen before, including the many times that I have spent in Las Vegas. I guarantee that you wouldn’t mind spending Forty Dollars to see this show along with the entertainment for the children all weekend long that was provided free from the Pif organization. This is what makes the PIF tournament more than just softball, it is a total festival atmosphere from start to finish. Alesium/Chase/Reece/Shade Restaraunt /Easton was the class of the field , but let me tell you it was not an easy road to the championship. The Easton boys got a big scare in their first game of the tournament as they found themselves trailing by 5 going to the bottom of the seventh. But this experienced team began to hit it and Alex Lavorico ended it with a walk off three run homer. Alex also won the homerun derby Saturday night winning $1,000.00 for his efforts and also was named the tournaments MVP. The Alesium boys struggled hitting again this weekend, but managed to score enough to win the winners bracket and wait to see who would come out to meet them in the finals. Life Scan/ Vacances/ Air Transat whom lost their first game of the tournament and then got it together and began to roll as they won eight in a row to get back to meet the Alesium boys in the finals. Life Scan/Vacances/Air Transat played a great game but ran out of gas and had to settle for second place, but got $5,000.00 travel expense money and a berth to the WSL World’s in Panama City Beach, FL in September. I have said it before and I will say it again, the Canadian teams are getting better and better each year, and believe me they can compete against the A teams from the United States. I don’t say they will win yet, but they will be competitive and my beliefs is that these teams need a little more pop and they will begin to win against these American teams. Third place went to a very good A-B team called Manitoba Legends who came a long way from Winnipeg to play in this one and gave it one hell of a run, but also ran out of gas at the end losing to the Air Transat boys settling for third place. This bunch also beat some other very good teams in their run for third. I am looking forward for this bunch to come to Panama City to play in the A-B World tournament. This team plays very good defense and can slap the ball around and are looking to pick up one more power hitter to go with their squad, and I am sure that they will. Fourth place, went to another very good Quebec team called Pro Cam International. This team and Life Scan/Vacances/Air Transat, another Quebec team have a fierce rivalry going on. When these two meet it is an all out war, and sure enough in their game one of the star players from Life Scan Air Transat Jacque Miller was ejected, but they managed to get the win without him and then went to play the Manitoba team thinking that Jacque could play, but the ruling was he had to set out this game as well and therefore Air Transat boys played the full game without the services of Jacque and again came out the winner in that game, but the Manitoba boys gave it their all. Other teams who did a great job in this tournament are Binbrook Brewers, Beach Walk Family Fitness, Orioles, Lloyd’s Softball, Lebaron/Easton, Monty’s World, National Gold/ DeMarini made up this great 2003 PIF tournament. The tournament was very competitive because the Canadian Association allows the use of Miken and Senergy bats, and the .44 core .375 trump ball was perfect for this years tournament. You may ask why the scores were low and here is why. Even with the use of those bats and the good ball the temperatures were in the high 80’s with very high humidity even at night which helped keep the scores down, because the ball was not flying very well. I do believe if the temps were lower their would have been a lot more runs scored in this tournament. I also want to state that it was a pretty typical PIF tournament with the winds blowing straight in during the day so that also helped keep the scores down. Another thing that helped keep the scores down especially from the American teams who were not used to having a mat at home plate, and that my friends definitely made a difference, naturally the Canadian teams play using the mat. I also overheard an umpire say, no problems umpiring behind the dish in this tournament there will definitely be no arguing in this tournament about balls and strikes. Here’s another thing that helped keep scores down, 80′ bases were used and that is perfect, you get lot’s of double plays and it lets infielders make plays that no way could they make using 65-70 foot bases. Do the math, with the good balls and the good plastic bats the ball gets through the infield too fast and very few double plays are made at all. It’s that simple. I can’t say enough about the 2003 PIF. The PIF staff, Charlie, Claude, Regis, Pierre, Richard and the rest of the folks there did an outstanding job to make this not only a great weekend of softball, but an unbelievable weekend of family fun. Fun for the kids, mothers, fathers, grandparents to be able to watch great softball and have First Class entertainment. There is no question in my mind, this was the best PIF tournament ever. The weather was spectacular, the fireworks were unbelievable and that’s all I will say about this great tournament. I will take nothing away from any other Fourth of July Softball tournament, but if you want a weekend of great softball, entertainment and partying, then there is not a better place to spend the Fourth than the PIF. I would suggest that next year all of you good A and B teams who want to play good competitive softball make your plans to come to the PIF. You won’t regret it I promise! The PIF staff has told me it will be bigger and better in 2004. My wife and I would personally like to thank the PIF staff for a great and exciting weekend of softball and entertainment.

I will do a story on the Great Little Rock 4th of July event which is also a spectacular softball event as soon as I receive more information.


USSSA NIT CINCINNATI, OHIO – JUNE 27 & 28th

Mountain Top/TPS continues to dominate on 300′ fields. The Toppers rolled through this NIT to the Championship. The TPS boys have made it four wins in USSSA NIT’s on 300′ fields. This team has proved to be one of the “Best Class A” teams in a long time. This ball club has everything you would want at this level. They have great defense, excellent base hitters and enough pop to keep you honest. The real fact is they have players on that team that know how to win. John Recor has built a very good softball team, along with Dennis Chumley this bunch has a lot of class, when they win and when they lose. As John Mellow once said to me ” all players should learn that you win with class and you lose with class, and the rest will take care of itself”. Good luck to the TPS boys the rest of the way. Second place went to US Vinyl/Miken, who you have to give a lot of credit for doing as good a job as they did, simply because they are a Major team playing on 300′ fields, swinging a different bat because they can’t use their own, certainly makes it that much harder to win in these conditions. This bunch can hit with any team, and have proven that throughout the season, having won a lot of games on the circuit this year. This team has got better as the year has gone on, especially on defense. I also know they are trying to add one more good defensive player who can also hit. This team will be a force when they can use their bat in unlimited homerun tournaments. Good job Ray and the gang in this one. Third place went to Northwest Pipe/Easton, who are a very solid Class A team. I will tell you now, this team will be a contender in the Class A Worlds, and could upset any team in the Major Worlds. Larry Q has done a good job putting this bunch together and I’m sure he will have his boys ready for the Worlds. Good job boys and good luck the rest of the year. Fourth place goes to Doc’s/Easton. This team is playing very well now and also will be a tough team to compete against in the Class A Worlds. This team can win against the big boys also at any time. They have the talent to do just that. I look for this team to win a World or two in their class. They might upset one of the big boys in the Super Worlds. I did not make this tournament this weekend, but I would of liked to because it is one hell of a nice place to watch a softball tournament and Jim Wessel does a great job hosting this tournament. I have been there before. I’m sure all the teams enjoyed the weekend at Jim’s park.


WSL/ASA BIG LAKE, MINNESOTA – JUNE 27 & 28TH

Big Lake, Minnesota was the setting for this ASA/WSL event. Long Haul/Miken was the winner of the tournament, but did not accept the berth to the Major WSL Worlds in Panama Beach, Fla. Pov’s/TPS finished in 2nd. and will accept the WSL berth. At this time I do not know if either the Miken team or Pov’s will accept a bid to the ASA Super in Sanford, Fla. I’m sure we’ll know later on that. I know this was a great weekend for the ASA/WSL, as the three tournaments that were ran this weekend, Bismarck, North Dakota, who had 397 teams entered in Class B,C,D & Womens, along with a Senior Division. This tournament has been around for quite a few years. It is called the Sam McQuaid and is truly an unbelievable event. This year the people running this event got together with John Daniels and his WSL Association bringing the Fox Sports Net TV people to film this event for a show later on. Also this weekend there were 84 teams in Big Lake, Minn. in the Open Class B,C, & D. The last one was an NSA/WSL event called the Texas Shootout Finals. Ninety five teams were entered in this B,C & D Event. I don’t think softball is totally dead around the country. These people who run these events of this nature truly must be very hard workers to get these kind of numbers in NIT’s. I think a fine example was the one in Big Lake where normally a week before the tournament they’ll know just how many teams they will get, but this year four weeks before the tournament they knew they were going to go well past the numbers they have had in the past. I believe this is happening because of the work and promotions from all the Tournament Directors of these tournaments and the promotion from the WSL office and the promotions from people like Pat Sullivan and the WSL staff who are putting in hour after hour of hard work to make this happen. Congratulations to all the winners and the participating almost 600 teams who were a part of this ASA/WSL huge weekend.


Dudley USSSA NIT, Brooklyn Center, MN – June 20-22, 2003

The mighty Dudley stood up to its billing as one of the top tournaments in the country, thats for sure. Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton also stood up as the undisputed number one team in the land, as it steam rolled through this one to the championship. The Easton boys were relentless on offense and played extremely well defensively in this win. The offense was again led by Jeff Hall who week after week continues to hit it. Hank Garris, Brett Helmer also contributed to the offense. Jason Kendrick had his best tournament of the year and local boy Scott Brown had a very good tournament for the Easton boys. This bunch is proving to be the best in 2003 and have now made it two in a row at the mighty Dudley. This is where they took off last year on route to becoming the number one team in the country. This weekend they did it without the services of short stop Demound Thomas who was injured earlier on in the tournament and was replaced by Ed Rosado who played extremely well filling in. Another good job by the Backman squad. Congratulations on the win. Finishing in second place was Alesium/Chase/Reese/Easton who are proving to be a very good team on both baseball fields and 300 foot fields. Manager Gary Jost has this team playing great softball and are capable of beating anyone in the country, any weekend. This team has great defense and can best hit it with the best of them. They may lack one more power hitter when they get into the world tournaments in the big stadium, we will see. The boys from Las Vegas beat Resmondo in a very tough ball game by the score of 50-47 to send the Resmondo team home. Alesium then had the task of trying to beat the number one team in the country twice but fell short in the first game of the championship and settled for second place. Great job Alesium. Third place went to Resmondo/Hague who had been struggling against both Dan Smith and Alesium as they seemed to come up short in most of the games against these two teams. So far this season the Resmondo boys have lost four games to Backman, and three games to Alesium. I think the Resmondo boys are playing good games against both of those teams but just seem to fall short and don’t get it done early on in this season. Resmondo has not used a set line up this season due to injuries to pitcher Andy Purcell, and short stop Dal Beggs has proven costly. I believe it has been very difficult for the management of the Resmondo team to get a set line up because of the amount of very good players on the team, and I am sure they are trying to figure it out. Resmondo boys played very good this weekend as they lost a very tough game with rival Backman as they had a chance to win it in the bottom of the seventh but came up short, they also lost a very close one to Alesium. This team will have to pick it up and start winning or it will be a long season, they have the talent but are not getting it done when it counts. Fourth place went to Doc’s/Easton who is starting to get it going lately. this team is very solid on defense and base hit when they need to. This weekend they got a stellar performance out of Dean Semmon who was 26 for 28. I believe this team will be there in the A worlds and could win some national championships. Good job sterling and Doc. Fifth place goes to very nice a-b team out of Seattle, Washington who is sponsored by a woman, Lonnie Henderson, the ex-wife of former major league baseball star Dave Henderson. This young lady is a joy to watch as her team plays in Major level softball. This weekend was especially nice as her and her team got the berth to Mickey Mouse World in Orlando, Florida for the 2003 USSSA World Championship. This young team has some very good players and can score some runs and should be very competative in the class A worlds. Once again I would like to say what a class tournament the Dudley is and what a great job Warne Belem does running this great event. The weather was perfect the city had the fields in great shape and Gary Turnberg who is the USSSA director did another great job running this Minnesota USSSA tournament. I really enjoyed going to the Dudley and watching this great tournament, once again great job by all the teams and especially Kevitt Easton, the old boys played extremely well and just came up a little short of winning the berth. For you people who don’t know they have some of the old Spectrum players and Long Haul players. See you next week,


ASA/WSL SUPER QUALIFIER SIOUX CITY, IOWA – June 13, 14, & 15th

Rural America was the setting for this ASA/WSL softball tournament in Sioux City, Iowa, and I’m here to tell you it was a perfect place to host a tournament. The baseball stadium that Doc Bar secured to play this great event in is just what “Big Time” softball is all about. There is no way that good softball players who can play this game wouldn’t want to play in these conditions. The park was very big 335′,390′, 410′, and they used a very good ball with the wind was blowing in a little, which kept the ball from flying out consistently. The teams who played were very good A teams. Doc’s/Easton, Pov’s/TPS, Ts’13, VIC/Mizuno were the four teams who participated in this Round Robin double elimination tournament. Doc’s/Easton came up the winner in this one, as Doc’s Wayne Busby and Craig Upton led the offensive attack. This was a pretty good team effort for the Doc’s boys rolling through this event on route to the championship.Second place went to Pov’s/TPS who battled all weekend long, they came up a little bit short in the Championship game. Geno Burdick led the tournament in homerun with six. “Big” Wes Campbell just wore it out as he showed why he is one of the best hitters in big time softball. Wes hit a monster homerun to the opposite field over the 390′ mark that easily went at least 430′. You might ask why teams were only scoring 1 or 2 runs a game sometimes? Well I can tell you that sometimes the A players get caught up in wanting to hit homeruns on these big fields, and that my friends is not going to happen. When teams play on fields this big with 90′ bases there are not going to be a lot of homeruns here, even by the best homerun hitters in the world. All I can say is good base hitters have to use the whole field, that is what Doc’s did, and that is why they won the Championship. VIC/Mizuno from Illinois is a nice A/B type team who will compete very well at their level, this team represents what softball should be. This team doesn’t have a big budget, they come to play and like this weekend, they drove 8 hours each way to compete in this ASA/WSL event.What that tells me is that these players want to play the game and don’t careabout how much money or what it takes to get to a tournament, they are determined to play the game. They are a nice bunch of guys. Good luck the rest of the season. Fourth place went to T’13 who also had a very good A/B type team who can compete with a lot of goodA teams in the country. It was nice to see you guys competing at this tournament. Good luck to you guys also. The class D, C, B, and Women’s Division was a great tournament. Rhonda’s Speak Easy Bar and Restaurant hosted this ASA/WSL event. Rhonda has run this tournament for some years in Sioux City, Iowa. I found Rhonda to be one hell of a nice woman, who worked herself to a frazzle running this event. I’d like to take the time to say thank you to Rhonda and the staff at the ball park for some of the nicest people I have met in the game of softball, and hopefully we can get it all together again in 2004 in Sioux City, Iowa. To all the teams who participated in this Sioux City, Iowa Tournament at all levels. The ASA and the WSL want to thank you for coming to this great tournament. In the open division the MVP was Greg Jones who played great defense and hit it very well all weekend for the Doc’s club. This young man can play center field with the best of them. All I can say is a lot of players like Greg are beginning to fill the rosters of big time softball teams. Players like Jamal Herrin, Brian Rainwater, and Bobby Hughes are making up the outfields of “Big Time” softball today, and believe me they can go get ’em, all of them. Once again, great job Rhonda and Doc for running this event.


USSSA NIT MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – JUNE 13- 15th

I won’t write much about this tournament simply because I wasn’t there. I have talked to a few people from some of the teams that did participate, and they all pretty much say the same thing, the balls were hot, the bats are obviously good, and the fields are small (300′). The ball used was a .40 core, .525 compressed, which obviously is too much for these great teams and a 300′ fence. More than likely the compression of that ball was probably more like 600. The bats I won’t even talk about but what about 18 teams, 2 fields, and rocket balls. Do you think it might lead up to 100 runs a game, 3 hr. games or even 4hr. games? It doesn’t make sense. I’m sure when you went to this tournament you must have had a clue that with these balls, those small fields, and of course the hot bats, that the games would take 3 and 4 hours. All I can say is figure the math. You would have played until Monday morning in these conditions, therefore, obviously you would have missed your flights, pretty simple, it doesn’t work. You can holler and scream about playing on baseball fields, but I guarantee you that with good balls and good bats, you will have no more than 1 1/2 hr . games, 30 run games, and everybody will make it to their flights on time on Sunday, I promise you. This crazy stuff of teams missing flights, having to forfeit games has been going on forever on these 300′ fields. Back in the day with 300′ fences, 50 core. balls, we had the same results as today. You people that bash softball being played on baseball fields aren’t paying the bills that it costs sponsors to get players home on Monday morning, hotel rooms for Sunday night, meal money for the players, not to speak about players not getting to work on Monday morning, because games ran 3 hours or more and tournament directors don’t have the sense to spend more money and get more fields so these things don’t happen. Figure it out boys, it’s not that hard. Oh, by the way Resmondo/Hague/Taylor Bros./Sunbelt won this event even though there were some forfeits involved on route to the championship. Mountain Top/TPS took second place in this one, but were the only undefeated team up until the forfeits. Congratulations to Northwest Pipe/TPS for getting the berth to Disneyworld. Great job Larry. Q. Fourth place went to another very good team Benfield Electric/Worth who had beaten Resmondo earlier on in the tournament. That’s all I have for this tournament. Special note: I have had all I am going to take of the bashing on my message board about Don DeDonatis Sr. or Don Jr. I will ban anybody who posts anything about either of these people, I promise. You won’t get back on. I don’t personally know Don Jr. that well, but I find this young man to be a perfect gentlemen, and I know he is one hell of a softball player. This young man wants to play softball and has nothing to do with what his father does or doesn’t do in softball. I have said enough about this issue. I hope to see all of you at the Mighty Dudley in beautiful Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.


