OKLAHOMA CITY --- Dan Smith/Menosse/SHIRTSandLOGOS.com (Class A), West Coast Blaze (Class C), and Team Dynasty (Class D) joined an elite group across the country on Sunday afternoon after claiming the title of ASA National Champions in their respective divisions. Their title games capped off an exciting weekend of the best-of-the-best slow pitch at the ASA Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City.
Check out the ASA Facebook page for photos and video from three great days of action!
Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com beats Long Haul twice to win Men’s Class A Slow Pitch National title
Dan Smith/Menosse may have entered the weekend with a first game 41-40 disappointing loss, but it didn’t matter because they proceeded to win eight consecutive games in capturing its first ASA Men’s Class A Slow Pitch National title on Sunday afternoon. The 2010 Champions capped the impressive performance by winning three games on Sunday, including beating defending champion Long Haul Trucking twice, 36-21 and 37-24 at the ASA Hall of Fame Complex.
How impressive was Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com's performance? Very impressive because in nine games they scored 339 runs and allowed 217 and smashed 65 homers with Brian Wegman, Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com middle infielder, leading the way with 12 dingers and 47 RBI. Wegman was named the tourney’s Most Valuable Player and sparkled on defense as well on offense (.804). Dan Smith compiled a team batting average of .705 while their opponents batted .601. Wegman was also the tournament home run champion with 12 total.
"Today was awesome. To win the three games that we won is phenomenal," said Wegman. "The whole team aspect after losing the first game, coming all the way through it, was great. We didn't leave the park from 6:30 yesterday morning until 2 a.m. and we were back at it at 6 a.m. It was a team effort. We had a lot of fun doing it."
“It’s an awesome atmosphere,” Wegman said. “ASA does a great job running this tournament. With the facility, you can’t ask for anything more. The teams, and the competitiveness as far as the teams go, makes it an awesome experience.”
While Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com had to battle its way through the loser’s bracket, including winning five games on Saturday, Long Haul won its first four games in the winners’ bracket before dropping consecutive games on Sunday. Besides hoping to repeat, Long Haul was seeking its fourth ASA Men’s Class A National title overall with previous titles in 2005 and 2007 plus a second in 2006 and a fourth in 2008. Since 2005, Long Haul has fashioned a 25-7 record in the ASA Men’s Class A Slow Pitch National Championship.
If there were keys to Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com winning, it was because they scored runs in bunches, thus not wasting their home runs, (limit of eight per game) and used the “big” inning to their advantage. In two of Sunday’s games, Dan Smith trailed early before using the “big” inning to seize the lead for good.
In the “if necessary” game on Sunday, Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com held a one run lead, 9-8, after three innings before scoring seven runs in the fourth while Long Haul went scoreless in the bottom of the third and fourth innings before getting untracked offensively with 16 runs in the last three innings. Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com , however, scored 21 runs in the last three innings including 11 in the sixth inning. Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com had 41 hits, Long Haul 25 in the “if necessary” game.
In the first championship game, Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com again used the third inning to take command of the game in handing Long Haul its first loss and force the if necessary game to determine the 2010 champion
Trailing 15-7 after Long Haul (4-1) opened the game with a 11 run first inning, Dan Smith (7-1) exploded for 14 runs on 13 hits in the bottom of the third to take a 21-14 lead and was never threatened the remainder of the game. That was because Long Haul never scored more than four runs per inning the remainder of the game and although it reached the eight homer limit half of them came in the first inning. Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com , meanwhile, conserved its homers and reached the eight home run limit in the sixth inning when the game was stopped on the run rule, 36-21. Only two of its eight homers were solo shots. Dan Smith collected 39 hits, Long Haul 25.
Pitcher Geno Buck had three of Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com's eight homers and drove in nine runs in collecting four hits in five at-bats. Jeremy Isenhower had seven RBI for Long Haul with three hits in four at-bats.
In the loser’s bracket final, the third inning proved to be the difference in the game. Dan Smith trailed 15-8 entering the bottom half of the frame. When the inning was completed, Dan Smith had turned a seven run deficit into a 14-run advantage, 29-15, scoring 21 times on 18 hits. Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com added 11 runs in the bottom of the fourth to expand its lead to 40-21 before ending the game on the run rule after FBI/Gametime Supply (3-2) scored twice in the top of the fifth. It was Dan Smith’s sixth consecutive win in the loser’s bracket and second run rule win.
In the loser’s bracket game, Dan Smith/Menosse/shirts&logos.com collected 35 hits to 21 for FBI. Brett Helmer (4-for-5) drove in eight runs, Rick Baker and Jeff McGavin tallied five each to lead Dan Smith. McGavin, Baker and pitcher Geno Buck hit two homers apiece. Centerfielder Tim Howard led FBI, driving in three runs in a four-for-four performance.
