OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – There was no shortage of great ASA slow pitch action in Oklahoma City on Friday as the Hooters Championship Series, the Men’s A and the Women’s Open were all fought out at the ASA Hall of Fame Complex. Play continues on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. with live streaming from the Stadium Field.
Check out www.asasoftball.com/tournaments/hooterschampionships.asp for complete coverage of the event.
Women’s C Division
Low Bob’s of Frankfort, Ky. Won a pair of games from the Springfield Crush of Springfield, Mo., to take a 2-0 lead in the Women’s Class D division of the Hooters Championship Series on Friday at the ASA Hall of Fame Complex. Play continues on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. with Springfield Crush needing a win to stay in the competition.
In the five-inning first game, which lasted 44 minutes, Low Bob’s pounded out 18 hits to 11 for the Springfield Crush in a 22-6 win. Low Bob’s hit four homers with Annie Rardin (Lexington, Ky.) and Terri Ellingsworth (Louisville, Ky.) each hitting a pair. Rardin drove in eight runs with two three-run homers, and a two-run single while Ellingsworth drove in four runs on a pair of two-run homers. Right fielder Andrea Costa (Cincinnati, Ohio) also had three hits in four trips for the winning team.
Low Bob’s held off a seventh inning rally by the Crush to win, 16-13, in the second game. Low Bob’s had 22 hits to 21 for the Crush with Leigh Ann Bowen (Louisville, Ky.) going four-for-four with three RBI. Terri Ellingsworth also had three RBI for the winning team.
First baseman Cathy Shoup (Buffalo, Mo.) led the Crush with a four-for-five performance while Ashley Arbon (Springfield, Mo.) was a perfect four-for-four at the plate.
Women’s D Division
PDX Softball of Newberg, Ore. Took the lead in the Women’s Class D division of the Hooters Championship Series on Friday with a pair of wins at the ASA Hall of Fame Complex.
In its first game, PDX had to rally to win, 12-11, against BW3/K&G of Champion, Ohio scoring three times in the bottom of the seventh. Shortstop Sunny Riskey’s (Portland, Ore.) two-run double scored the tying and winning runs with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
Riskey had a double and single in four trips while Julie Pallastro (Vancouver, Wash.) led the 19-hit offense with four hits in as many trips, including a three-run homer in the first inning.
In the second game, outfielder Kacee Crumpacker (Vancouver, Wash.) led the PDX win in handing BW3/K&G it second loss, 11-6, with Crumpacker getting three hits in three at-bats with a three-run triple in the second, a sac fly RBI in the fourth and a two-run double in the sixth inning. The losing BW3/K&G squad collected 11 hits to 20 for PDX.
BW3/K&G will have to fight off elimination in the opening game on Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
Men’s B Division
Tharaldson Enterprises (Fargo, N.D.) is one game away from bringing the Men’s Class B National Championship to the west for the first time in the history of the tournament. The Men’s Class B West Champions defeated Checking/Worth of New Haven, Conn., 18-8 (six innings) in the first game and again 8-7 in the second.
Checking/Worth led 1-0 with an RBI single from catcher Charlie Baumgartner in the top of the first. But Tharaldson took a commanding 6-1 lead with a six run performance in the second. Tharaldson maintained the lead throughout the game despite a strong effort from Checking/Worth. In the top of the sixth inning, Checking/Worth scored another run to cut the Tharaldson lead to 10-8, but Tharaldson scored another eight, ending Game 1 early.
The competition was closer in Game 2. After scoring four runs in the bottom of the first to Tharaldson’s three, Checking/Worth saw the lead for the first time since the start of Game 1. Tharaldson catcher Chaun Demars (Becker, Minn.) put his team back on top with a two-run home run to left field in the third inning and two teammates also crossed the plate later in the inning.
Checking/Worth kept it close with three runs in the sixth to tie the game at six runs each. But another Demars home run in the seventh put the West Coast Champions back in command, giving his team an 8-6 advantage that Checking/Worth could not erase with a lone run in the seventh from a Neil Haglund RBI single.
Demars led Tharaldson Enterprises, batting 6-for-8, with 10 RBI for the day. In the first game, he hit a two-RBI single to left field in the second and a two-RBI double to left center in the sixth. Demars hit a two-run homer in the first inning of Game 2 then hit two more two-run blasts.