NSA/WSL Super, AA, A NIT – Columbus, Ohio – June 7th & 8th,2003

I will bet you that Jeff Hague, Greg Powers and all his staff are glad there are no more Super tournaments in Columbus this season. Talk about rain, for two weeks that’s all it did. But Jeff and the gang that got both the USSSA the week before and this week’s NIT in despite all the bad weather. Great effort Jeff!! It takes people like you guys to keep “Big Time” softball rolling Resmondo/Hague/Taylor Bros/Sunbelt ran through this one having to beat Alesium/Chase/Shade Rest./Easton two times, once in the winner’s bracket and the in the final game of the Championship. The Resmondo boys played their best ball of the season, as they hit it, played great defense and hit a lot of homeruns. Jimmy Devine led the attack, as he hit it great and did a good job pitching. Jimmy was named the tournament’s MVP for his effort. “Big” JC Phelps is back like he was three years ago, was named the Offensive Player of the tourney. I believe this was a total team effort in this win for Resmondo. Second place went to Alesium/Chase/Reece’s/Shade Rest./Easton, who had to put down the composite bats this week, because they were banned by the NSA on their Easton Synergy bats. The Easton boys used the Easton Connection bat this week, and like the Hague boys the past few weeks, who also had their bats banned, had to get used to using the Connection. I know it makes a lot of difference for a lot of the players when they don’t have the composite in their hands. They cannot hit the long ball with consistency and the ball doesn’t come off the bat as fast as the composite’s obviously. That my friends makes for a lot of outs on the 90′ bases and even on the 70′ bases, it’s a different game. Take a look at the offensive #’s when the teams use composite bats, and when they go back to the aluminum, it’s not even close. I think the banning of bats will hurt the Class A or AA teams a lot. I hope it doesn’t make the game go back to a two team domination in Big Time softball. Remember last year we had five different winners in five different tournaments. We have also seen AA & A teams win NIT’s and beat the Super teams last year. I can tell you it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what the equipment has done to the game. The fact of the matter is, if all the competitive teams were swinging the hot composite bats, it would be a pretty equal game for all. Back to the NSA/WSL tourney in Columbus; third place went to a very good A team, B&J Loggers, who I underestimated, but they can play with any of the AA, A teams out there. This team has some very good young players and some older guys who can play and know how to win. B&J Loggers gave Alesium all they wanted in the loser’s bracket final game, dropping a 15-14 game to Alesium. I look for this team to make a lot of noise down the stretch, and they could easily win a World Title or two in their class. Great Job boys, look to see you down the road. My mistake for not ranking you in the Top 15. Another good A team Bay’s/Stucco/Easton played well all weekend long capturing fourth place. This bunch has a very competitive A team, and are capable of upsetting anybody in any game if you don’t play well. Overall this was a pretty good tournament. The tourney ran smooth even with all the bad weather. Games were on time and finished early letting the teams get out of town by 2:00 in the afternoon. That’s how tournaments should be run. Jim Kimmel did another good job running this event. Congratulations to Resmondo/Hague/Taylor Bros/Sunbelt for winning the tournament and to B & J Loggers for getting the berth to Panama City, Fla. and the $5,000 travel money.
Great job boys!!


USSSA NIT – Concord, California – June 7th & 8th, 2003

Concord, California was the sight for the Mike Davis Memorial Tournament that Dan Smith has hosted for some time. Dan and his staff have ran this special event and have always done a great job putting it on. I didn’t get much information on this one, but I know Dan Smith/Backman/Menosse/Easton won the tournament. The Easton boys were led by MVP, Jeff Hall who hit a whopping .955 O/B and had 8 homeruns to go with it. The man can flat-out hit it. From what I was told this was a good team effort for the #!1 team in the country. The # 1 & #2 teams will be both entered in the USSSA Dudley in Minnesota in two weeks. Hopefully these two will square off and break their season records against each other of 2 & 2. Second place went to Budweiser/Sunnyvale/Fairweather/Worth. The Bud boys by finishing 2nd. get the trip to Disney World for the USSSA Championship. Budweiser will also be traveling to the Dudley Tournament. If anyone wants to write more about this tournament, please email the story and I’ll print it.


WSL/ASA – Beaumont, Texas – May 31 – June 1, 2003

Hot, humid Beaumont, Texas was the setting for this WSL/ASA Super B,C,D & Women’s Qualifier. US Vinyl/Z-Wear/Anaconda/Miken won it’s 2nd. WSL Tournament of the year as they rolled through this event. Fourteen teams battled through the hot and humid weekend to try an earn berths for both the ASA and the WSL World Tournaments, along with 16 women’s teams and 30 some C & D teams. In the Open Division the US/Vinyl Miken Boys were just too much for the rest of the field. US Vinyl was led by “Big RJ Howerton” who has become one of the top hitters in the game. Make no mistake RJ can flat out hit the ball, not only homeruns, but base hits and hits it very hard. I don’t care what bat he swings, he is a “pure hitter”. This week the Miken boys were hitting it very good on the 325′ fields all the way around. Their shortstop Dennis Shrum can flat-out pick it and has made this team much better on defense, also adding to the offense. “Big” Jeff Ott is coming back slowly from his injured shoulder that he hurt back 2 or 3 weeks ago and will be getting a little help through the month of June, as the Miken boys will not be playing until the Little Rock tournament July 4th weekend. Jeff should be back at full strength by then. Congratulations on the win to the Miken team!! Second place went to a Class A team out of Houston, Texas called Meridian Softball, who doesn’t get out of Texas very much, but believe me can play with any of the A teams in the country. They picked up the berth to the WSL World Tournament this weekend and will get a $5,000 check for travel expenses in Panama City. This bunch hits it very good, has enough pop and plays very good defense to be a strong contender for an A National Championship this year. Congratulations, and I’m looking forward to seeing you down the road. Third place went to Absolute/BEP, who battled back through the loser’s bracket after getting beat by US Vinyl early on and were able to win a few games before losing the WSL berth and a $5,000 game against Meridian. The Texas boys played hard all the way through, squeaking out a win against Capital/Miken Sat. night when Kenny Scobee hit a walk-off 3 run homer to win that game and get them to Sunday. Good job boys!! Fourth spot went to a very good B team out of Texas called Sporting Wood who gave everybody they played this weekend a very tough time, and looked to me to be a very competitive B team. The Maverick’s, the Gambler’s, Capital/Miken, Pain Killer’s, Right On and Team 8/Miken gave a good effort in this very good tournament. The automatic ASA Super Berth went to Absolute/BEP because Meridian chose to take the Class A berth for the ASA. I want to say a very god job done by the ASA Texas umpires, and also to my friend Frank Neal and his whole staff who did a very good job running this tournament, because without guys like Frank you don’t get these very good tournaments.


USSSA NIT Columbus, Ohio – May 31-June 1, 2003

I am not going to say much about this tournament in Columbus, because obviously I wasn’t there, but I know the whole staff, Jeff Hague, Greg Powers and everyone involved did a terrific job keeping the tournament going with all the bad weather this past weekend. Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton rolled through this one undefeated, and won for the second time this season. The Easton boys were led by MVP Shane Dubois, and the Offensive player of the tournament was “Big Brett Helmer”. The tournament had to be played using one pitch and a 45 min. time limit, but was fair for eveybody considering the bad weather they had to contend with. Second place went to Resmondo/Hague/Taylor Bros/Sunbelt/Miken who dropped a close one to Watanabe/K&G Sport/TPS in the early goings, but battled back to get to the Championship game and loss to their arch rival Backman/Easton. These two giants are 2-2 against each other this season. Third place went to Alyssium/Chase/Reece/Rooster/Easton who had beaten Backman twice and Resmondo once two weeks ago, came up short this week. These three teams, along with US Vinyl, Budweiser, Mountain Top and a few others will battle everytime they’re all in the same tournament together. I think the Smoky Mountain Classic, the Dudley and Little Rock will all test these teams when they all come together in these tournaments. Maybe someone who was at this tournament can send me a story on this one if they have more information. I didn’t have time to do a story on the Cajun Classic last week, but Congratulations to Mountain Top/TPS who is the team to beat on the 300′ fields in a limited homerun tournament. They have ripped off three wins so far. I also want to say congratulations to Budweiser/Fairweather/Sunnyvale/Worth for winning the ASA in Seattle last week.

I’m looking forward to seeing the Bud Boys at the Smoky’s.

Good job to all the teams who played in both the Cajun and Seattle last week.


NSA Major AA A NIT – Spartanburg, South Carolina – May 16-18, 2003

Spartanburg, South Carolina was the setting for this NSA Major AA- A NIT. Alesium /Chase /Reece/ Roosters/Easton went through this one undefeated to get their NSA berth and a trip back to Spartanburg, SC for the NSA World Championship. The Alesium boys were hitting and catching everything, and just flat out were the best team in the tournament this past weekend. Make no mistake about it, this bunch can win against anyone of the teams anytime, this is not your average AA team. This team has a lot of young very talented players and some veterans who know how to win, when you combine this with manager Gary Jost running the ball club you have the makings of a world championship team. Alesium was led by veteran Keith “Kebo” Brockman, who has not played at the top level in the last couple of seasons, but it looks to me like he hasn’t missed a beat as Keith’s first 8 at bats produced 7 dingers. Kebo was named the tournaments MVP but as Keith said “when receiving this award, this goes out to the whole team as this was a total team effort and I agree the whole ball club had a great weekend”. Congratulations to the Alesium ball club. I look for this team to win a lot more NIT’s this season along with some National Championships. This is a very talented softball team and will prove so down the road.

Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton finished second in this one as they battled back through the losers bracket to gain this spot. The Smith Boys had lost to Alesium in the semi’s, but managed to battle back and win a big game against Resmondo/Hague/Taylor Bros/Sunbelt to get back to the championship game and see if they could revenge their earlier loss to Alesium, but came up short as Alesium recorded their second victory of the weekend over the very strong Backman team. Third place in this one went to Resmondo who had to play this one without using their Miken bats, which were banned during the week. The Resmondo squad swung a little of everything, but most of the time the boys were swinging some used Synergy bats that they apparently found somewhere around Spartanburg. I did notice some PST’s being used, some Louisville Slugger’s and some Miken Velocity’s , but anyway they got through the tournament and as of this story I am not sure what bats they will be swinging in their next tournament. Stay tuned.

Fourth place in this tournament was picked up by a brand new A team called Buckeye/ Easton out of Virginia who was managed by Tim “Tiny” Taylor who has put together a very nice squad and played extremely well in this tournament. Tim’s boys beat some awful good teams this weekend and looked to me to be a very competitive A team the rest of the year. Holland’s /Used Car’s/Terry’s/Easton also played extremely well along with Benfield Electric/Worth. Aubrey’s/TPS also played well in this tournament along with a couple of local teams made this a very competitive tournament.

I would like to say what a great job David Lancaster and Jim Kimmel along with the entire staff of Duncan Park, who worked their butts off keeping the fields playable as the rain drops continued to fall all weekend, they managed to get this excellent tournament off. The Duncan Park ground crew and their management made a great move when they purchased the tarp to cover the infield, and I can tell you that without it this tournament would of been a washout. Looking forward to coming back to Spartanburg for the NSA 2003 World Championship. This should be a great event, as David will work very hard getting this one together. Don’t Miss It!!!


ASA/WSL Qualifier – College Station, Texas – May 3rd & 4th, 2003

College Station, Texas was the site for this ASA/WSL Super, Class B, C & B women’s & co-ed tournament. This tournament hosted 219 teams. I will tell you that the softball numbers are down these days, but not in Texas. Greg Huchinson put together one of the most amazing events in softball today. To have this many teams and be able to have it run like a clock is truly unbelievable. Greg and his staff worked around the clock getting this tournament in, and it all went off on schedule. I don’t know Greg all that well, but have talked to him many times and he has invited me to his tournament for quite a few years, but this is the first time I attended, and it was everything he told me it would be and more. Greg hooked up with John Daniels and the WSL, and berths were given to teams both from the ASA and the WSL. They say they do things big in Texas, and believe me that is a fact, Great Job Greg and John, and to all the teams who made this the BEST NIT in the country. US Vinyl/Z-Wear/Anaconda Sports/Miken dominated in this one as they went undefeated and picked up an automatic berth to the ASA Worlds in Sanford, Fla. in Sept. The Miken boys were led by MVP, RJ Howerton who can flat out hit it. This young man is fast becoming one of the top players in the country. RJ went 21-21 with 6 homeruns, and believe me it doesn’t get any better than this, especially on big baseball fields. Veterans Ray Cowart and Bob Woldyk, Twinky Jones and two newcomers to big time softball, Jamal Heron and shortstop Dennis Shrum, who played a lot of pro baseball can pick it with the best in softball and is a very good hitter. He will make this team even better. Like I said “if this bunch catches it, they can and will beat anybody”. Congratulations to Steve and the gang on this win. Vinyl had to play this one without big Jeff Ott, who tore his rotor cuff in Daytona last week. I don’t know how long he’ll be out. Second place went to a very good team out of Houston, Texas called Capitol/Miken/DBG. I have seen this team play before this year, but this team has much more talent this year. This bunch has a whole team full of very good athletes who can play this game, both offensively and defensively. Capitol/Miken was led by former NFL football player, Ray Butler who hit it all weekend and caught everything that was sent his way in left field. Andres Newhouse, the nephew of former Dallas Cowboy Robert Newhouse also hit it and played great defense, and this young man has all the tools to play with anybody in the game today. He can go get it, and has a lot of power. I like the way this team plays, they can hit it, hit for power, they can catch it and they can run. This team doesn’t quit no matter what the score is. This team can play on baseball fields and will be a force at the WSL World Tournament in Panama Beach, Fla. the end of Sept. Keep a watch on this bunch, they can play that’s for sure. Great job guys! Third place went to Budweiser/Fairweather/Sunnyvale/Worth who ran into a buzz saw this weekend when they played Capital/Miken who got the best of Bud twice. The Bud boys are a very good team who should get it going soon. They need to play some more to get this team to come together and become a great team. There’s a lot of talent on this team, and with the addition of Tim Cocco should help them reach their goals. Fourth place was Mountain Top/USA Cash/TPS. This is a very good A team who have proved to be a much better team when they play on 300′ fields with a homerun limit. I believe they have the talent to play on baseball fields, but it’s very hard to compete when other teams are using the Miken and the Synergy, and that’s the facts. I’m not sure it won’t beat them on the 300′ fields also, we will see. Make no mistake this is one hell of a good team who can play. Overall this was a good open tournament, 12 good teams, a very good ball and big fields. The ball used was a .44 core 375 compression Trump, the same ball we used in Sanford, Fla. in the ASA Qualifier. This ball is only good when we play on big fields, with 370′ gaps or more and 400′ in center. This ball is perfect for those size fields. When we play on baseball fields with small gaps and short centerfields we have to use a lesser ball or it becomes a homerun derby and 50 or 60 runs are scored and 3 hour games are the norm. This is not needed. We are close to getting softball on TV doing live telecasts or showing complete games on taped delay. There’s no way we can show 60 run games nor 3 hour games, as TV will not buy it nor will the sponsors. Twenty or twenty five run games with some great defensive plays made, and some homeruns hit, games being done in an hour and a half or so, then we will have the best game in town. Just think about it. Once again great job Greg and your staff. It was a pleasure to be a part of it.

I want to say a special thank you to a First Class guy Lonnie, who did a great job keeping up with the stats with Taz and posting all the scores on our website this weekend, and most of all a Big Thank You to the 219 teams who made this a spectacular event.


WSL/NSA NIT Super Qualifier – Ormond Beach, FL. – April 26th & 27th, 2003

Ormond Beach, Fla. was the site of this WSL/NSA Super Qualifier NIT. This four field baseball complex was a perfect place for a “Big Time” softball tournament. There were seven of the Top 15 teams in the country entered playing on these big fields, 328′, 380′, 400′. Hague/Resmondo/Taylor Bros./Miken ended up winning this controversial tournament. The controversial part of this tourney was the ball. The ball used to start the tournament was the .47 core .525 Trump that was perfect for these fields. The problems were one, we didn’t have enough here to complete the tournament. Two, we could not retrieve the balls out of the ponds and woods. Eddie Ray Cantrell got balls to complete the tournament from the Florida NSA Director who only had .47 core .525 Rawlings fast pitch balls and we had to use them. We started the 6 pm games on Sat. night using that ball beginning with the Hague/Alesium game and the ball flew pretty good for the Hague boys, as they had the highest scoring game by one team in the tournament beating Chase 43-9. The Hague squad hit 9 homeruns. In the Dan Smith/Backman/Menosse/Easton game against Sunbelt/Mizuno the ball didn’t fly as well as the Smith boys won 20-0. The 9:00 pm game in the winner’s bracket final Hague vs. Dan Smith got started when Hague’s lead off hitter Jeff Wallace stepped on one that looked like it was going out by 50′ but got caught at the 328′ mark and the tone was set. The players I think thought that the ball wasn’t going to fly and decided we better base hit it going back side and the middle. Demond Thomas hit a bullet off pitcher Andy Purcell’s leg and the middle was open. Todd Martin came up in the bottom of the inning and hit a line drive to the left of pitcher Shane Dubose, who was falling off the mound to the left trying to make a play, which then hit Shane’s glove and deflected off and hit him in the head. I don’t believe that any player would ever try to intentionally hurt anybody. The Smith boys took the lead, and then Hague came to bat and the ball began to fly a little, as they hit 5 homeruns and went on to win 19-7. There’s no question that the Rawlings ball was a softer ball than the Trump ball, but it went out as it did in the Hague/Chase game. Sunday with the warm temperatures and the wind blowing straight in from left, center and right center field with the only chance of homeruns being down the right field line. The only homerun hit to left field was hit by Hank Garris, which just dropped over the 328′ mark. Bryson Baker hit one foul about 20′ over the left field fence, and that was it for left field. What was amazing is that none of the other big homerun hitters in this game tried to hit it out of left field. It seemed to me they were trying to hit to center and some were trying to go backside. The conditions in this game were very bad for the hitters, and I don’t care what ball they used, other than a .50 core, there weren’t going to be many homeruns hit in this game period. I am sure some of the boys tried to adjust, but it was very hard to get base hits with 90′ bases, so we got a 10-7 game and a 6-3 game. I don’t care what teams played in these conditions on these sized fields with 90′ bases, with the wind blowing in the scores would of been the same or less. I read posts after posts about how Rich’s Superior and other teams would never score either 6 or 3 runs, but believe me they would not of done any better than these teams here did. Let me take you back a few years; at Space Coast Stadium in Cocoa, Fla. I witnessed one of the high power teams in the country, Bell Corp/Easton playing with a .50 core ball, using 65′ bases with the wind blowing straight in get beat by a little old B team 3-2 and 5-3, so don’t think conditions don’t come into play. I promise you that the players today are stronger and more athletic with playing on 90′ bases on big fields, using better equipment than the players from yesteryear. I will not take anything away from the great Rich’s Superior team and any other great teams, but it’s a whole different game playing on these big baseball fields using 90′ bases and that is just the facts. This game has come down to players being able to run, catch it, hit and hit for power. The days of 280 lb. outfielders are over, believe me. Baseball fields and 90′ bases is making this game come down to better athletes with teams only having the best big players who can hit the long ball and base hit it, with the only positions available being first base, catcher or AH for them, leaving the other players to be able to pick it and go get it in the outfield. Like it or not this is “Big Time softball in 2003” and beyond.

