Softball and
baseball’s favorite newspaper since 1987
Dan Smith rocks Dudley Classic field
By
Don Bowman
There is a
Smith came in flat
in the tourney opener on Friday night, barely getting by MN Mission Softball
and crafty pitcher Chris Duda, winning 26-14. As the
Californians picked up momentum, they eventually landed in the undefeated game
on Saturday night, and pulled off a thrilling 42-41 victory over Travis Resmondo’s ‘Sod’ boys, placing them in the championship
game on late Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, Resmondo had to defeat a pesky and tired GTL/Creative
Stucco ball club in the third-place game early Sunday morning, earning the
right to face Smith in the finals.
Resmondo won the first championship tilt in a slugfest 41-36, setting
up the final game.
Resmondo was the pre-season No. 1 rated team in the nation, and held
that spot until this weekend.
GTL got their
money’s worth after losing the tourney opener, and finished with a grueling 8-2
mark and third-place hardware.
Congrats as usual to
the Dudley Classic staff – Warren Bellm the director,
the City of Brooklyn Center, Dudley, Easton, Budweiser and many more for
another FABULOUS softball extravaganza! Nobody in the land works harder in
putting on such a festive event, witnessed by the thousands that attended this
year’s ‘classic’!
Genter, Nastally
share MVP honors
Dudley/Budweiser
Classic co-tournament MVP’s were Dan Smith’s J.D. Genter
(offensive) and pitcher Scott Nastally (defensively).
Congrats to Gary Jost (Oakdale) and Pat Delsanders (
Ump
rings up three all-world players
One the best umpires
in the nation, a local guy whose name shall not be mentioned, had the guts to
call out not one, not two, but THREE frist-team
all-world performers on strikes during the tournament. Each of the ‘strike
three’s’ were excellent calls!
Contractor’s
Capital goes 2-2
As predicted by Let’s
Play Softball, the highest finishing local team at the 2008
Home
Run Contest a big hit
Hats
off to Titan Apparel and Supreme Sports out of
Nearly 75
participants took part in the event that was telecasted by Softball
Kingdom.com. The champions in this year’s event were Brian Higganbothom
(Combat USA) and Dustin “Powderkeg” Palm of
Contractor’s Capital, who knocked off Denny Crine
(Long Haul) and Nick Peterson (Contractor’s Capital) 14-13 in a ‘hit off’ to
win the title.
Just my two cents
worth, for these two guys (Dehkes/Heifort) to take
the time to conduct such a great event, not make a dime between them on the
showcase, and for other popular people in softball to take ‘potshots’ at them
on the web boards and in person is uncalled for! For those that witnessed or
were involved in the derby, it was a blast, and just gave all the softball fans
in the state another reason to celebrate yet another Dudley Classic coming to
town!
Gaudy uniforms are
back, as there seems to be more ink/colors on team jerseys than every before!
No wonder airline prices are going up.
Beware
of batted balls
Local umpire Mikey Raymond, a rookie ‘Red’ working his first
Fireman’s
Tourney set for July 18-20
Another BIG softball
crowd favorite, the Fireman’s/WSL/ASA Softball Tournament, is slated July 18-20
in
MN
Vets fastpitch tourney wrap-up
The MN Vets Girls Fastpitch organization sponsored a tremendous fastpitch national qualifier tournament June 20-22 in
In a thrilling
comeback, the MN Sting, coached by Sean Hall (
The Sting also won a
prestigious ASA national berth the week before in
Bat
Review Contest underway
As mentioned before, the tremendously successful Lets Play
Softball 2008 Bat Reviews/Contest is now underway! Bat reps that have not
entered their demos can contact us at 651-208-3909. The deadline to enter is
July 7!
Duk Duk
Daze set for July 18-20
One of the top women’s tournaments in the state each year, Duk Duk Daze, is slated for July
18-20.
Kittenball softball in Little Canada
If co-rec Kittenball Softball is your
bag, the 20th annual Little Canada
“Canadian Days” Classic is slated for Aug. 2-3, at