Derek Riolo (Brewster, N.Y.) led Checking/Worth with four RBI while teammate Pete Rodrigues (Stratford, Conn.) had three.
The championship could be decided Saturday starting at 11:30 a.m. with the third game in the best of five series. The if necessary Game 4 is scheduled for 6 p.m. and Game 5 is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. on the Stadium Field.
Men’s C Division
Softball Times/Worth of Lexington, Ky., dominated the competition in the opening day of the Hooters Championship Series, outscoring opponents 43-17 in three games, two of which were run-rule victories. Softball Times beat CSC/Gutterworks 16-1 (four innings); Double Deez 16-8 (six); and West Coast Dynasty/Pytch Blakk 8-4 to earn the top seed in the four-team division.
Other game scores from the Men’s C on Friday: West Coast Dynasty defeated Double Deez 12-2 and CSC/Gutterworks 11-6. CSC Gutterworks defeated winless Double Deez 23-5.
Kevin Rassman was among the highlights for the Softball Times, contributing eight RBI on the day. Against the CSC/Gutterworks, he hit a two RBI double after drawing a walk and a single. He hit a three-run homer in the first inning against Double Deez then hit a two-run blast and an RBI single, giving him six RBI for the game. Rassman went 2-for-3 against the West Coast Dynasty.
Softball Times pitching ace Ryan Joiner gave up eight hits against CSC/Gutterworks, 14 against Double Deez and 13 against West Coast Dynasty. But his most impressive contribution to the team may have been off the mound. In the CSC/Gutterworks game, he had a two RBI triple and an RBI double. Against Double Deez, Joiner also had a two-RBI triple to right center, giving him six RBI.
At 11:30 a.m. Saturday, the Softball Times plays No. 4 Double Deez while No. 2 West Coast Dynasty plays No. 3 CSC/Gutterworks. The winners advance to the 6 p.m. game on the Stadium Field. The losers play at 4 p.m.
Men’s D Division
The Men’s D double elimination bracket will begin on Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. with Victory Custom Athletics (3-0) as the No.1 seed, facing No.4 seed Next Generation Softball/Just1More (0-3). The other matchup will be No.2 seed LA Strokers (2-1) against No.3 Virginia Select (1-2) at 10:00 a.m.
Victory Custom Athletics (Saugus, Calif.) beat Next Generation Softball/Just1More (Owatonna, Minn.), 19-9 in five innings, before defeating LA Strokers (Duson, La.) 10-6. Victory Custom secured their undefeated day with an 8-2 win over Virginia Select (Crozet, Va.).
Next Generation Softball/Just1More fell 18-8 to Virginia Select and 15-9 to the LA Strokers to finish opening day with a defeated record. The LA Strokers narrowly escaped the Virginia Select with an 8-7 victory for the other game of opening day in the Men’s D.
Justin Olsen led the way for Next Generation/Just1More going 6-for-9 on the day with nine RBI and four runs scored.
The opening games of bracket play will be streamed live on the Stadium Field.
Women’s Open Recap
After the first day of action in the Women’s Open National Championship, two teams have emerged as favorites from the field of seven: United States Armed Forces and Enough Said. Armed Forces went undefeated, outscoring two opponents 45-1. Enough Said also went undefeated, outscoring opponents 47-7.
The Armed Forces trumped Quiet Storm 27-1 (three innings) and shutout Sabotage 18-0 (four). Enough Said beat Ft. Hood Ballers 28-1 (three innings) and Iowa Aces 19-6 (five innings). Other game scores from the division; Iowa Aces defeated Anarchy 12-1 (six) and Anarchy defeated Ft. Hood Ballers 20-6.
Leading Enough Said with seven RBI a piece on the day were Misty Smith (Marietta, Ga.) and Sirene Johnson (Tallahassee, Fla.). After hitting an RBI double and a three-run homer against the Ft. Hood Ballers, Smith proved that she was just getting started. She led off against the Iowa Aces with a home run then added a two run blast in the fifth. Johnson had a three run homer in both games and a sacrifice fly against the Iowa Aces.