Now getting back to the tournament, there were some great games in this one. The Hague/Resmondo/Taylor Bros./Miken team won this battle of the two giants, and also the first battle of the two new bats in big time softball, the Miken and the Easton Synergy. MVP, Andy Purcell was a force for the Miken boys as he pitched and played great defense to lead his team to victory. Todd Martin also hit it good, but his titanic defensive play was a difference in this one, making great play after play. Bryson Baker, the dominative player from California has become one “awesome player”, who can flat out play this game. He has amazing power for a guy of his stature, and it this time is playing the best ball in the game. Bryson is gaining a lot of respect from his peers. This was the first NIT win for the Hague/Resmondo team since they became a Super team three years ago, and I’m sure it took a lot of pressure off of Travis and Jeff and the whole Resmondo staff. Dal Beggs also made some great plays all weekend long for the Hague boys. Congratulations to the Hague/Resmondo/Taylor Bros/Miken team on their big win. Second place went to Dan Smith/Backman/Menosse/Easton who played very good all weekend long in these conditions. Dan Smith was led by veteran pitcher, Shane Dubose, who is one gutsy player and a “First Class” guy and has been one of the top players in the game for years. Demond Thomas was the offensive leader for the Easton boys and played great defense until he got hurt in the first game of the championship and didn’t play the rest of the tournament. Brett Helmer was a big factor, as he base hit very good and contributed 7 homeruns to the Smith attack. Jason Kendrick and Robin Higginbotham made some unbelievable catches as they always do. Make no mistake about it, this team is very good and will be a force all season long. Dennis Rulli was a big pick-up for this team, as he shores up the middle in the Dan Smith infield. Great job guys and I’m looking forward to the next time in Spartanburg when the two giants meet again. Third place in this one and $5,000 travel expense money goes to Alesium/Chase/Reece/Rooster/Easton. This bunch will be reckoned with all season. The Easton boys have a host of very good players and will be a tough team to play against down the road. They have the talent to win another World with veteran manager Gary Jost at the helm. I’m sure the job will get done. In fourth place was US Vinyl/Z-Wear/Anaconda Sports/Miken. The Miken boys have declared that they will play as a Major team in the NSA this season, and also a Major team in the USSSA. I can’t speak about the ISA or ASA about this team at this point. This team will be a contender every weekend. They can hit it, and when they catch it they can beat anybody. SCI/Miken is a very good A team who are very competitive, and when they play their level they will be definitely a team to contend with in the World’s, also playing very good with the big boys. Vernon’s/Miken is just like SCI/Miken being the same type of team with a lot of talent, and they will also be a contender in their Worlds. Sunbelt/Mizuno is off to a slow start, but they will get it together and watch out when they do, they will win. The Big Donkey C team, who is a very good team at their level, was a treat to watch playing against the big boys. They gave it all they had and enjoyed playing against those big teams. The manager said to me after the game, “we got a chance to play against the best players in the world, playing our first time on baseball fields and 90′ bases. We learned how good these big teams really are especially defensively. They certainly are not just big guys hitting homeruns”.

I would like to say that the young man from Minnesota, Tony Van Heusen drove 30 hours one way to play with Big Donkey. I met this young man last year at the rookie try out camp in Las Vegas and he showed he had some talent. He is putting every effort he can to try to make it to his next level. He deserves a lot of credit, and even though he struggled a little bit this weekend on these big fields he has the talent to move up. The team For Kids Sake, who called me before the tournament to ask if they could play in this Daytona tournament told me they were a Class C team out of the Orlando area. I explained to them the format of the tournament and there were 7 of the top teams in the world entered and asked them are you sure you want to play, and they said they would. Let me tell you they were a pleasure to have here. They had a lot of fun playing and had an experience of a lifetime, but I’m sure those young kids will never forget playing against the best teams in the world. Thanks for coming boys. We’ll see you in Panama City Beach in Sept. Overall with the problems with the ball this was a very good tournament and it doesn’t get much better when you have seven of the top teams in the country. I want to say thank you to Eddie Ray Cantrell and his NSA staff for doing another great job running this tournament.


NSA Super Qualifier Plano, Texas – April 11 & 12, 2003

The first NSA Super Qualifier of the season was played in Plano, Texas this weekend, and the surprising winner was Quick Roofing out of Texas. This is not the Mountain Top/Quick team, this is a Class A team sponsored by Mr. Quick. I haven’t seen this bunch play, but Greg Huchinson told me they are a scrappy A team. Quick had beaten Budweiser/Sunnyvale/Worth on the baseball field playing with 90′ bases with the wind blowing straight in. This tournament also used 300′ fields and there were some higher scoring games on them. Quick Roofing had planned not to play in the NSA Super Worlds and elected to not play the Championship Finals against Budweiser/Worth. This ended up being very good for the Budweiser/Sunnyvale/Worth team as they had players who had to catch their flights. So Budweiser got the berth to the NSA World’s in Spartanburg, SC. Greg also told me the games were running so far behind that the first Championship game that was scheduled for 1:00PM Sunday would not of started until 5:30PM. He also told me he had enough players to play the championships if both teams agreed to play. It looks to me like Quick Roofing has a very competitive A team and I’m looking forward to seeing them down the road. Congratulations Quick Roofing. Greg stated that “he was very happy with his team and that Wendall Rickard hit it very well and shortstop Brian King played great defense too”. Third place in this tourney went to Absolute/BEP out of Texas. This is a very competitive A or AA team, which ever you want to call them. They have some veteran players who know how to play this game. They’ll be a contender all season. Fourth spot went to US Vinyl/Miken who slipped in this one, but still have a very good team. Don’t count this bunch out on the weekends. Sunbelt/Mizuno played their first tournament of the season and got off to a slow start, but I’m sure they’ll get their act together real soon. This team has some very talented players who’ve been there before. I’m sure they can’t wait to get to Daytona and see what happens there. This tournament looked to be very competitive.

Good job from the NSA staff.


Jason Kendrick’s ASA/WSL Tournament – April 11, 12 &13, 2003 – Valdosta, Georgia

Seventy nine teams came to beautiful Freedom Park in Valdosta, Georgia last weekend to compete in Class D, C, B, A and an Open Division, and believe me it was competitive. First of all I want to say what a tremendous job Jason, Nate and the entire Freedom Park staff did putting this tournament on. Nate and Jason went sleepless in Valdosta all weekend to make this one of the most successful tournaments in the world. They worked their butts off with Nate regisitering the teams and selling apparel and Jason running the tournament and also playing with his Big League team in the Open Division. Now for the tournament, it sure was a pleasure for me to watch all the levels of play they had, and I can tell you the D,C and B teams can flat out play the game, some better than others but very competitive. The D Championship was won by Tucker’s Softball team, who believe me can base hit and play solid defense. This bunch plays a lot of ASA tournaments and are a very close nit team. They have some talented ball players and beat a very, very good class D team called Newman’s, who finished second in this one and played extremely well all weekend long. Third place went to American Travel who also played well. The C Division Championship went to Avalon Screen, who can flat out play this game. They have a great hitting team, play terrific defense and have enough pop to make this bunch a Class C Natioonal Championship wherever they play in Class C this season. Great job guys, I really enjoyed watching you guys play. Second place goes to Synergy By Easton, who is another great team in Class C who also have some very talented players. The Easton boys looked to run out of gas as they had to battle back through the loser’s bracket and came up just a little short in the Championship Game. I look for this bunch to win a lot in 2003 and should win a National or two. Third place was Yard Dawgs who have a very good C team. They can hit and play defense and will be a contender in the Nationals. The Class B Division winner was Jean Shoppe, who were the Class of the B Division in this one. This club has some very good players and should do very well in the B Nationals. Second place went to Easton Rage, another good looking B team who had to battle back through and did a fine job getting back to the Championship. Team KFC finished third and look to me like a very good B team who will be a strong contender in the Nationals. The Open Division was won by Vernon’s/Miken who played a terrific tournament. This bunch scored 114 runs in 5 innings in one game. That was a record run production game in 5 innings, 114-98, pretty crazy. Jason Kendrick’s Big League All Star team who had Helmer, Hall, Thomas, Dubose, Jason and a host of other good players won the Winner’s bracket, but had to forfeit because players had to catch flights. Vernon’s/Miken and Aubrey’s/Powerhouse/TPS ended up in the championship and Vernon’s won that. Congratulations Vernon’s. Overall this was a great weekend and next year you will get to see some of the action on Fox Sports Net who covered this tournament. I would like to commend every team who participated in this ASA/WSL event. Once again I would like to say unbelievable Jason and Nate, and also thank John Daniels and the WSL staff for helping make this a memorable event. I also would like to thank all the people who purchased raffle tickets on the four wheeler where the proceeds on it will be given in honor of the great Harold Nichol’s for helping in his granddaughter’s education fund.


ASA/WSL Super Qualifier – Sanford, Florida March 29 & 30th, 2003

US Vinyl/Community Access/Z-wear/Anaconda Sports/Wooster’s/Miken achieved two berths this weekend. One to the ASA Worlds and one to the WSL Worlds. What a way to do it, both in one weekend. US Vinyl beat Hague/Resmondo/Taylor Bros/Worth in the “if” game to win this one. The Miken boys won the Winner’s Bracket Finals by beating Hague/Resmondo 19-16 in the championship game. Hague made it back to the championship game after beating Doc’s/Easton 29-2. The first game of the championship saw Hague jump out to a 11-0 lead in the top of the first which extended their lead to 19-2 and that was the end, as they won that one 29-4. The “if” game started out slow for both teams. Hague/Resmondo/Worth took a 6-2 lead early, but US Vinyl/Miken came back to take a 7-6 lead and never looked back on route to a 16-13 win and the Championship. US Vinyl/Miken hit very good all weekend long. Kelly Hartman was named the tournament’s MVP. This was a total team effort. This bunch played solid defense and when the wind started blowing out to right field their right handed hitters adjusted. Big Brandon Murray hit two huge bombs to the opposite field, so did young outfielder Jamial Herrin This Miken team has some very good hitters and I will tell you they will be a very solid team all season long. I will say this, that yes the Miken bat is very good and it will help this team, but remember you still have to hit it and catch it to win and do the little things too, and that’s exactly what this team did. There’s no doubt that US Vinyl earned this win. The Hague team had a chance, but didn’t get it done. Hague/Resmondo/Taylor Bros/Worth played some very good ball, but did not get enough hitting to win in this one. Bryson Baker had an outstanding tournament as he clobbered 11 homeruns to lead the tournament and he also hit for a great average. Hague’s new right fielder, Brian Rainwater hit the daylights out of it, as he hit over 840 and contributed some power also hitting 4 homeruns. Brian showed why he was a big-time outfielder in college baseball, as he made some great plays in right field. This young man can to flat out hit and play this game. Hague will have to get some more offense from it’s veteran players or this will be a long season. I think it will take a little time for this team to come together with the new players over there and it will take some adjustments, but I’m sure it will all come together. The camaraderie looked good. I want to tell you JC Phelps and Howie Krause have worked very hard this off season taking off lots of pounds and are looking great, also Rusty Bumgardner has dropped 25 pounds and is much smaller in his upper body. Doc’s/Easton took third place in this one. They will be a very good team down the road. This is the best defensive team in big time softball. Doc’s will have to hit it much better to compete against the big boys, but I believe they have the talent to hit. They may need some more pop and I guarantee you they will be very strong at their level believe me. Aubrey’s/Powerhouse/TPS will be as good as any A team out there. They played this weekend without two of their better players, who will make this bunch even better. The TPS boys played very good this weekend and got fourth place. I look for them to be competitive each week they play. Vernon’s/Miken is another one of those very good A teams who can play with anybody. They were missing two of their better hitters too this weekend. They hit it well and played good defense. Look for this bunch to be there every weekend they play. Bell Corp/Easton is the new Woody Bell team, and I can tell you they will be a very good B team and can play at the A level. They can hit and they have a very good pitcher in Shaggy. The Bell boys played some good ball this weekend and will be competitive on the big fields. I look for them to win a National title at their level. Welcome back Woody and Pat to the game. It’s great to have sponsors like you back in the game. National Synergy/Easton is another good B team who have a very good defensive team and some guys who can hit it. They will be good at the B level and are another team who can play at the A level on the big fields. They could win a National at their level. T&R Stucco/Easton struggled this weekend, but are a much better team than they showed. This bunch may need to pick up a couple of more good players and needs somebody to run the team, so that Troy and Lee can play and not be worrying about running the ball club. I think this team has a chance to be very competitive if they make the right moves. Look for this team to get better. I was asked why there were not more teams in this tournament. All I can say is it might of been too early for some of the northern teams to come down. Believe me, they should of taken the opportunity to come down and get some early play. This ball park in Sanford, Fla. is without a doubt the most perfect stadium to play big time softball in the country. This field is absolutely beautiful with dimensions being just right with 330′ down the lines, 370′ in the alleys and 385′ to center with a grass infield and dirt around the bases. It doesn’t get any better than this. I commend Tom Farnsworth and the ASA and WSL for putting the bases at 90′. Believe me it lets the A & AA teams compete. I will tell you the ball used was the right one for the size of the 375′ field, a 44 core Trump. The games ran no more than 1 1/2 hrs, with plenty of homeruns hit, but more importantly there were great defensive plays made both in the infield and outfield, with runners being thrown out trying to stretch singles into doubles or trying to score on a base hit from second base. That my friends is what this game is all about. There were comments made from all the teams to me all weekend about how fun and great it was to be able to hit some homeruns, catch the ball in the infield, turn double plays instead of playing on 70′ bases and watching balls fly through the infield not being able to catch it. It sure makes for a much better game. It’s only going to get better boys in the WSL events. All I can say is “Catch the Action”.


The Upcoming Season – March 14, 2003

The boys of summer will kick off the “2003 Big Time Softball” season this coming weekend, the Far West Classic, a Class A USSSA event in Las Vegas. Also there’s an ISA Class AA, A event in Houston, Texas. These two events should have some very good teams entered. March 28, 29 & 30th is the opener for the first Super Tournament of 2003 being held at the Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium in Sanford, Fla. This is an ASA Qualifier and there’s a good field of teams entered. John Daniels and Fox Sport Net have reached an agreement to air eight weeks of WSL events from last season. The first show was on this past Saturday and the same show will air next weekend, which I’ll be posting the times later this week. The eight shows that will be aired are all the NSA/WSL events that were played last year and also the NSA, ASA, WSL World tournaments. I can tell you these shows were produced well and you won’t want to miss any of them. I also want to say to the critics who always have something to say about why the shows are so late and other derogatory comments that have been made on the message board, to keep those selfish uncalled for opinions to yourself. I personally have been involved in them along with John Daniels, Mike Woodly and a host of other hard working people putting these shows together. I looked at over 100 tapes to pick out material to use for these shows and I know Mike and John have done the same. It took at least one hundred hours of hard work to put eight shows together, and also many more hours in the studio taping these shows. The longest time was getting Fox to find air time so that the schedule could be put together. Also, we never once stated a definite time that these shows would be aired. We had hoped we could of got the work done and Fox could find the time earlier, but that didn’t work out. John worked very hard on trying to get sponsors to pay the very expensive costs of putting these shows on TV. There’s been nobody who has given more to promote our great game like John Daniels has. John has given a lot of his time of which is very valuable when you run a business like John does, and has also put his money into this program to try and make this game what it’s deserved, and that is TV and to promote our associations, sponsors, players and most of all our fans. I will tell you now, I will not let anybody bash or say anything bad about the TV shows on my website and if anybody does I will have you banned from the board forever. If you don’t have anything good to say about them, then go somewhere else on somebody else’s board. I will be posting the times of the future shows as soon as we get them on the message board. I will be posting all the tournaments from all the associations on the front page of the website as I have in the past each week. I will also be reporting from the tournaments each week that I attend. There will be some weekends I won’t be there and I would appreciate if you don’t see scores being posted, that somebody would post for me or leave a phone # that I can reach to get the scores. If anybody from any of the teams who are playing in tournaments when I’m not there who would like to write the information from the tournament and get it to me, I will post in my Softball Report. All you have to do is email me what you have. I will post my Top 15 and Honorable Mentions each week, remember it’s only My Opinion. I don’t need all the crap about the rankings on the message board. I will post the power rankings as I get them. I will post the On Base, Homerun and Homerun Frequency each week when I receive them. Teams who want to post their stats each week after the tournaments feel free to put them on the message board. I think that is great, because a lot of the fans and other teams like to see them before the official stats come out. I hope this season turns out to be like last year, where on 28 occasions throughout the season the big three were upset by AA or A teams. Also in 5 Super World Series’ we had five different winners. I’m here to tell you this game has gone to the next level playing on baseball fields and stadiums with longer bases. It has definitely made for a more competitive game of softball, and that’s the way it should be. I would like to welcome the Class B, C, D and women’s teams to the WSL 2003 season. There will be plenty of qualifying tournaments for your teams this season. You can find the schedule for these tournaments both on this site and the WSL site. The WSL and Fox Sport Net will be filming some of these tournaments during the season along with your World Tournament in Panama City Beach, Fla. in September. In my opinion it is about time that the B,C & D and the Women’s teams get some recognition too. It’s a long time coming, and John Daniels has made it happen. Make your plans to attend some of these tournaments, with the first one being in Valdosta, Georgia at the Jason Kendrick Tournament April 11-13th. I want to wish every team a healthy and successful season, and remember “to play a sport is to be a sport”. Good Luck everybody.