2010 Men’s Class A All American Team
IF – John Glidewell- Fencebrokers
IF- Brian Wegman – Dan Smith
IF- Tom Bowser –Fencebrokers
IF – Bryson Baker – Long Haul
OF – Jason Branch – Long Haul
OF – Rick Baker – Dan Smith
OF – Chad McLamb – Dan Smith
OF- Jeremy Isenhower – Long Haul
Utility – Brett Helmer – Dan Smith
Utility – Kyle Moyer – Long Haul
Utility – Dennis Rulli – Long Haul
C – Scott Brown – NW Combat
P- Geno Buck – Dan Smith
Home Run Champion – Brian Wegman, Dan Smith – 12 home runs
Batting Champion – John Glidewell, Fencebrokers (.867; 13-of-15; six home runs; 14 RBI)
MVP – Brian Wegman, Dan Smith
West Coast Blaze takes Class C title in dramatic fashion
The West Coast Blaze/Swegs/Sancho’s/Easton of Highland, Calif. Will be traveling back west with some well-earned hardware after claiming the ASA Men’s Class C National title on Sunday morning. With a bottom of the 8th walk off sacrifice fly out from tournament MVP Billy Zapata (Norwalk, Calif.), West Coast claimed the National title with a 12-11 over Pope/M&L/Commission/Shockers/KA (Chicago, Ill.).
“The win was a great victory for us,” said Tommy Garcia, head coach of the West Coast Blaze. “We played hard together as a team all year long. We always had guys missing but our subs really picked us up. We always came through as a team, whether we won or loss, we always celebrated together and enjoyed each others company. Playing in this tournament has meant everything for us and for me. It has been our goal for ten years and I can’t really explain what it truly means; this is the ultimate for us.”
West Coast jumped ahead early with a 10-1 lead after two innings but a seven-run fourth inning for loser’s bracket representative Pope/M&L kept the hope alive to force the if-game. Heading into the seventh West Coast just needed three outs to seal the victory but Pope’s Steven Briggs notched in a single and Matthew Rear connected on a very timely home run to lock the game at 11-11.
West Coast put two runners on in the bottom of the seventh, but a Pope double play forced the game into extra innings. Pope/M&L looked to stay alive but the defense of West Blaze prevailed bringing the 11-all score to the bottom of the 8th. Back-to-back singles from Carlos and Ronnie Vasquez kick started the winning effort before the eventual sacrifice fly out to centerfield from Zapata crowned the champions.
West Coast finished the tournament with a 5-1 record and Jerry Boyd led all batters with a .786 average going 11-for-14. Carlos Alvarez led the stat sheet in RBI for the champions with 11 total batting .682 (15-for-22).
Pope/M&L/Commission/Shockers/KA completed the weekend with a 4-3 overall record. Justin Wicinski led the squad for the tournament batting .667 (12-of-18) with 12 RBI and Mike Jacobson was on top of the RBI column for Pope with 16 overall.
Team Dynasty/G4G claims Men’s Class D title with “if” necessary win
When No. 1 Team Dynasty/G4G came to the ASA Hall of Fame Complex on Sunday, the team was only one loss away from elimination in the Men’s Class D tournament. The team ended the day with the National Championship after three wins, bringing the title home to Marietta, Ga.
No. 2 Vinntrans/HIG, the team that automatically qualified to the Championship Game by going undefeated Saturday, proved no match for Team Dynasty. They lost 17-13 in the first matchup Sunday, forcing the “if necessary” Championship Game. With Craig Davis contributing three RBI and both Jeremy Holmes and Jason Mercer notching two, Team Dynasty easily rolled to a 13-3 victory, securing the National Championship.
“We’ve had an unbelievable, special year this year,” said Greg Millsaps, one of Team Dynasty’s coaches. “We’ve won three World Titles this year now, this is our third, and undoubtedly this is the best of all. The ASA is the granddaddy of all the associations. This is definitely the one we were striving to win from the beginning of this year. We finished third in the [2009 qualifier] and didn’t get to come here. Our goal this year was to come here to Oklahoma. We appreciate everything that the ASA has done.”
JR Vanderiest led Team Dynasty in the tournament, nabbing the MVP honors. He went 14-for-19 (.737) with five triples and a double for a slugging percentage of 1.316. Vanderiest also had nine RBI and 11 runs scored.
Team Dynasty defeated No. 3 Oregon Outlaws 18-16 to start the morning, sending the Outlaws packing for Keizer, Ore. The Outlaws had a big performance in the top of the seventh, scoring four off an Adams RBI double, a Townsend sacrifice hit and an F. Nanez single but it was not enough to overcome the top seed.
Davis came up big for Team Dynasty, going 4-for-4 with four RBI and three runs scored. He had an RBI single in the first, a two run home run in the third and an RBI single in the sixth. Davis was aided by three players who had three RBI each: Holmes, 3-for-4 with two runs scored; Mike Blankeman, 3-for-4 with four runs scored; and Jim Stone, 3-for-4 with one run scored.
About ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation's largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 83 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.
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