It was a true team performance from the Armed Forces as several women racked up multiple RBIs in both games. Facing the Quiet Storm, Jaymi Strum contributed five RBI: an RBI double in the first, two RBI singles in the second and a two RBI double in the third. She was supported by teammates Sabra Gamel, Leticia Pacheco and Laurie Doughty, who also had three RBI. Candace Dugo had four RBI in the third inning against Sabotage—a three RBI triple and an RBI single up the middle.
Women’s Open action continues Saturday at 10:00 a.m. The Championship game is slated for 9:00 p.m. with “if” game immediately after.
Men’s A
Four teams, all unbeaten, advanced to the semi-finals of the ASA Men’s Class A Slow Pitch National Championship on Friday at the ASA Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City.
The semis will be held Saturday afternoon and will match Long Haul Trucking of Lakeland, MN (1-0) against Team Combat of Kent, WA (2-0) at 1 p.m. , followed by Chaney’s/WCS of Escondido, CA (1-0) versus TCP/Pipac/Easton of Burlington, IA (1-0) at 2:30 p.m.
Team Combat won both games on a run-rule, defeating the Southwest Oklahoma Outlaws of Altus, OK, 22-3, in three innings and All-Star Plumbing of Lawton, OK, 26-11, in six innings. Long Haul played only one game on Friday, defeating CSI/JSA , of Oklahoma City, 24-4, in four innings.
In its first win, Combat outhit the Outlaws, 24-5 with Seth Stephens (four-for-four) and Geno Burdick (four-for-four) leading the offense. Against All-Star Plumbing, Combat collected 29 hits to 15 for the losers with Jeff Gare (four-for-five) and Henry Franck (four-for-four) the leading hitters.
Long Haul pitcher Geno Buck and third baseman Mike Larson had six RBI apiece in the win over CSI/JSA. CSI/JSA had only seven hits with Lonnie Compton the only player with two hits. Long Haul jumped out to a 9-1 lead before icing the game with a 10-run third inning. It added five more runs in the fourth inning to conclude the scoring.
Chaney’s also played one game, defeating Fence Brokers of Bryant, AR, 26-11, which is now 1-1 in two games after defeating Payne’s of Hugo, OK, 22-17, earlier Friday. Against Payne’s, Fence Brokers held a two-run lead at 12-10 entering the seventh inning, then scored 10 runs to take a 22-10 lead going into the bottom half of the inning.
But Payne’s rally fell short in the seventh, scoring seven runs to drop into the loser’s bracket. Fence Brokers had 23 hits to 25 for Payne’s with Larry Carter accounting for eight runs for the winners on three homers, including a lead-off homer and a grand slam in the 10-run seventh inning.
In another run rule game earlier Friday, the Armed Forces defeated RentKing Ambush of Norman, Okla., 23-7 in five innings before losing Friday evening to TCP/Pipac/Easton, 28-25, after the game was tied at 24-all after five innings.
In the last two innings of the game, however, the Armed Forces went scoreless in the sixth and tallied one in the seventh while TCP, which was the home team, scored four times in the sixth inning. The Armed Forces outhit TCP, 29-28, with Brian Wegman, Rhodney Donaldson, Brian Barnett and Losson White, the winning pitcher, having four hits apiece.
Elmer Mason (five-for-five), Deter Avery (four-for-five, five RBI) and Reggie Myers (three-for-five, six RBI) were the leading hitters for the Armed Forces.
Chaney’s scored in every inning against Fence Brokers, collecting 32 hits to only 11 for the losers who didn’t score in three innings. First baseman Andrew Mazzier (five-four-five), John Bailey (five-for-five), Donovan Pokraka (four-for-five) and Tim Uhls (four-for-five) were the leading hitters for Chaney’s as they defeated Fence Broker 26-11.
The championship will resume Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. with a pair of loser’s bracket games matching RentKing against CSI and Payne’s versus All-Star Plumbing, followed by the Armed Forces against Southwest Oklahoma Outlaws at 1 p.m.
Continue to check out www.asasoftball.com for complete coverage of the Hooters Championship Series, Men’s A and Women’s Open. By logging on, you will be able to experience photos, box scores, recaps and live streaming.
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 210,000 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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