ISA Winter Nationals – FEBRUARY 1 & 2, 2003

I will start out by writing about the 2003 ISA Winter Nationals in beautiful Winter Haven, Florida. This was without a doubt the best one I’ve ever attended, and I have been to all of them.. Fourteen teams were entered and all of them were very good. Doc’s/Easton proved to be the best in this one, and will be a contender all season long. Doc and round Rick along with manager Sterling Ibrohm have put together a potent team. This ball club has probably the best over-all defense in the game, and they also have a very good offense and enough power to play in both unlimited and 12 homerun tournaments. The big plus for this team will be the Easton Synergy bat, it will be the equalizer when they play against Smith or Hague I promise. I said last year that the mergers would make these A teams better. Add the Miken or the Synergy to these teams and they become AA teams. When they play on baseball fields they will be able to compete with the big boys for sure. What I see if you don’t have the better bats you won’t compete. Like it or not this game has to be played on baseball fields, long bases and every team playing at the Major level has to have the best bats or you won’t have a chance. There will be a lot of Miken sponsored teams as well as Easton teams and they will dominate. I will not knock the other bat manufacturers, but they will have to bring their bats up to the level of those two or it’s going to be a long season for their teams. This weekend the A teams were hitting the ball through the infield so hard that the infielders, who by the way were playing 30′ out on the grass, could only make a play if it was right at them. You ask why so many runs were scored in a 12 run limited homerun tournament and I’ll tell you why. The ball was just coming too fast off the bats to make the plays. That’s enough of that issue for now. Resmondo Sod’s pick-up team finished 2nd. in this one as Albert Davis led the attack with 18 homeruns. Dal Beggs, Billo Harvery and the rest of the team played well. Third place went to Team AH/Perkins/TPS, who played very well. I look for this team to play very good all season long. Fourth place went to a very good A team out of Tallahassee, Fla. SCI/Miken. This will be a tough ball club playing as an A team this year. T&R Stucco/Easton who merged with Suncoast this season, will be a force. They have a very good squad and those Easton bats will help this bunch a lot. They scored a lot of runs in this one, but ran out of gas at the end. I look for this team to be very strong down the road. Bay/CreativeStucco/TPS is another very good A team who had a good run in this one, but also ran out of gas. Remember they came out of the snow to play here. Gulf Coast/Easton is ready to compete with some of the A teams in the country. This bunch has some good young talent and will score a lot of runs using the Easton bat. They will only get better playing against these better teams. US Vinyl/Miken will be a team to reckon with down the road. They didn’t play well here this weekend, but have a lot of veterans and some good young players. I’m sure they will get it going. They will be very competitive all season long. They will have to shore up a little on the defensive side and I’m sure they will do that. Aubrey’s/Powerhouse/TPS didn’t play well here, but have a very strong A team again. I know they would like to win one National this year for their beloved former sponsor NC Ryals. Berardi’s is another very good A team, who believe me will put some runs on the board in 2003. They have a good offensive team and can catch it well. I look for them to be a contender every weekend. They need to play up more to get better. Team Action/Demarini, who wants to play at the B level will be very strong and should win some tournaments in 2003. Another pick-up team in this tournament was Resmondo/Pierce Construction who had Wallace, Helmer and Brown, who tore it up pretty good. This bunch scored a lot of runs for a team made up of all players from the NY area who have been in a lot of snow all winter. They got to play five games this weekend getting a lot of swings. Fat Back’s out of Georgia, another pick-up team with big Randall Boone on it also played well this weekend, as they beat some good teams. Overall this was a very good winter tournament. It doesn’t get any better than this. There were 14 good teams who were very competitive. Most of the teams were swinging Mikens or Synergys. It sure made for a lot of runs scored and a lot of infielders and pitchers trying to get out of the way of these rocket balls flying by. The bats were good and the ball was good. Chet, Don and the ISA staff ran another very good tournament. I will end this report by saying that I’m sure there will be a lot of crying about the bats and the balls, but I would bet that if nobody does anything about them, there’s no sense of complaining. It seems every year over the last few years somebody has a better bat than the rest. In the 2000 season they complained about the Worth bats, in 2001 they complained about the Louisville bat, and in 2002 they complained about the Easton bat and now 2003 is here and they’re going to complain not only about the Easton bat, but the Miken bat also. All I can say is the equipment is good, no doubt about it and playing with these bats and rocket balls on 300′ fields is a total “no brainer”. Everybody worries about a pitcher getting hit, and rightly so, but on the short bases I’m here to tell you that an infielder is going to get hurt also. Witnessing this weekend’s play with the crazy high scoring games, very little defense that it seems to me that the softball people who direct this game better take a serious look at what they’re getting into. I’m looking forward to the start of the 2003 season. My Top 15 will be coming out next week.


THE NEW SEASON

2003 is here and we’re getting close to the start of the new season, and it looks like this will be as exciting as last year. Remember there were five different winners in the Super Division last year. It looks as if this could be the same way this year, as some of the rule changes that were made by the associations will make for more competitive tournaments for 2003. The NSA will be like last year using 80′ or 90′ bases. They have put in a 16 homerun limit and then one up. They will play on baseball fields and that is one of the big reasons why we had five winners last year. The ASA will use the same rules as last year. I will tell you that it doesn’t look good for the Super Division in the ASA in 2004. I hope that something can be done to save this historic Super level of play. I believe tournaments like the Great Smoky, the Twitty, Little Rock and the Cincinnati Shootout should stay ASA next year. I would suggest those tournaments and add two more to make six qualifiers in 2004 to make sure that we have an ASA World Championship. The USSSA has pretty much stayed the same. They will host 12 NIT’s in their great World Series at Disney. I was disappointed that they chose to play most of their NIT’s on 300′ fields. I believe myself that they made a mistake by not going to baseball fields. The Class A teams can compete playing in these conditions on baseball fields. With all the mergers that took place last year and this year with the A teams they have proven they can compete with the big boys on the bigger fields using longer bases. I hope in the future the USSSA will make this move. Their World Series is still the best and would be even better if they would move the bases back to 80′. The ISA is playing their World Tournament in Greensboro, N.C. I believe this will be a great place to play. If it’s anything like it was in the past in Greensboro this will be a great World Tournament. I hope that the best 8 teams in the country in 2003 will make the commitment and make plans to attend the 2003 ISA Great “8” World Series. Mason Mc Lane is running this tournament and knows what it takes to hold a great event, don’t miss it. The WSL will be back bigger and better than last year. This year the WSL will work with both the ASA and the NSA in the Super Division. The WSL will also run Class B, C, D and Women’s Divisions. They will host approximately 20 of these events and World Tournaments of each class. The winning teams in each division of these lower class NIT’s will receive $1,000 in travel money at the World Tournaments. In the Super Division the highest finishing AA, A teams will split up $5,000. The WSL will bring some of the top homerun hitters in the game to the Metro Dome in Minnesota to put on a homerun hitting exhibition two! times in 2003 before the Twins games. The President of the Twins organization stated to John Daniels “that in the 20 year history of the Metro Dome last year’s homerun hitting exhibition was the most exciting and best pre-game event in their history”. He invited the WSL to do two events this year. The WSL will be hosting it’s 2003 All Star game before the Minnesota Twins game in August at the Metro Dome. This will be the greatest event in the history of our game. The All Star players chosen by the fans will get an opportunity to play before thousands of fans and be watched by two Major League teams. I guarantee you will not want to miss this event. I will post the exact date as soon as we know. The WSL will also put on hitting clinics in the WSL cities that are hosting NIT’s this season. Some of the best hitters in the world will be there to give tips and show players how to become better hitters and players. The All Star voting will be the same as last year being able to vote again this year on your favorite player on the WSL website. I will tell you that the WSL World Championship last year in Las Vegas was very close to being the best of them all. The only thing it lacked was fans. It was certainly more than softball with the live music on Fremont St. the hotel casinos and night life adding in the Canadian/American All Star game and the WSL All Star game made it a truly “Great Event”. John is working on one of three sites for the 2003 World Tournament. The cities he is looking to go to is back to Las Vegas, Daytona Beach, Fla. or New Orleans, Louisiana. I will post as soon as he makes that decision. I believe that the WSL and Big Time softball is taking a giant step to becoming a weekly show on Fox or ESPN that will put this game to the next level. John Daniels has done an unbelievable job getting this great game on TV. He is very close to ! making this weekly show a reality. The manufacturers and sponsors need to get involved with John and take this game to where it belongs. The time has come to bury the hatchet and work together so our game can be part of television. If this game isn’t better than watching jump roping, pool and a lot of other shows that we see on TV than we are missing the boat. TV is ready to take this game and now is the time to support John and his endeavors or we are making a huge mistake. The game has got to the next level., let’s not let it get away.
Here is a look at some of the teams for 2003; Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton looks to be the #1 team starting off the 2003 season with the addition of Hank Garris, Randall Boone and slick-fielding, good hitting infielder Dennis Rulli. It looks like the Easton boys will be very hard to beat. I haven’t seen their schedule yet, but I’m sure they will play 5 or 6 USSSA events, 2 ASA and 3 NSA. Rumor has it they will not play any WSL events. Hague/Resmondo/Taylor Bros./Worth will be very close to the Easton team with the additions of Jeff Wallace, Rusty Bumgardner, Todd Martin, Mike Shenk coming over from the dis-banded Long Haul team may push them to the top this season. The Worth boys will be very strong defensively and young Brian Rainwater will get a chance to prove he can play with the big boys. Rumor has it that veteran JC Phelps is getting into shape and if he’s fit, he can hit with the best of them will also being playing with them. One of the top sponsors in the history of our game Wayne Williamson is coming back and will field a team in 2003. Sunbelt/Mizuno will have some veterans and some youngsters and will be very strong offensively. Players like Jimmy Powers, Derrick Oliver, Dennis Mendoza, John Mc raw, Tim Cocco and Scott King will give this team a lot of pop. Also good hitting, great fielding Bobby Hughes and a host of other good players will fill up this team. Veteran manager Joe Albert will try to take this team to the top. Reds/Budweiser/Summerlin/Sunnyvale/Worth looks to be another very strong team who have some very talented players. They will be led by the cough drop brothers, Jerold and Jeff Smith along with a very good player in Shane McCoullough. Look for this team to be a contender weekly. Chase/Reece/Roosters/Alesium/Easton is another very good team with Veteran manager Gary Jost, the former Long Haul skipper who knows how to win, along with their sponsors have put together a very good team. This team will have some very good hitters and talented defensive players. I think Gary will mold this bunch into a very good team in a short time. Look for them to be there every weekend. Doc’s/Gossers/Easton may be one of the top teams this season. They have a very solid defensive team and an excellent hitting team. They may need a little more power when they play up. Look for this team to be a contender weekly. They have some veterans who know how to win, we will see. Mountain Top/Advance/TPS looks to still be a very good Class A team. They have solid defense led by slick-fielding shortstop Don Dedonatis, Jr. This team will miss All Star John Glidewell, who has moved over to the Chase team. I am sure they will get somebody to replace John. I look for this team to be a t the top in the A Division again. Aubrey’s/Powerhouse/TPS who had a great season last year will be looking to win more championships this season. They will have most of last years team back, but will add a couple of players for 2003. Rocky and the boys will want to win for their great former sponsor NC Ryles, whom they lost this past year. Good Luck to those boys. I will continue to report on other teams in the next Softball Report.

Softball Reports for 2002

ASA Super Qualifier College Station, Texas – April 20th & 21st, 2002

Long Haul/Taylor Bros/Shen Corps/TPS

They do big things in Texas, and in this tournament scoring runs by the bunch is just what Long Haul/Taylor Bros/Shen Corps/TPS did on route to this ASA Qualifier’s Championship, now making it two for two in 2002. Long Haul was led by MVP Jimmy Powers. Jimmy is truly amazing continuing to be one of the best hitters in the game and surely has been a great pick-up for the Long Haul squad. This looked to be a whole team effort as everybody contributed in their line-up. They played some of the games on fields with the wind blowing out. They also played some games with the wind blowing in. They did not hit that many home runs in these conditions. This tournament was played on 300′ fields using a .40 core Worth gray dot ball. The conditions definitely helped with the high scores with the wind blowing out. It also contributed to a couple of low ! scoring games due to the wind blowing straight in, but it made no difference to the Long Haul bunch. Finishing in second place was a very, very good Class A team, Mountain Top/Advanced/TPS. This ball club will contend all season long and are capable of winning a NIT at the Super level. This bunch has a lot of talent who can play the game. This is another great merger that just made this team very competitive and able to compete with anybody. Getting the third spot was another good team Budweiser/Absolute/Team Experts/Worth. They came up short in a tough game against Mountain Top/Advanced/TPS. Make no mistake about it the Budweiser team is very good and will be knocking on the door all season. Finishing in fourth place was another one of those good A teams, Doc’s/Mizuno who also have some very good players. Sterling’s boys always find a way to win when it counts. We’ll see what happens this year. I have said all season long that there are about 20 solid teams who can play every weekend and we wouldn’t know who would be the winner. If these 20 teams got together on a small baseball field with backed up bases, it sure would be a lot of fun watching. You can call these teams whatever you want AA, Major, A, I don’t care. To me there’s three super teams and the rest are A teams, just my opinion!

I would like to see this for one weekend; Budweiser, Chase, Team Mizuno, K&G, Twin States, Mountain Top/Advanced, Pov’s, WW Gay/Aubrey’s, Florida Heat/Joe Blacks, Doc’s, New, Smokes, Mid-South, Suncoast, C&M/Tommy Currid, Creative, O&S, Hudson/Taco Mac and more. This would make for one of a hell tournament. I know there are some of the teams I listed that may not be able to win , but they will be very competitive with anybody. Anything can happen and will happen playing in these conditions on baseball fields. One weekend without the Big 3, and let’s see what this would look like.


Jason Kendrick’s 8th Annual Easton/Reebok Softball Classic April 20 & 21, 2002

This is one of the better tournaments I have ever attended in one of the best softball complexes I have ever seen, Freedom Park Valdosta, Georgia. This is a eight field complex and it is just beautiful. There were 76 teams entered in all the divisions, which were Open, Class B, Class C & Class D. I enjoyed watching the lower classes play for a change. I did watch a little of the Open Class but I really did want to see the B,C & D teams play. There were some great games played by some very good teams. Here is how it went; the Class B winner was T&R Stucco/Worth out of Polk County, Fla.. This is a very good B team who could very well win a couple of championships this season. T&R was led by MVP Mike Pratt. Mike hit it very good all weekend long and made some great defensive plays. JC Battista, who filled in for T&R this weekend was a big factor also, as he hit it and played his usual good defense. This was really a total team effort in their win. I expect to see T&R win a couple of more tournaments before playing in the Nationals. Good Luck T&R Stucco/Worth. Second place went to another very good B team, All Star/Mizuno who played very well all weekend. Other B teams who played well were the Georgia Hitmen, Herring Plumbing, Prebble Rich, Cherokee Banks & a team called Langdale Builders who looks like it has some very good softball players. The Class C winner went to Uniflora/Nike, a real nice C team who played some very nice softball this weekend. Uniflora was led by MVP Kevin Hamilton who just hit the daylights out of it and played good defense in this tournament. This C Division was a very competitive tournament with some really good softball teams. Second place went to another very good C team South East Carriers. This bunch scraped all weekend to get the second spot. Other good C teams who gave a very good showing were Taco Mac, Team Horsemen, Acti-Flex, Kent, SGM Wigpoppers, Russell Paint/Mizuno & Yard Dawgs. The Class D Division was another competitive bunch who battled all weekend long. The winner was a team called TCS out of Douglas, Georgia who had to win the “if” game to claim the Championship. This ball club was led by two brothers who were named Co- MVP’s, Adam & Ben Vickers. They both hit it and caught it for TCS. Finishing in second place was another very good D team, Brew Dawgs who gave TCS all they wanted in this battle. I watched the “if” game and it was a dandy. A good job by all the Class B,C & D teams. I really enjoyed watching your teams play this weekend. The Open Division was won by a very good pick-up team called Southern Pride. Most of the players were from the F! la., Georgia area and some from other places. MVP was Chris Chambliss who smacked 35 homeruns and only made about 5 outs in over 50 ab’s. Brian Henderson hit 29 homeruns. this was also a total team effort from everybody in their win. K&G Sports/Phonemasters/TPS went undefeated in five games but had to leave to catch their flights early Sunday made by changes from Delta Airlines. Hudson’s/Taco Mac team played very good this weekend and also C&M Sporting Goods/Tommy Currid/Worth, Team Action. O&S/Easton also played extremely well for coming out of the north for their first tournament of the season. They will be a good team down the road. Big League Softball team played good for a few games, but ran out of gas. They had Jeff Hall, Brett Helmer, Greg Harding, John McCraw, Scott Brown, Gino Burdick and other good players. Nellie’s All Stars played extremely well but didn’t get all the good calls and didn’t drink enough, ha! Smoka Red, I apologize for not getting over to the tent because it was too much work keeping up with all of it. K&G will be in the hunt in any tournament they play in. They are a very good team. They have some very tough outs in their lineup and can catch it, believe me. I like to get Carl going and some of the players, but this team is for real make no mistake about it.

I would like to take the time to say what a great place for these teams to play. Freedom Park is without a doubt one of the best parks in the country. I can’t say enough about what kind of a man Jason Kendrick is. He is a First Class guy who really cares about the game of softball, but most importantly about people. He is a great family man and that means a lot to me. His wife Missy is truly a very nice woman who has the same good qualities as Jason and who is also all about family.

Thank You very much Jason, Missy & Nate and all the tournament staff for their hospitality shown this past weekend to my wife Joan and myself. We really enjoyed being there.


ISA “A” NIT – Winter Haven, Florida – APRIL 13th & 14th, 2002

Team Mizuno wins the ISA “A” NIT

Team Mizuno has been playing since January when they captured their first Championship of the 2002 season in St. Augustine, Fla. The Mizuno boys went on to win two more Winter National Championships, the ISA and the NSA. By playing these winter tournaments it got them ready to play when the bell sounded to start the 2002 NIT’s. Team Mizuno started their season in Daytona Beach, Fla. finishing in the top four and then went on to Sanford and took second place. This ball club finally got to play a tournament without one of the big three, but had three more of the best A teams in the country, Twin States/Worth, Pov’s/TPS and WW Gay/Aubrey’s/TPS to contend with and came out on top. Rick Gosser has put together one of the best defensive teams ever, if not the best. He has built this team with ex-baseball players, some who have pro-baseball experience and ! is letting these players learn to play the game of softball. He has got some Latin layers who can flat out play the game and are getting better and better every time they play. Having veteran players like J.C. Battista, Roy Eppley, Scott Alley mixed in with future Big Time players like Danny Seguie, brother of Baltimore Oriole player David Segui and young Jesus Merejo and also good hitting and big time shortstop Wayne Busby. This has the makings of some World Championships. We will see in time!!! When Team Mizuno gets the services of Greg Harding I believe they will be very hard to beat. Finishing in second place this weekend was W.W. Gay/Aubrey’s/TPS who also has the talent to play with any of these very good A teams. They may need one more big homerun hitter, which would make them more competitive. The merger between W.W. Gay and Aubrey’s has made them a strong A team. They have some veteran players mixed in with some good young talent that will only get better as the season rolls on. This ball club will surprise some people that’s for sure. Getting the third place spot was another one of these very good A teams Twin States/Worth, who came together through a merger when two good A teams L&L Painting and Mississippi/Worth became one to form this very good team. Make no mistake this is a very good A team who will be there every weekend. They have some veterans and very good young players that can play, and their management has been here before. Look for this team to be in the hunt and win some World Tournaments. Fourth place went to the boys from the north country, Pov’s/TPS out of Minnesota. This bunch came out of the snow and brought their bats with them ready to hit and that is just what they did, but ran out of gas early. This being their first time out scoring a lot of runs early and not being in softball shape yet caught up with ! them. This will be a very, very good A team and will contend all season long. They have some very good players and can flat out hit it. Watch out down the road, they will have to catch it to be able to win. I have said that the A Division is the best it has ever been. Well believe me it’s just that. Take these four teams that played here this weekend, add Budweiser, Chase, Mountain Top, Creative, Doc’s, New, Mid South, K&G, and about ten others, put them all together in a tournament on a baseball field 320′ down the line, 350′ in the gaps, 375′ to center with 85-90′ bases and I’m not sure who would win. I guarantee there would be great defensive plays made, some great hitting and most of all great games worth watching. We will get it on soon I promise!!


NSA NIT – Plano, Texas – April 7th, 2002

Dan Smith/Backman/Menosse/Easton wins this NSA NIT by going undefeated in this rain shortened tournament. Lonnie and Jim did all they could to get this one in, but mother nature would not have any of it. Pool play was stopped before all rounds could be played and they moved into the double elimination and could only get the Winners Bracket completed. Dan Smith won the Winner’s bracket final and the rains came again and the tournament was history. Jason Kendrick was MVP as he was 20-23-4. Jeff Hall, Brett Helmer, Larry Carter and Shane Dubois were also big for the Smith boys. Budweiser/Absolute/Team Experts/Worth finished in second place after going 3-0 in the pool play and getting the #1 seed in the double elimination play. The Budweiser team got going by winning their first two games in the double elimination and then Dan Smith, who also won their first two games got it on what would be the Championship game. Dan Smith came out on top winning a 21-16 game to capture the Championship. Budweiser was led by the cough drop brothers, Jerrold and Jeff Smith along with veteran John Meyers who is getting better with age, as he always could hit it good. Greg Huchinson told me “he thinks his club will be a better team than last years, and is looking to win some tournaments this season. We will be competitive against the Long Haul’s, Dan Smith’s and Hague Resmondo’s all season long”. Finishing in third place was a very good A team, Mountain Top/Advance/TPS who played extremely well all weekend. This is another merger that will pay off as they will be a contender in the A World’s and could also win a Super NIT this season along with about four other great A teams in the country. Fourth place goes to Turn Two an up and coming A team, who played very well this weekend. There are some very good A & B players from Texas and Oklahoma who can play. Greg told me that teams like Team Dallas and Storm from Oklahoma are good A teams and will get better. Good job by all!!


ASA SUPER NIT Sanford, Florida – April 7th, 2002

Hague/Resmondo/Walser/Worth swept through this small but well played tournament by going 5-0 on route to the Championship. The important thing for Hague/Resmondo was to get the points for winning the tournament and some games in to get ready for their next tournament when they will get to play the Dan Smith boys. Last year Hague/Resmondo and Dan Smith had one of the most fiercest rivalries ever, with some of the players changing places, this rivalry should get even better. Hague/Resmondo was led by MVP Dal Beggs, who is bigger and stronger than he has ever been and it is definitely paying off for him. “Big” Paul Brannon led the tournament in the homerun department with five, which was a good number considering the wind was blowing in all weekend long. Wind or no wind Paul can hit it!! Todd Volkers also hit it very good as he continues to show why he’s one of the best in the game. Team Mizuno who continues play well needs to step up their hitting as they finished in second place. This is one of the better defensive teams you will see this season. They are very strong in the infield and outfield. This week the conditions were perfect for this ball club, but they just didn’t hit. Getting third place was a good B team T&R Stucco, who has played very well on the big fields and has held their own against the good A teams. This bunch will be a contender in the B Worlds this season. All Pro Collision, Midstate Mizuno and the Sea Dogs gave a good effort. It is nice to see them come out to play. I would like to say it was a pleasure to work with Tom Farnsworth, Tony Galloway and Jim Shaeffer and the entire Orlando ASA Staff who did a great job running this tournament. There should have been more good A & B teams entered in this field of teams. I know the Rose Tournament had a lot of the good A & B teams playing there, but we must work on playing on different weekends next season so that both tournaments can be a success. There is no better park to play in than this Historic Sanford Stadium, that is home to the ASA World Series. Big Time softball should always be played in places like this. This was a good tournament, surely to be better next year.


The Rose City Classic – April 7th, 2002

Twin States/Worth went 5-0 to win “The Rose City”. Keep an eye on this bunch because they will be a solid contender to win some Class A World’s this season. With this merger between L&L Painting and Mississippi Worth came together I knew it would be a very strong team. I spoke to Bubba Tatum just after the merger and he said “Gordie don’t rank us too high, let us play together and see if we deserve to be a Top 15 team”. I can tell you they are and will be all season long. Finishing in second place was C&M/Team Ball/Worth a pretty good A team from players out of the pan handle in Florida. Third place went to Langdale, a team I’m not too familiar with, but apparently is a pretty good team. Fourth spot went to Florida Heat/Nave Plumbing/Joe Black/Worth, who manager Roger Taber told me “our team played very good for this early in the season with some of the players coming from the north. I feel we’ll just keep getting better as we play more”. WW Gay/Aubrey’s/TPS finished in the fifth spot this time and they have played fairly well this season.


USSSA Cajun Classic Carencro, LA – May 25 & 26th, 2002

Twin States/Worth Wins the Cajun

I have said that there are a lot of great A teams since all the mergers took place this past winter. I will say no more on that issue. Twin States/Worth wins and becomes the fourth team to earn a berth to Mickey Mouse World and the 2002 USSSA World Series. Twin States did this by going 5-0, winning games against Team Texas/Ambers, LA Bag/Legend/TPS, Suncoast/Nike, Hague/Resmondo/Worth and Budweiser/Absolute/Team Experts/Worth on route to the Cajun Championship. Bubba and Pat put together this merger and got veteran Jackie Hayes to coach the defense, who by the way is one of the best at doing this in the history of the game. I know everyone wants to say that Twin States is a Major or AA team, but there are a lot of teams who are just like Twin States, and that my friends is great for our game. Whoever thinks that Big Time Softball is dead better take another look, what’s really happening is that with all the mergers these teams are much better and are much more competitive and that’s the bottom line. Twin States was led by MVP pitcher Eddie Hicks and a total team effort. As I said in last week’s report this team was coming, and they sure proved it this weekend. Congratulations on your win!! Budweiser/Absolute/Team Experts/Worth took second place in this one and played extremely well this weekend and maybe now will start to make a run up the ladder. They certainly have the talent to do just that. Hague/Resmondo/Walser/Worth who finished third in this one, and for the second consecutive year did not fare very well in the Cajun, as last year they were beaten by Budweiser. The Hague boys just didn’t adjust enough to overcome the USSSA homerun rule. Making no excuses they also played Sunday without two of their better players Scott Streibel, who had to leave to go home and Todd Volkers who got hurt, and they played the price. There’s no doubt that the homerun rule can effect some of the games that the A teams play against the big three. I can only say that if the big boys don’t make adjustments then there will be more upsets like this past weekend, but believe me these A teams are not afraid to step on the fields rather it be baseball or 300′ fields with the homerun rule, because these teams are getting better and better and these are the real facts. I also feel there has to be a lot of adjustments made when teams have been playing on baseball fields with 90′ bases, it is definitely a different game, but the bottom line is teams know what the rules are before they play. If you don’t like it, don’t play it. Fourth place went to Team Mizuno, who has played very well all season, and fourth place is a very good finish in this tournament for this bunch. Once again Louisiana State Director Robert Boudreaux and the Pelican Park staff ran another great tournament. This continues to be one of the best tournaments in the country year after year.


WSL/NSA NIT – Richmond, Indiana – May 18th & 19th, 2002

Long Haul/Taylor Brothers/Shen Corp/TPS wins in Richmond

Richmond, Indiana was the site for the third WSL tournament of the season and all three of the Super Teams were entered. There were more than the three big boys that’s for sure. Teams like Chase, K&G, Midsouth and Team AH who were making their first appearance in the WSL made it a good one by upsetting Dan Smith/Backman/Menosse/Easton. Strange things happen some times, not taking anything away from Team AH. The only bad thing at this tournament this weekend was the weather. It was very cold which made for a tough weekend on the players. The Long Haul boys had to battle back through the losers bracket in this one, as they had lost the winners bracket championship game to Chase/Reece/Roosters/Easton. Long Haul had to look at playing their old nemesis Hauge/Resmondo/Worth, whom they had beat early on in the tournament. Sure enough they met up with each other in the losers bracket finals and Long Haul won this one and set sail to try and double dip Chase, and that’s exactly what they did to capture the Championship. Long Haul was led by MVP Scott King and the rest of the team. Chase, who has a very good team battled all weekend long and finished second and collected the two thousand dollar travel expense prize. Chase’s third baseman, Jeff Lanning broke his wrist sliding into second base will be out for six weeks. My friends, this is a first class kid and one hell of a ball player. Get well soon big boy, your a big part of this very good ball club. Third place went to Hague/Resmondo/Worth, who will have to step it up a little in the upcoming weeks if they want to keep up with Long Haul. Make no mistake, these three teams Long Haul, Hague/Resmondo and Dan Smith will battle every time they meet, but I can tell you on these baseball fields the other teams are coming and they will win games against the big three, and the more they play on the big fields the more confidence they get that they can play with the big boys. It happened this week Team AH wins, Chase Wins. Last week K&G won against the big boy,and the competition is getting better and that is what this game is all about, leveling the playing field. I would like to say a special thank you to Allen Brady for his efforts in holding this tournament at the Richmond Roosters Stadium. I am sorry that I missed this tournament, but things didn’t work out for me.

Good luck to Al and his Richmond Rooster’s baseball team.


Euless Texas USSA NIT – May 18th & 19th

Hooters/Mizuno continues to play very well as they win this first ever NIT in Euless, Texas and become the third team to earn a berth to Mickey Mouse World, in the USSSA World Series. Hooter’s is another one of those great A teams in the country. Hooters was led by MVP Brent Wilhelm and a host of other good players from this Mizuno powerhouse team. This bunch will be there every weekend battling for a championship. They have a mix of veteran players and very good young ones who can play this game well. The Mizuno management has definitely chose the right teams to represent and sponsor for the 2002 season. They have a bunch of very good teams throughout the country at every level which is great for the game. Second place went to another very good team Twin States/Worth. This bunch is on the move up in the rankings. They have a lot of talent and will continue to get better as the season goes on. This team lost some games early to some teams whom they shouldn’t have lost too, but are starting to get it going and will definitely be a contender each weekend. Third place, goes to Budweiser/Absolute/Team Expert/Worth who has played good, but has yet to get it all together. There is no question they have a lot of very good players but need to step it up to rise up in the rankings. I am sure Hutch will get them going. as they have way too much talent not to be winning more games. Fourth place went to Mountain Top/TPS who played very well early on in the season but have dropped a bit in the last couple of weeks. They are way too good to be losing some of the games, and I believe they will pick it up and get back on track. I would like to say to Texas Red “I don’t know who got this tournament going but I figure you must have been a big part of it, and I will say whoever you guys are you deserve a big hand for getting it done. I like to see people promoting Big Time Softball no matter what organization or where it’s played. Good job, Texas.


Kettering, Maryland USSSA NIT – May 11th & 12th

This USSSA tournament ended up being played in Baltimore, Maryland and was won by Chase/Reece/Rooster/Easton who became the second team to win it’s berth to “Mickey Mouse World”, and the 2002 USSSA World Series. Chase didn’t have much opposition, but RPM/TPS out of California came all the way to take second place. This group always finds a way to get to the USSSA Worlds year after year. Chase was led by MVP Jeff Lanning and the rest of the Chase gang. I remember talking to Chuck Caviness in the winter and I said, “You know what Chuck, Kettering would be a good place to get your berth, and he agreed and the rest is history. Great job Rooster’s keep up the good work.


ASA Twitty Classic – May 11th & 12th, 2002

Dan Smith/Backman/Menosse/Easton

The ASA Twitty was played in beautiful Hendersonville, Tennessee. Dan Smith/Backman/Mennose/Easton was the winner of this prestigious tournament. The Smith boys had to do this the hard way by coming through the losers bracket and double dipping a very good K&G/Sports/TPS. K&G had beat Dan Smith early in this tournament and went on to win the winners bracket championship, but came up a little short in the “if” game against Smith. K&G was down 27 -7 in the if game but managed to get back to tie the game at 29-29 going into the top of the seventh. Dan Smith scored six and K&G came up empty in the bottom of the seventh and Dan Smith had the Championship. Dan Smith was led by MVP Brett Helmer and home run leader Jeff Hall. Third place went to WW Gay/Aubrey’s/TPS who has been playing very well the last few tournaments. Dan Smith is off to a very good start in 2002, as they have won all three events that they have played in this season. They will be looking to move into the number one ranking if they can win in Richmond, Indiana next week.

The Twitty Class A Winner was Mid South /TPS/ who beat back a very good Twin States/ Worth Team to win this thirty-six team event. This was a tough tournament to win and would have been a lot harder if Mid South, Twin States and Creative Stucco played up where they should have in the open bracket, it would have been much better for the other thirty three teams. There is no question these three teams I named belong playing in the open bracket. That is another issue. These three teams are very good A teams and can play with all the other good A teams in the country. I know there were some other good teams in the A division, but not any that can compete weekend and week out with teams like these three, but remember this is only my opinion. Berardi’s who probably would have won this tournament if the other three were not playing finished fourth in this one. Who knows. Good luck to all the teams in 2002. As usual, another great job done by the Hendersonville Parks and Recreation and Dave LeMarbre.


WSL/NSA Spring Classic – Spartanburg, S.C. – May 4th & 5th, 2002

Dan Smith/Backman/Menosse/Easton Wins

I think the Dan Smith boys wanted to start the 2002 season letting Long Haul know they were not about to roll over this season. People will say “it was only a “one pitch” tournament and they had a one hour time limit for their game”. The bottom line is that it was fair for both teams and Dan Smith won their first meeting between two of the Giants of Big Time Softball. The amazing thing is that it took an incredible 8 run rally by Long Haul in the bottom of the 6th inning and with the time already ran out to win their game against Hague Resmondo to even get to play Dan Smith. These “3 Giants” are very close. Dan Smith was led by MVP “Big” Scott Brown, the young pitcher who can hit it with the best of them and will prove to be a big part of this team in 2002. I know it’s hard to judge a team in a one pitch game, so I won’t do that. I can tell you that this 2002 Dan Smith team is a lot better than last year’s team, with the pick-ups of players like Demond Thomas, Larry Carter, Scott Brown, Shane Dubose, David Hood, Robin Higgenbotham and of course one of the games best all around players Jason Kendrick would make any team better. This is going to be a great season in Big Time Softball. The merger with some of the best A teams getting together and Dan Smith and Hague Resmondo both having better teams will definitely make for great competition and a fun game to watch. Because of the bad weather the WSL and NSA staff had to make some hard decisions on how to get this tournament in and I totally agree that they did it right. Jim Kimmel and David Lancaster got it done, and that is what it’s all about, trying to make things work, and that is what they did. I said this format of playing travel expenses to the four highest finishing teams, other than the big 3 was a great idea, and I believe it has been awesome so far. Holland/Terry’s/Mizuno, a very good A team out of North Carolina finished in second place and picked up the $2,000 prize money. They earned it by playing extremely well all weekend. Felts, another good A team also played very well and earned the $1,500 they picked up. Both Audio Jungsion and Smokes picked up $750 each for their very good efforts in this tournament. The Felts sponsor had this to say “Gordie I’ve been in this game as a sponsor since 1967 and have never had anyone give me any expense money, this is absolutely awesome and is worth it for A teams to come out and play for a chance to earn travel expense money”. Another quote from the Jonesboro personnel “our team didn’t know if we would like playing on baseball fields with 90′ bases, but I can tell you now that we loved it and are thinking about going to Richmond, Indiana in two weeks. The good thing is we had a chance to compete and play a full game against one of the best teams in the world Dan Smith, but 90′ might be a little too much Gordie, but I understand on some of these nice fields they wouldn’t want you on their good grass”. The order of finish in the tournament itself was like this; Dan Smith/Backman/Menosse/Easton, 2nd. place went to Holland/Terry’s/Mizuno, 3rd. place was Long Haul/Taylor Bros/Shen Corp/TPS and 4th went to the Felts team. I have to say that the WSL/NSA has been very exciting in their first two events and it’s only going to get better. Don’t miss the next stop in Richmond, Indiana. I would like to say that David Lancaster ran a First Class tournament. The ball fields were excellent. David and his staff did a great job of getting the fields ready after all the rain. The City of Spartanburg was a great host for this “Big Time” softball tournament with good hotels, good restaurants and good people.

I would like to say a special thank you David from myself and my wife Joan for a great weekend, you are a “Class Act” and I’m glad you took the time over a year ago to call me and ask me about you putting on a tournament in Spartanburg, S.C. All I can say David is that the “rest is history, Great Job”!!!!


USSSA NIT Cocoa, Florida – May 4th & 5th, 2002

Team MIZUNO Wins the USSSA NIT

What more can I say about the Class A teams in the country. This is truly worth coming out to watch. I would of liked to have seen this tournament, but as you know I have pushed hard for the World Softball League and had an obligation to be there , and had to miss this great one. That does not mean it’s the only game in town. This USSSA Nit had one of the best field of teams you will see this year. Nine great evenly matched teams of which anyone of the 9 could of won. I am an avid supporter of playing these tournaments on baseball fields and that is what they played on this weekend in Cocoa. The problem was that these fields were a little bit too big. They couldn’t use the stadium because of the Rodeo going on, so they had to use the outside fields. The one field is not too bad, pretty big like the stadium, but the other field was monstrous, but fair for both teams that had to play on them. But play they did, and the team I’ve been talking about all season long, that being Team Mizuno wins the first USSSA berth to Mickey Mouse World in 2002. I’ve said this team can flat out play defense, and believe me it doesn’t get any better than this. Put this team on a baseball field and they can compete with anybody. The Mizuno bats are beginning to heat up and this bunch will get better on the offensive side of the game as the season progresses. USA Mizuno Sports has stepped out in their sponsorships this year and now have a whole bunch of good teams playing around the country. It is good to see another one of the big manufacturers going full board in the sport. Team Mizuno was led by MVP Roy Eppley and all tournament team members, JC Battista, Greg Neal, Augie Nunen, Jesus Merejo and Defensive Player of the tournament Brian Milstead. Mizuno had to earn this championship by coming back through the loser’s bracket and double-dipping a very good Hooters/Mizuno team. Hooters, who finished 2nd. here hasn’t played as much as the teams entered in this one, but make no mistake about it they are very good and they will contend all season long. I didn’t have them ranked for I knew nothing about this year’s team and did not know which players were playing from last years team, but I had an idea they would be good and they answered that this weekend. The third place finisher was Budweiser/Absolute/Team Expert/Worth who played very good, but just came up short again. Fourth place went to another very good A team, a team who has played just about everybody this season and has proven they can play with anybody was Florida Heat/Nave/Joe Black’s/Worth.


USSSA NIT Cincinnati, Ohio – June 29 – 30, 2002

Beautiful Eggelston Park was the place for this USSSA NIT.

The winner was Florida Heat/Nave Plumbing/Joe Black’s/Worth a team I ranked up in the top of the heap early this season and have kept them there because I felt they had one of the better A teams in the world, and they have definitely proven it right. This ball club has been playing extremely well all season. Roger Tabor has put together a bunch of veteran players who can play and do what it takes to win at this level. When Roger added veteran pitcher Pat Wayne I knew it would pay dividends and make them a very strong team, and that’s exactly what happened. Florida Heat was led by MVP Joe Povenski who went 19-20 and led the tournament with 7 homeruns. They also got great outfield play from Jeff Young and a great effort from veteran Bob Woldyk, Brian Arnold, Butch Smith and the rest of the Florida Heat ball club. Great job guys, you deserve a lot of credit. Keep up the good work. Finishing in second place was Creative Stucco/Easton, another one of those very good A teams who will be a tough team down the stretch. I can say don’t take this team too lightly, they will jump up and bite you in a hurry. They are better than their record shows. Chase/Reece/Roosters/Easton gets the third place finish in this one as they battled along with all the other teams in the 90+ temps. all weekend long. The fourth place spot went to Perkins/Watanabe/TPS who always seems to play very well in these Super NIT’s.

I would like to say once again as usual another great job by Jim Wessel and his staff at Eggelston Park running this USSSA event. This is a great place to hold a tournament with the great shade trees and very good hospitality and is certainly the best place to watch softball in the country. Great job to Jim and his wife.


ASA Super Louisville, Kentucky – June 22 – 23, 2002

Louisville, Kentucky was the setting for this ASA Grand Slam Tournament originally scheduled for Lexington, Kentucky, but was moved to Louisville due to other circumstances. Phonemasters/K&G Sports/TPS won this very good tournament that had six very good teams entered and the battle was on. K&G, has begun to put things together and now are proving they belong up at the top of the rankings. I think this bunch thought they should of been ranked higher, but it this reporter’s eyes were not playing good enough to warrant that. This team has started to play very well these last few weeks, and I can tell you they are back and will be very tough to beat down the stretch. The K&G boys had to push a little harder in this one as the second place team, Lighthouse/Worth have been showing they can play with any of the big dogs in Class A this season. K&G had to come back through to beat this Lighthouse team to win this one. I didn’t get a lot of information on this tournament so I won’t write a whole lot about it. I believe Raymond Moscow will report on it also.

I would like to take the time to say what a great job Ray and Dawn do promoting Big Time softball down in the Kentucky area. “Big Time” softball owes both of them a big thank you for their hard work and dedication to this great game. Great job Ray & Dawn!!!


USSSA Dudley Budweiser NIT –  Brooklyn Center, Minnesota – June 21-23, 2002

Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton wins the prestigious USSSA Dudley/Budweiser NIT in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. If anybody thinks that Backman/Easton is not back and ready to become the #1 team in the land better have other thoughts. I can tell you that if this week’s play is an indicator, this team has become a team that is hungry and wanting to be the best in the game. The changes they have made in the off season are starting to pay dividends, and that is what they needed to get the ship up-right. Jason Kendrick is the catalyst in the charge for this team to move up the ladder and try to become the #1 team. He isn’t the only one, shortstop Demond Thomas, middle infielder David Hood, all-star left fielder Robbin Higginbotham who is beginning to hit it now and if he continues will be the biggest addition this team added. I don’t want to forget Larry Carter, who can be a big plus for any team, and of course their young pitcher Scott Brown whom I believe if left on the mound most every game with a little rest here and there is the biggest asset for this team. This young man can hit it and also glove it. To finish this part of the story let’s not leave out the main stays Helmer, Hall, Joerling, Nevitt, McCraw and Rosado the utility man, and that makes up for a hell of a ball club. Manager Jim Wessel was brought over to try and change this team around and get it on the winning way, and that my friends is happening in 2002. The Backman boys were led this weekend by “big” additional hitter Dewayne Nevitt ( This weekends MVP), who wore it out all weekend long and contributed 12 homeruns in his assault on the tournament and their two wins over the #1 team in the land. This was also a total team effort as I believe this ball team was very hungry and played extremely hard to prove to the Long Haul boys and to the rest of the softball world that they are here and ready to claim the #1 spot. I know there will be some people out there who will disagree with me and believe that Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton should move to #1 in the rankings this week, but this reporter will not make that move at this time. I will tell you that at the Smoky Mountain Classic when the three “Giants” of the game collide again is when I will make a change at the top of the heap if warranted.

I have been an advocate that the big three or four when they had it should play in the same tournaments as much as possible to give the softball fans and softball teams a chance to play or watch the best teams in the world go at it, I know this is impossible because of the amount of NIT’s out there. I would hope that the minds of softball would realize that this has to go. We don’t need more NIT’s we need less, so that financially the teams that want to play can afford to go to tournaments like the Dudley or the Smoky or any other good tournaments. People that say “big time” softball is dead, don’t know what they’re talking about, this game is at it’s best. We may not have as many teams participating at each event, and the only reason for that is that there’s too many events going on to make that possible. I’ll say it one more time, “Super NIT’s, 5 USSSA’s, 5 ASA’s, 5 NSA/World’s and 5 World Series, let the Major teams who are declared Major automatically have berths to the four World’s and the WSL have their final four by the point system. I will tell you if that was in place you would get between 12 and 16 of the top teams in the nation to your NIT’s those 15 weekends set-up, and the Smoky and the Dudley will still get the same amount of teams they always get, but maybe more of the better teams could afford to come if there were less tournaments”. Enough of that let me get back to the Dudley reporting.

The Long Haul boys finished 2nd. in this one, and they played extremely well this weekend, but the better team won this weekend taking nothing away from the Long Haul team because they gave an effort to try and win as much as anybody. I’m sure the Long Haul coaches, sponsors and players will be looking forward to playing when they all come together for the Great Smoky Mtn. Classic. Finishing in 3rd place was Hague/Resmondo/Walser/Worth team, who believe me from it’s sponsors to the players have given everything they’ve got every weekend and are very close to capturing one of these tournaments when the big three are entered. Make no mistake they have good players and are giving 100% in trying to get to the top. They deserve to win one and I believe they are very close to winning one of these tournaments, Don’t count them out. I will state that these three Super teams are very close in talent and that is great to see for when they get together we the fans get to see some great softball playing and that’s what it’s all about. I need not say too much about the A division for we know there! ‘s about 15 of them who can get at it every weekend, and that is worth watching as well. I want to tell you it was Great to see a B team from Minnesota who can flat out play and have some great young players who put on one of the best displays this weekend at the Dudley like the likes never seen before. Saturday they played against the #1 team in the nation with a good hometown crowd cheering them on, they almost pulled off the biggest upset that would of ever been at the Dudley, but fell short losing a thriller 45-43. That didn’t stop this upstart bunch from Minnesota who began to climb back through the Loser’s Bracket and on the way took out another Major team, Twin States/Worth sent them to the house and then the bubble burst as they had to play another one of the giants, Hague/Resmondo/Walser/Worth and there was nothing left in the tank when the Mt. Crew/Mizuno boys were run-ruled and their tournament came to an end. Boy do they deserve a big hand for a Great job!!!

I want to congratulate Warren Bellm, who gave a courageous effort to play this Dudley after torrential rain hit the City of Minnesota Friday morning and Central Park became unplayable. Warren and his staff found a way to get the other complexes ready to go and complete one of the great tournaments in the world. Setting the politics aside, Warren Bellm, Gerry Turnberg are great people for the game of softball. If everybody would treat the game the way these two do, Major softball would be a lot better off. You’re both a Class Act!!

Don’t let the politics in this game take it away from you, Do it your way, that’s my motto!!


Milwaukee, Wisconsin “USSSA” NIT – June 15 & 16th, 2002

Long Haul/Taylor Bros/Shen Corp/TPS finally gets it’s berth to Disney World to try and repeat it’s chances at another Grand Slam. I don’t believe anybody thought they would not get it, because of their scheduling this season this was their first USSSA event. The Long Haul boys played extremely well playing in this homerun controlled tournament. They used very good base hitting and hit their homeruns in timely fashion. They did what you have to do, and that is adjust in the USSSA events. One of the managers of a very good team told me “the reason Long Haul is so good is that players like Wallace, Bumgardner, Martin and the rest of that team can base hit it when they want to and they’re not selfish players, they do what it takes to win and that’s why they’re the best at this time”. Brian King, the valuable utility infielder for Long Haul was the tournament’s MVP. Brian, who doesn’t play all that much is always ready when called on and can flat out play this game. He is without a doubt a big piece of the Long Haul machine, this week filling in for the injured Johnny Mello. Randall Boone was named Offensive Player of the tournament going 18-19. This tournament came at the right time as most of the teams will have to play the same format next weekend at the Dudley.

Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton who lost to a very good A team, Mountain Top/TPS early in the tournament came charging back through the loser’s bracket to claim 2nd. place. This team is still a threat to win as the season rolls on. Third place went to Mountain Top/Advanced/TPS who has had an up and down
season so far in 2002, but have a lot of talent. When Mountain Top and Advanced Roofing made their merger and got it together I knew they would be a very strong team and very competitive every weekend. This team has a mix of young and veteran players who know how to win and could very well win one or two National Titles. Fourth place finish went to another very good A team, Florida Heat/Joe Black’s/Worth who has played extremely well all season long. I believe this bunch will be a contender in the Class A Worlds this year. I
just can’t say enough about the A teams this year. It is a joy to go out and watch these good A teams play, or AA teams as some people like to call it. I talked to a bunch of the managers and players and they told me this was a very good tournament. I believe this because Pudge and Roger always run their Milwaukee tournament First Class. I was glad to see the USSSA bring it back to Milwaukee in 2002. See you all at the Dudley.


ASA Super – Cincinnati, Ohio – June 15 & 16th, 2002

Phonemasters/K&G Sports/SchwinngTPS finally put it together this weekend and won this ASA Super. The K&G boys are a very good team, and have proven that they can play with anybody. They have at times not played very good and lost to some teams they shouldn’t have, but as they say that’s why they play the game. Winning this one may get them on the right track, and if so watch out!! This team has a lot of talented players and can flat-out hit it. We will see! Second place went to Perkins/Watanabe/TPS who always seem to have a very good team year in and year out. They don’t have a big budget, but play a lot around home and always make it to 3 or 4 big tournaments. Dave is one of the real good sponsors and is a great guy and has been a big part of Big Time softball for years. Chase/Reece/Roosters/Easton have played very well all season, but couldn’t get it going this weekend. This club will be in the running most tournaments, believe me. EMR/Worth, another team you don’t hear much about are a good team and very competitive when they do enter these better tournaments took fourth place in this tournament. Congratulations to Danny Saylor for getting this great tournament back on track. There were a great field of teams entered this weekend and maybe this will get this tournament back at the top.


“NSA” Class “AA/A” Chattanooga, TN. – June 15 & 16th, 2002

The NSA ran the prestigious Pic O Dixie Tournament down in beautiful Chattanooga this weekend. TWIN STATES/WORTH, who were beaten by Lighthouse Baptist in their first game battled back through the Loser’s Bracket to win this great tournament. This is the 35th year of the Grand Old Pic O Dixie. Believe me most of the best players in the world over the past 35 years have participated in this tournament. Lighthouse Baptist/Worth finished in 2nd place and played very good all weekend long. Third place went to C&M/Worth,
a nice little A team who put on a good showing this weekend. Fourth place went to Cherokee/Brick/Bank Oil/All Star/Mizuno who I saw play earlier this year and is also a very good team. Congratulations to everybody who played at the Pic O Dixie and to the NSA for adding this tournament to their list of other great tournaments that they run.


ISA Class “AA/ A” Pasadena, Texas – June 15 & 16th, 2002

A good contingent of Texas teams showed up to play in this ISA event, but mother nature put a stop to this one early. Budweiser/Absolute/Summerlin/Worth and Turn Two were undefeated in the Winner’s Bracket were declared the co-winners.


WSL/NSA Tournament Columbus, Ohio – June 7, 8, & 9th, 2002

Jeff Hague

Columbus, Ohio was the setting for this, the fourth leg of the World Softball League NSA event. The weather was beautiful, good fields and very good teams. Long Haul/Taylor Bros/Shen Corp/TPS came out the winner in this one as they squeaked out a one run win in the Winner’s bracket Championship game and then did it again in the first game of the Championship winning by one run. Long Haul played seven games in this one, three in the pool play and four in the double elimination. The TPS boys were led by the excellent pitching and defensive play of MVP Andy Purcell and a total team effort to win this one. Hague/Resmondo/Walser/Worth battled their butts off all weekend, but once again came up a little short. Big Randy Kortokrax led the Ohio based team hitting 19 homeruns to lead the tournament. Well the two Giants had their “Titanic Battle” this weekend with some unbelievable games played by some very good A softball teams this weekend.&! Mid South/TPS came out on top finishing in third place getting the much needed points as they tried to earn enough points to make it to Las Vegas to the World Softball’s Final Four. They also picked up the $2,000 traveling expense check for finishing in third. This ball club is for real, they are as good as any of the great A teams, or like some people want to call the AA teams. The facts are there are about ten to twelve teams just like Mid South/TPS who can flat out play. Chase/Reeces/Roosters/Easton is one, as they finished in fourth place and picked up the $1,500 traveling money. The story in this tournament was the great play by all the A teams. Central Paving/TPS played extremely well and proved they could play with the good A teams on the baseball fields with 90′ bases. Like I’ve said before I will not rank teams who want to play tournaments on 300′ fields and hit .47 core balls. It doesn’t prove a thing. When! n these good teams play on baseball fields and use 90′ bases these games are unbelievable, and it brings out all the good talent these good A teams have. That my friends is what happened here this weekend, there were some great games played by these teams. Teams like Central Paving/TPS, Hooters/Mizuno, K&G/Phonemasters/TPS, Creative Stucco/Easton, Chase/Reee/Roosters/Easton, Team AH/TPS, Smokes/Mizuno, Jonesboro/TPS, Maroadi’s/Frank-n-stein and a bunch of good B teams who also played very good all weekend and made for a very good tournament. The World Softball League has given teams the chance to play in some very interesting, exciting, fast-paced, great defense and some unbelievable softball in the four events so far. The Pif in Fleurimont, Quebec Canada on July 4th weekend the WSL will explode into the biggest softball event in the World. The Pif Directors are expecting the crowds to be the largest ever and that could be well over 20,000 people both on Friday and Saturday night just like the old days when the best players played there, and I mean people like Bruce Meade, Craig Elliott, Jim Fuller and many more of the Super starts of “Big Time Softball” will make this an extraordinary event in 2002. There’s no doubt that there will be some of the great players in the world entered in this tournament this year, and it’s a shame that some of the boys will not get an opportunity due to other commitments. Fox Sport Net and the WSL along with our neighbors from the north hosting this spectacular event before huge crowds will be an excellent venue for TV coverage. Good Luck to all the American and Canadian teams that have entered. I want to thank Jeff Hague for hosting myself and my webmaster this weekend in Columbus. We both enjoyed ourselves. With Jeff Hague being involved with the WSL it doesn’t get any better than that. The effort and great job he did putting this tournament together in Columbus, Ohio was truly a great show.

Jeff you are a ‘First Class’ man and Big Time softball is in good hands when people like you are involved.

Once again Jeff Thank you for a GREAT weekend.


ISA “A/AA” NIT in Fairfax Virginia – June 8-9th, 2002

Taylors Softball out of Maryland captured the ISA A/AA NIT in Fairfax, VA on June 8-9 defeating R+R Trim/Tailgaters/Worth 29-28 in the winners bracket final and beating T.J.Lite (MD) 33-14 in the championship game. My Plumbers (VA) finished 4th. Leading the way were Co-MVP’s Craig Battiste (11-13, 1HR), George Brauer (13-15, 2 HR’s) and Dave Gwinn (14-15, 8 HR’s). They have accepted the berth to the ISA Major World Series in Easley, S.C.

Thanks Dave Gwinn for the info on this tournament.


The ‘PIF’ Conference Meeting – June 3rd, 2002

I was invited to attend the “Pif” press conference Monday in Sherbrooke, Quebec Canada and was so impressed with what I saw there. John Daniels had attended the first press conference and had me go to this one. First of all there were close to 80 people attending the conference including TV stations, radio and all newspaper sports writers from Montreal and their local papers. I spoke on behalf of the WSL about what we’ve accomplished so far with the first three tournaments, and told them all that the WSL/NSA are looking forward to coming to the “Pif” to be part of one of the greatest tournaments held in softball. The outpour of support from the Canadian people was astonishing to see during this press conference. They were so organized and professional in everything they did in covering every aspect of the tournament from the beginning stages to the present. They told me if the weather stays on their side they expect this to be an enormous event with the coverage they have had on the tournament. The staff has been working non-stop to make this a spectacular event. I can tell you teams that are attending you will not regret being a part of the WSL and “The Pif” and Fox Sports. Fireworks are planned for both Friday and Saturday night that are spectacular and the bands will be entertaining under their huge tent after the fireworks.

This is not just a softball tournament, but an “EVENT”.


ASA Super Qualifier – Beaumont, Texas – June 1st & 2nd, 2002

Budweiser/Summerlin/Worth wins the ASA Super Qualifier. The “Bud boys” are starting to heat up as they capture the Championship in Beaumont this weekend. Bud was led by MVP Kevin Johnson, a very talented young shortstop out of Texas. He can flat-out play this game. Kevin is getting better and better every weekend and is proving to be one of the very best. Bud got a scare from Meridian early on in this tournament but squeaked out a one run win on route to the Championship. Doc’s/Mizuno finished in 2nd. place as Sterling Ibrom and the boys played extremely well all weekend. Doc’s is beginning to put it together and this bunch is looking to get it going and try to win another National Championship just like they have in the past few years playing under other sponsorships. Third place went to Top Dog/Sports11.com and fourth went to Medic-Aide. I would like to congratulate Frank Neal on a great effort in running this tournament! for the first time in Beaumont and I’m sure this will be a successful tournament in the future.

MVP – Kevin Johnson


The Billy Bowlegs Tournament – Fort Walton Beach, Fla. – June 1st & 2nd, 2002

W.W. Gay/Aubrey’s/TPS was the winner in this old prestigious tournament this past weekend, as they beat back a bunch of very good teams to capture the Championship. WW Gay/Aubrey’s has been playing extremely well the last few tournaments and has proven to be right up there as one of the best A teams in the country. This bunch will be a contender the rest of the way and could win a National. Second place went to another very good A team, Suncoast/Nike who also played very good this weekend and has been playing well too the last few tournaments.


NSA Michigan City, Indiana – July 26-28, 2002

The Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse Easton Express is rolling through big time softball, and this reporter don’t see it stopping in the near future. The way this team is playing it would not surprise me to see them roll through the worlds. This team is getting it done offensively and playing extremely well on defense. Every weekend somebody steps up and takes the leadership roll. This week it was veteran Todd Joerling, who was named MVP who led the Backman boys. Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton is 8-2 on the year with one more NIT to play which is this weekend in Sterling Heights, Michigan. There is no question that Jerry, Dan, Eddie, and the rest of the management went out and got the players needed to take this team to another level. This team came together in a hurrry after getting off slow in their first couple of events. They got it going and are on track that’s for sure. Finishing in second place was Hague/Resmondo/Walser/Worth who played very good this weekend. The Hague/Resmondo team will be a team to reckon with in the upcoming World Tournaments. Remember the Hague/Resmondo boys finished in second place in all four World Tournaments last year. They are certainly knocking on the door. Third place went to Long Haul/Taylor Bros/Shen Corp/TPS who has fallen on hard times the last few weeks. This ball club is not playing like the team that ruled softball the last few years. People have been asking me through email and verbally, Gordie what’s wrong with Long Haul? My answer is they’re just not hitting as a team not playing as a team and it sure is very difficult to try and turn it on. I believe that teams like Backman, Hague, New, Budweiser and a host of other very good teams playing in the 2002 season are just better teams and believe that they can play against anybody and win, that my friends is great for the game. Finishing in fourth place was New Construction who as I said in my last report from the Smoky’s “watch out for this gang swinging the Miken”. Remember they have some very good players even if they weren’t swinging the Miken they still have people that can hit it with anything. Roger’s teams have always been competitive and if you don’t play your game against them they will beat you period. Overall, I got reports that this was a good tournament as usual, Jim did his best to make that happen. The season has come down to one NIT left and that is next weekend the USSSA NIT Sterling Heights Michigan and that will end the 2002 qualifying events. Don’t forget next weekend also starts the first World Tournament as the ISA presents their AA World in Anderson, SC. Good luck to all the teams.


NSA Seattle, Washington – July 26-28th, 2002

Tacoma Dodge won this one and earned a trip to Minnesota to the NSA World Series August 23-26th. There were seven teams entered in this tournament. Red’s Worth came in second place and will probably make the trip to Minnesota. Sunnyvale/Easton finished in third place and in fourth a team called HITEST-Scurry who came from British Columbia, Canada to play in this event. TPS/Northwest finished in fifth place and Viking Sports and Dobbs/Fox filled up the field for this tournament. Congratulations to Tacoma Dodge.


July 19-21st, 2002

I want to apologize to all the Old Scout Fans and teams for not posting the Softball Report last week. I was very sick and had to pay a visit to the local hospital. I am doing ok now and am back in motion. I also apologize for not being in Michigan City, this past weekend and reporting the scores, but I was not healthy enough to be there. I will be reporting from God willing all the Super Worlds from Class A and AA World’s coming up. I did not get much information from the Texarkana USSSA Tournament. Dennis Chumley

did help by posting the scores and I thanked him for that. Congratulations to Mountain Top/Advance Cash/TPS for wining this tournament. I would also like to congratulate Metro Glass Wartom who finished in third place in this tournament and accepted the berth to Walt Disney World. Second place in this tournament went to Team AAA and fourth place went to Budweiser/Summerlin/Team Expert/Worth.


USSSA Seattle, Washington  – July 19-21st, 2002

Team AH/TPS captured this tournament and earned a berth to Disney World and the USSSA World Series. I did not receive much information from this tournament. This is all I have to report.


ASA Super Albany, Georgia – July 19-21st, 2002

US Vinyl a very good A Team won this ASA Qualifier in the last ASA qualifying tournament of the year. I didn’t get much information from this tournament. Congratulations to USA Vinyl. Second place went to Aubrey’s/WW Gay/TPS who has played very well the past few weeks. Third place was Team Mizuno who has not played like they did earlier in the season. I think by not playing in the month of June it hurt this very good team. Fourth place went to Chase/Reece/ Rooster/Easton who has fallen on hard times the last couple of weekends. This team is too talented to play this way and will need to pick it up as they get ready for the World Tournaments.


ASA Super Smoky Mountain Classic – Maryville, Tennessee – July 11, 12 13th, 2002

Andy Beloli used to tell me Gordie, the smoke will always clear at the Smokey’s, and that’s exactly what happened”. Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton did it the hard way by coming back through one of the toughest loser’s bracket this season, to win the “Mighty Smoky Mountain Classic”. The Backman gang showed why they belonged as the nations knew #1 team. The Backman boys beat back some very strong teams, namely the former #1 team Long Haul/Taylor Bros/Shen Corp/TPS, and then double-dipped the very good Budweiser/Summerlin/Expert Travel/Worth team who has gotten better since the season rolls on. With the addition of “big” Wendall Rickard and some other very good pick-ups the Bud team is for real. The Backman boys battled back after losing to Budweiser in the winners bracket finals.

Backman was lead by MVP Brett Helmer and “Big” Dwayne Nevitt who had seventeen homeruns, also Jeff Hall who had another great tournament. Backman has been the better team this season as they have handled Long Haul fairly easy in 2002 and have proven to be the better team so far. I am sure the battle for the #1 spot is not over yet as there is a long way to go. Backman looks mighty good! Finishing in 2nd place Budweiser/Sumerlin/Worth who played some great softball in this prestigious tournament. Folks, I am here to tell you this is the toughest tournament to win even harder than the World tournaments. There are more better teams in this tournament. This is simply the best tournament because there are at least twenty five very good softball teams and none of the other NIT’s have a field of teams like this one. The Bud boys will be a team to reckon with down the stretch and will be a contender to win some AA maybe an ASA Major and will ! be very competitive in the three World Tournaments that they will be playing in. Budweiser will be playing the ASA Super the ISA Super and the USSSA Super. They will also be playing in the NSA AA in Plano, TX and the ASA Major in Jenson City, Tennessee. Greg and Frank have made some good changes to this team and it has paid off. Wendell has given them some very good power and the Cowart kid in Center field has made them much better team. Watch out! Bud was lead by Wendell Rickard who hit 17 homeruns and they got a total team effort. Great job Bud “this ones for you”. Third place went to Long Haul/Taylor Bros/Shencorp/TPS who has not been playing very well this year.

I don’t think this years team is as hungry as they were in the past. Some of the players are not doing their jobs. I am sure the new players need to adjust and learn how to win. This is a lot different team from last years remember Jason and Higgy are gone and last year Long Haul picked up Mike McColeman at this time of the year and Mike got some very big hits for Long Haul against the other two big teams and won some games for Long Haul. I will tell you Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton has improved a lot over last years team and that might be why people are asking “What’s wrong with Long Haul”. I think Backman got better, Hague got better as well as Budweiser as well as many other teams and that has closed the gap of Long Hauls domination. I think at this time there is no dominating team and there will be battles on every weekend and that my friends makes for “great softball”. Fourth place went to New Construction who has had an up and down season but added another player the last couple of weeks. His name is Miken Ultra and I can tell you they will be very competitive the rest of the season swinging that bat like it or not. Roger has always been a threat with his teams over the years. Roger has won two ASA Majors and been very competitive in the World tournaments, this year will be no different.

Big Brian Goings who lead the Smokey’s tournament in homeruns this year at 19 and the whole team gave a good effort. Good show New! There were a lot of good teams in this great tournament who played extremely well but came up a little short, but believe me this was a very good tournament. Joe Huff and the parks and recreation department did an outstanding job getting the fields ready after some unbelievable rain hit the Sandy Springs park. Joe did not hesitate he made his decision and ran this event his way. I thought his idea of playing five inning games was one of the best moves in softball history. By making this decision the fans got to see some homeruns hit, some good softball and the games were over in one and half hour, not 3 -3 1/2 like some tournaments. Joe told me he personally asked fans if they liked this format! . They told him they loved it because they weren’t getting bored watching 3 hour games and a homerun derby. He also said they told him they enjoyed seeing some homeruns and loved the short games.

Joe, I personally would like to thank you for a great weekend and you are a first class guy.


The PIF Air Transat Holiday Classic WSL/NSA  – Fleurimont Quebec, Canada – July 5, 6 & 7th, 2002

Long Haul/Taylor Bros/Shen Corp/TPS is crowned the 27th Pif Departe Champion 2002 in one of the World’s most prestigious tournaments. Before I get into the tournament I want to tell you what this tournament is all about. The “Pif” is a happening, a festival, it’s an event with a huge gathering of people and a softball tournament. The people came out not just to watch softball, but to enjoy the festivities as well. Games for all the kids along with live entertainment for the adults, great food and drink, especially the poutine, french fries, cheese curds and gravy that their country is noted for, spectacular fireworks choreographed to music that you might only see in the NY Harbor on the 4th of July. The site of 10,000 balloons sailing into the blue yonder was an amazing wonder as the ball players and fans gazed into the sky as the sun was setting watching them rise above the mountains as if reaching out to touch someone. What a breathtaking! in moment!! Not taking anything away from the Dudley or the Great Smoky Mountain Classic that begins this coming Friday night there’s no question in my opinion and many others who were there I’m sure that this is the most spectacular tournament in the World. Our neighbors from the north should stand proud for what they accomplished with all their hard work and dedication. The staff at the Pif are the warmest and nicest hosts that you would ever want to meet. They are friendly, courteous, respectful, and truly care about people and about getting things done right to make this a very special event. The format used this year was a great idea by the committee, to have a Canadian team in the finals to keep the large crowd throughout Sunday. I totally believe that this was the right decision on Friday night to put in the homerun limit, which was the right move. The problem was that with the dimensions of the field in the middle being only! 340′ in the gaps & 340′ to center the ball was too strong for those fields. It was okay down the lines at 345′, but just too small in the middle on all fields. We have played four WSL/NSA tournaments up to this one, and the middle of the diamonds were mostly 360′ to 375′ in the gaps, and 400′ to center. Obviously using the same ball we have been using, a .44 core 525 lb. compressed, was just too good for these smaller fields that we played on this weekend, and that is why the homerun rule was put in to place.

This tournament consisted of USA teams, the Canadian teams and the Women’s Division. The USA Division was won by Long Haul/Taylor Bros/Shen Corp/TPS. The Long Haul bunch got it going early on Friday night and rolled through this division. Long Haul seemed to do the right things it takes to win these homerun limited tournaments. They base hit it and got plenty of 3 run homeruns and a whole bunch of grand slams on route to the Championship. They were led by MVP of the tournament Rusty Bumgardner and got great support from the rest of the Long Haul ball club. They played extremely good defense that shut down their opponents, which makes it that much easier to win when they catch the ball. After winning the USA Division the Long Haul boys waited to see who would be their opponent from the Canadian Division. Before I get into what Canadian team got to the finals, let me tell you about the rest of the USA Division teams. Chase/Reece/Roosters/Easton, who played extremely well all weekend, upset Hague/Resmondo/Walser/Worth in a second round game and rolled to the winner’s bracket finals and tried to make it another upset, but came up short. Hague/Resmondo came charging out of the loser’s bracket and went on to get revenge on Chase and the right to meet Long Haul in the Championship in the US Division. Long Haul scored enough and often in the Championship game, and Hague settled for the 2nd. place in the US Division. Chase/Reece/Roosters/Easton ended up getting 3rd. place in the US Division and also collected the First Place $2,000 travel money. Fourth spot in the US Division was Mid South/TPS, who had a very tough opener Friday night playing against Long Haul, but showed what kind of team they are as they charged back through the loser’s bracket and got the 2nd. place prize travel money of $1,500. Rounding out the travel money National/De Marini & DJ/Mizuno collected! $750 each for their efforts in this WSL/NSA event. The other US teams who played were Laser Vision/TPS and the Canadian team that replaced Smokes who backed out last week Duro Vitres/Eperviers/Easton who are out of the Quebec area. Saturday night the Homerun Derby was one of the most exciting derbies at the Pif in years. Jeff Wallace, Rusty Bumgardner and Jimmy DeVine were all tied at 6 each after going through the 15 hitters that had entered. The playoff started with DeVine hitting first and it consisted of the best out of 5 swings. DeVine hit 3, Bumgardner hit 3 and Wallace won it by hitting four and collected $1,000 for his effort before a huge crowd before the fireworks. In the Canadian Division of this tournament the winner was a very good Canadian A team called Lloyd’s from London, Ontario who could play and be competitive against a lot of USA A & B teams. They have a lot of talented players who can play the game of softball! . I can tell you that the Canadian teams are getting better and better each year, and you could tell by watching that they’ve been working at their game. This was the first time that the Canadian teams were exposed to 90′ bases. They adapted very well on defense playing the game in these conditions. I give them a lot of credit for participating in this great tournament. This division was very competitive and the 2nd. place finisher was Pharm. Raymond Elias out of Montreal, Quebec who have big time players Jaque Millier and Luke Chevette, which helps make them very competitive. They battled extremely hard all weekend after losing their first game and came back to play against Lloyd’s in the Canadian Finals, which made for a Quebec/Ontario Championship game. Third place finisher was the Henchemen team, another fine Canadian A team from Ontario, who came up a little short, but got the 3rd. place finish. Fourth place went to Tlizen! Sports of Quebec.

In the Women’s Division Pennies/Gary Gray’s Body Work from Maryland repeat as “Pif Champions” as they beat The Athlete’s Foot to make it two in a row as “Pif Champions” in the Womens Division of this prestigious tournament. This very good women’s team, Pennies once again drove 12 hours each way to participate in this great Pif tournament. Pennies had to earn this win the hard way as the girls from Athlete’s Foot took Pennies to the “if” game before falling short and finished as runners-up in this one. It was sure nice to see 3 American women’s teams competing in this tournament, and I can only say whoever reads this report from Women softball teams in the US, should make plans on attending the 2003 Women’s tournament at the Pif. It keeps getting better year in and year out. In Saturday night’s Homerun Derby before a large crowd Cheryl Aldrich from the Athlete’s Foot team won this event. Congratulations to Cheryl. Here is a list of the! e rest of the women’s teams who also participated at this tournament; Phar.Marie-Claude LaPointe, Biermans, Express/LA Source Du Sport, Vacances Air Transat, Const. Alain Raiche & Corona. I myself watched some of the first game of the Championship and witnessed the walk-off homerun that enabled Athlete’s Foot to force an “if” game. I also got to see the end of the Championship game as Pennies celebrated with champagne bottles and great joy of winning for the second year in a row. Great job girls!!!

I would like to say a special thank you to JC, Regis, Richard, Mike, Andre and the rest of the staff of the Pif for great hospitality from the beginning last January when we first met at Air Transat in Montreal to the Press Conference in Sherbrooke and to the greatest tournament in the World “The Pif”. Thank You so much for everything you’ve done for me and my wife Joan. We will never forget our great friends from the north!


ASA Super – Little Rock, Arkansas – July 5,6 & 7th, 2002

Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton rolled through this ASA Qualifier in hot and humid Little Rock, Arkansas. The Backman boys are playing extremely well right now and will definitely be a top contender to win the might Smokey Mountain Classic this weekend. There were some good A teams in the field at this ASA event this past weekend. Backman had to beat some pretty good teams to beat this one. The Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton team was led by slick fielding short stop Demond Thomas who also contributed with his bat as he went 18- 18 for the weekend. Demond was a big pick up for this Easton team this year and has played sound defense and hit extremely well for the ball club this year. Make no mistake, this team is poised to make a run as the #1 team in the country. I am sure they will pull out all the stops to try to get the win at the Smokey’s this weekend and claim the #1 spot. Only time will tell! Finishing in 2nd place was Budweiser/Absolute/Sumerlin/Worth who is also starting to play very well as they come down the stretch getting ready for the Nationals. Budweiser will be looking to do well at the Smokey’s this weekend. The Bud team is lead by Derick Williams who had 18 homeruns as well as got some added pop from Big Wendell Rickard who contributed 17 homeruns this weekend. Budweiser had to battle back through the losers bracket as they lost to third place finisher Strike Zone/Worth early on in the tournament but Bud managed to come back through and beat Strike/Zone and go on to finish 2nd. Strike Zone another one of those good Texas teams who plays extremely well when entered into these Super tournaments. This team has made some changes and will be a tough opponent down the stretch as they look to win a National down the road. Fourth Place, went to Texan AAA another one of those good A teams in the country. Like I’ve said all year this A Division is totally amazing in 2002. Congratulations to Clint Albright who ran as usual another great ASA tournament in Little Rock. Clint has been one of the top tournament directors in the country for years and continues to run a class act in Little Rock. Great job!


ISA Class “A” Worlds – Winter Haven, Florida – August 24th & 25th, 2002

Florida Heat/Nave Plumbing/Joe Black’s/Worth put on one of the great performances by a Class A softball team in the history of the game by making this ISA World Tournament their 3rd. National Championship of 2002. Florida Heat has won the ISA AA World, the ISA A World and USSSA A World, UNBELIEVABLE!! The Florida Heat boys have a chance to win the ASA East Class A World’s this weekend, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they do. There’s not much more I can say about this bunch, they just are a very good team period!! These three championships this season rank right up with any accomplishment that any other team has ever done in this game. This was another total team effort and I’m sure that pitcher Pat Wayne was a big factor again. This is a very experienced team who knows how to win. Congratulations to Roger and the gang and Good Luck in Jacks this weekend!! Second place went to Smokes/ABS/Mizuno who has not played in a lot of big tournaments this season, but is definitely a very good team. Doc’s/Mizuno finished in third place but not to my surprise, because this bunch has always done well in post season play. Fourth place went to Team Mizuno who in my opinion played too much ball in the early part of the season, then took off the month of June and has not played good enough down the stretch to win one. This was another good field of teams that played in this one. Like I said call them A or AA teams, they are certainly all competitive against each other. Good job ISA for running this event.


NSA Men’ Major Worlds – Shakopee, MN – August 22nd – 25th, 2002

AA Team Mid South/Mizuno Wins the NSA World Championship. I am going to take a last shot at what I think makes the game of big time softball the most competitive game and trying to taking it to the next level. First we must try to bring the Class AA or A whatever you want to call them, to a level where they can become competitive with the three Super Teams. I would like to see and I am sure other people would like to see the A or AA teams win once in a while. This weekend that’s exactly what happened when Mid South/Mizuno became the first team to win a Men’s World Major Championship since 1995 when Hauge won the USSSA World’s in Daytona Beach, Florida. This game has changed since then the equipment is a lot better since 1995. The players are stronger, bigger and more athletic. The game is played on big baseball fields and is a lot different than when teams like Rich’s, Steeles, Bellcorp and all the other very good teams played. What makes the difference is the 90 ft bases, it’s that simple. The chance of it is very slim using 90 ft. bases, with runners on and a ground ball hit to the infield is usually an automatic double play. What happens then is it takes the big inning for the big teams and allows the A and AA teams to stay competitive. The USSSA using 70 ft. bases at Disney won’t let the A or AA teams have a chance to win in today’s game. The ASA has gone to 80 ft. bases and this will help give them a chance. The ISA had 80 ft. bases but used too hot a ball and gave no chance for an A or AA team to win. The NSA this weekend used a .47 core ball 525 compression and believe me if you missed it I guarantee you it wasn’t going out. It was a perfect ball, the ball was a trump and in my opinion the ball that should of be used on these baseball fields to level the playing field. It’s that simple. I believe if other associations would use this ball what happened this weekend when the Mizuno boys won could happen to anyone of ten other A or AA teams. The Mizuno boys played great defense and hit some timely homeruns winning a championship that certainly is good for the game. I have said level the playing field and this game will be bigger and better than it has ever been. When was the last time you’ve seen a Class A team or AA team whatever you want to call them, beat two Super Teams in a world tournament and win. My friends that is one hell of a feat in this day and time. That proves to me that if the right ball is used using 90 foot bases we will level the field even more. Mid South was lead by MVP Rod Cook and I’m here to tell you that this was a total team effort. The addition of John Glidewell was a big factor, this man can flat out play the game and can play with any of the three Super Teams. Midsouth has been a very competitive team this season and has played some exciting softball. When they picked up Ray Cowart, Chaun Demars and Ronnie James they became a contender to win and now it has happened. Congratulations to all the team and the sponsors for a great achievement. Well done Don and the gang. Haugue/ Resmondo/Walser/ Worth who has finished in second place in five out of the last six World Tournaments that they have played in, that is unbelievable. I said that this team would have a chance to win one and I still believe they might. Remember this Super Team is the only team who does not get financial help from the bat manufacturer. Long Haul and Backman get help. Travis and Jeff and their other sponsors pay the whole bill for everything. They deserve a World Champion. I wish them well. Third place went to Dan Smith/Menossee Easton who has played extremely well the whole season. The boys just went flat and couldn’t get it going this weekend. Their new bats were not a factor. I believe the difference in this past weekend was the ball being used didn’t come off like the .44 core used last week in the ISA World. The Trump that we used in the WSL I believe would have made this NSA tournament a home run derby. Believe me the right ball was used. Fourth place, went to Red’s/ J&J/Fairweather/Worth out of Seattle Washington who had a very good team put together for this one. They picked up Jerold Smith and he killed it all weekend. This team had some players who we don’t get to see much but can play the game. Calvin Macery, Billy Hudson, Billy had an unbelievable game against Long Haul. Billy hit two three run homeruns and a grand slam and also chipped in with a double, what a game. Big Shane McCoulough also played very good for Red’s and hit the hell out the ball. This would be a good softball team if this bunch was to stay together all season. I would like to say thank you very much to the Minnesota teams that being the Jazz, Kevitt and O&S Cattle who entered this tournament on a very short notice and all three teams gave a great effort. Thank you very much. Another nice job by Jim Kimmel in running a great tournament. The umpires were a first class outfit and are extremely good at what they do on the field. Eddie Cantrell you should be very proud on how you organize your umpires. I would like to say if the softball people would realize how much John Daniels has given to the game in trying to take this to the next level. You would be saying thank you to him. This man has dedicated his time and money to make our game a game people can be proud to be a part of. I was in Minnesota for 26 days working along side John trying to promote and get people out to this year’s NSA World Series. I went to the newspaper media, TV, and radio to promote this tournament. I spent two whole days at the PGA USA Open Golf Tournament handing out flyers hoping to attract people to this event. I know it has been difficult to draw fans out to the World Tournaments. The last time we had big crowds at a World Series was the USSSA in Daytona Beach, Florida. Since then none of the World’s has drawn very many fans. Look at Disney it is the class of fields for

Softball World Tournament, but no fans. This year the ISA had some good crowds at their tournaments. This week the NSA had some good crowds but not what should have been at this great event. I think what the problem is we need the money put into the game by sponsors, manufacturers should be used for promotions for the World Tournaments, and promoting the players and the product of the manufacturers and not promoting the associations. Let the associations promote themselves they make plenty of money from Class E, D, C and B teams all season long in their NIT’s and in their World Tournaments. I say it’s time to promote big time softball, the game, the players, and the product they use and take this game to the next level. Think about it, the game is bigger than the people who want to control it. It deserves better the sponsors, players, and manufacturers. Big time softball should have it’s own associations with it’s own rules not five associations and everyone using different rules. It doesn’t make sense. The game should be supported by the sponsors, the bat manufacturer’s, the ball manufactures, and outside interests period. Look at what the USSSA gave up the AA and that was the right thing to do. But the ISA, NSA, ASA kept it going. It doesn’t make sense the same teams who play at the NSA, ISA, ASA AA World’s will be the same teams that will play in the NSA, ISA and ASA World’s. Why make teams spend more money to play both tournaments? Just have one sponsors can’t afford to come to both. Like I said stop fighting they can’t afford it. Just like all the NIT’s they can’t afford that either. I have said cut the NIT’s to five each, five for the USSSA, 5 for the NSA and 5 for the ASA that’s it! Put them in the right areas so teams can drive or maybe cut down on air travel. This can be done very easily. All we need is to have a meeting with all the sponsors and let them have a say, let them have a voice, as well as the players having a say in the game. We don’t need to have one person calling the shots anymore. Remember the show is put on by the sponsors, the players and the manufacturers not the associations. Just my opinion.


ISA Worlds Easley, S.C. – August 16th – 18th, 2002

What goes around comes around. Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton is starting to dominate the Men’s Super Division and in this reporter’s eyes has a chance to win the Grand Slam. The Backman boys are doing it all, hitting with power up and down their line up. This bunch is also playing great defense both in the infield and outfield. This ball club has become a team. Jeff Hall is the best player in the country right now. He has changed his attitude toward the team. He is doing it all playing great defense, hitting and hustling and has become a team leader. When people talk about the pick ups Backman made this season they talk about Jason Kendrick, Robin Higgenbotham, Demond Thomas and rightly so. But I think, the biggest pick up was the young kid from Minnesota, Scott Brown. Brown has been a great addition and hitting out of the #8 or #9 spot in their line up and has been a big part of their explosive line up. Demond Thomas is also a big part of why the Backman team has turned things around in 2002. He is the best short stop in the game at this time and is learning how to hit it and he will be a threat on offense hitting out of the #11 spot. Backman was led by MVP’s veterans Todd Joerling and Shane Dubose. Some people said before the season they don’t have a pitcher, but Shane has proven them wrong and has done a great job, and we all know how he can hit it. Backman rolled through this one and left no doubt to the Long Haul Team that if they are going to beat the Backman boys they will have to play a lot better than they have against them this season. Remember last year it was the other way around Long Haul dominating Dan Smith. Make no mistake Long Haul/ Taylor Bros/ Shen Corp/TPS is not playing up to their potential right now for whatever reason, but they have enough talent to make a run at the Backman express but will have to give more of an effort, and some of the leaders will have to pick it up or they will not have a chance. The way they are playing right now the Long Haul club is just not hitting as well and they are not making the plays. They need to give a better effort both offensively and defensively if they are to win. There is a long way to go with four more Worlds and maybe Gary can get it turned around, that remains to be seen. Third place went to the Budweiser/Summerlin/Team Expert/Worth who at times shows it can play with anybody and at other times don’t win against teams they are supposed to beat. This ball club should not play in AA or A tournaments. It plays a lot better in the open division. I know it is difficult to play in the tournaments that they would like to because of financial means, but hopefully they will find a way to do that. This team has some very good players who can flat out hit it. Jeff Smith can hit with the best believe me. There are others who also can hit it. Fourth place went to Hague/Resmondo/ Walser/Worth who has not played up to its standards this season. They have some very talented players who need to step it up a little if Hague/Resmondo is to play up to last years World Tournament play. Last year they finished second place in all four Worlds. W.W. Gay/Aubrey’s/TPS, Lighthouse Baptist/Easton, U.S. Vinyl and Taylor’s also gave a good effort in this one. The ISA had a beautiful place to play this World Tournament. This was a great ballpark to play in. The ball used was way too hot for this size field. Some of the games ran past the two hour mark and more, definitely not good for the game. The young man who was the Tournament Director did a great job keeping things running, and the grounds crew did an unbelievable job getting the field ready after all the rain. Great job by Don Stratton, who without a doubt is the right man for the ISA. Good Luck to all the teams in Minnesota next week in the NSA Worlds.


USSSA Class A World Shawnee, Kansas – August 16th – 19th, 2002

Florida Heat/Joe Blacks/Nave Plumbing/Worth boys just keep on proving how good this team is by winning the USSSA A Worlds. This ball club is playing great softball no matter who or where they play. They have a lot of veterans who flat out know how to win and that pitcher Pat Wayne they got knows how to get people out. He could pitch for any of the three Super teams and get it done, he is that good. Florida Heat beat some of the the very best A teams in the country on route to the Championship. They beat a very good Mountain Top team and also a very good Creative Stucco, and it was done from a total team effort. This was a great field of teams in this USSSA A World. I can tell you that all the A Worlds in all the associations will be filled with the best A teams in the country. I believe that all teams except the three Supers should be allowed to play in the Class A Worlds in all associations. That should include Twin States, Chase or any other A teams or any other AA teams, if that’s what you want to call them. It would be no cake walk for teams like Chase, Twin States and even Budweiser in homerun restricted tournaments. Let them play, all of the A & AA teams and you will have the most competitive World Tournaments you’ve ever had, period!! Second place went to Mountain Top/Advanced/USA Cash/TPS who is a class act team and have some very talented people who can play this game. I believe that this team should play in all the association world’s, they are very good and they can compete. They should forget the politics and think about the betterment of the game, period! Third place went to Creative Stucco/Easton who has some very good players and should have had a better season than the’ve had. They showed that they can play with all the good A teams in this one. Good Luck to all the A teams in wherever they play their next World Tournaments.


NSA “AA” Worlds Plano, Texas – August 9th – 11th, 2002

Chase/Reece/Roosters/Easton finally put it together as I thought they would do all season, but struggled most of the season, but won the “Big Prize”, the NSA AA Championship. The Chase boys have a lot of talent and this might not be their only championship this season. Chase was led by MVP Dennis Rulli, who hit and played extremely well on defense. Dennis has been one of the better infielders in “Big Time” softball for a lot of years. Chase picked up veteran Dale Sensenig, and he paid big dividends as he was a big factor in this win, as he hit it and played extremely well on defense. This ball club has some veterans who know how to win and some very good young players who can flat out play the game. Great job Chase!! Finishing in 2nd. place was Phonemasters/K&G/Sports/TPS who is another very good team who have struggled some this season and showed at times to be very good. The K&G boys battled to the finish. They won the first game of the Championship, but fell short in the “if” game. Third place went to Lighthouse Baptist/Sports/Schwing/TPS who played good all season and is a much better team than most people think. They can play with any of the AA or A teams in the country. They have some very talented players. Fourth place went to Mountain Top/Advance/USA Cash/TPS who no doubt are a Top 15 team and will be a contender every time out. They have some players who know how to win. I know they didn’t have all of their own players this weekend, but you have to play with what you have, and sometimes that’s not good enough and this week it wasn’t. Make no mistake they are a very good team. I will go on record saying that “this is the best field of teams in AA play this season. There were no weak sisters in this one, I guarantee you. I know if you could get the 17 teams in my Top 15 other than the three Supers, Backman/Dan Smith, Long Haul and Hague/Resmondo to play in whatever you want to call it AA or A, you would have one hell of a tournament. I am sure you could not pick the winner if they played ten weekends and I’ll bet there would be 8 or 9 different winners”.

I would like to say a special thank you to Lonnie for the great job he did running the NSA “AA” Worlds and for putting the scores and results of the tournament on Message Board all weekend long. This was a great one, it doesn’t get any better than this, some great games played by some great teams!! Good Luck to everyone this weekend in the ISA Super Worlds and the USSSA Class A World.


ISA “AA” Worlds, Anderson, SC – August 2nd – 4th, 2002

Florida Heat/Nave Plumbing/ Joe Black /Worth who I’ve said from early on in the season might win a National, well I say no more, they did it. Congratulations to Roger and the whole gang for winning this very good ISA AA World Championship. This ball club has veteran players who know how to win. Players like Brian Arnold, Butch Smith, Scott McDaniels & others who have won before. I believe when they picked up pitcher Pat Wayne this team came together and began to play some great softball. This weekend the management of Florida Heat picked up Chris Chambliss for this tournament and he paid dividends in his first tournament. Chris was playing with Suncoast/Nike before this tournament. Brian Arnold was named MVP in this one. Great job boys, watch out this team will be ready to win again. Second place went to a very good Twin States/Worth who had won the winners bracket and then lost the first game of the Championship and then the “if” game. Make no mistake this is a real good team and they will be knocking on the door every weekend they play. WW Gay/Aubrey’s/TPS who has played extremely well this last couple of months and who sent Florida Heat into the losers bracket in this one, battled back to finish in 3rd Place. Fourth Place went to another very good team New Construction who has played very good the last few weekends. Look for this ball club, they will be a contender every time out and could possibly win another national title. Chet and his ISA Staff once again put on another great ISA AA and there were a very good fields of teams entered in this one. I’m looking forward to going to the ISA Super World in S.C. and to the ISA Class A World coming up.


USSSA NIT Sterling Heights, Michigan – August 2nd – 4th, 2002

The #1 Backman/Dan Smith/Menosse/Easton and the #4 Mountain Top/Advance/USA Cash/TPS battled to a draw in the Last Chance NIT in Sterling Heights this past weekend. The big win in this one went to LDJ/Varsity who finished in 4th place and won the right to play in the USSSA World Series at Disney World. This was as usual a good tournament and softball fans got a chance to see who will get the last spot in the USSSA World Series. The Backman boys had to come through the Loser’s Bracket and got to play Mountain Top again. The Mountain Top crew had defeated Backman early on in the tournament. The Backman boys wasted no time and got revenge by winning the first game of the Championship, but that was all that was to be played because the 2 teams had agreed to be Co-Championship if Backman won the first one. The reason behind it all was stated that team wanted to catch their flights home, but obviously there were other reasons why this took place. LDJ/Varsity a good team from Michigan who doesn’t play much in the Super NIT’s played good enough in this one to win the berth. LDJ has always been a competitive team and Larry has always done a good job putting this team together. Congratulations to Larry and the team for winning your berth to the Mickey Mouse World.

Metro Glass/Waltham who got 3rd place is another very good A team from Michigan who also will be at Disney World. That is for the NIT’s in all associations for the 2002 season. Here it comes the World Tournaments!!!! Good luck to all the teams and have a safe trip to wherever you are going and return home to your families safe.

The Top 15 remains the same for now and will not change until the NSA AA tournament this weekend is over.