50 Teams Compete in 2019 ISA Senior World Series

July 1, 2019

By Jerry Jackson
Tournament Director

COLUMBUS, Ind. - The 2019 ISA Senior Word tournament was once again held here, July 26 - 28. The location allows for a wide range of teams to earn a world title on some of the best fields the state has to offer.

This event also awards the champions a berth in the prestigious Tournament of Champions, which is held by Senior Softball USA in Florida each February. The TOC is an “Invite Only” event where only champions of major qualifying events are invited. This year, 50 teams from 10 states gathered here to battle it out.

50 Major Division: The eight teams that competed were: AMR 50’s/Nager Law (OH), Belly’s/Nail Gun/Durbin Bowl (OH), Brickyard Classics (IN), CT Vipers/Miken (IL), Dudley Lightning (MO), Lansing Legends (MI), LS/AMR (IN), and the Midwest Titans (IN). They played two seeding games into a three-game guarantee bracket.

Coming out of seed play, Dudley Lightning (MO) upset the CT Vipers, the No. 1 seed, 24-11.  Lansing, the No. 3 seed, beat the sixth-seeded Titans 27-25 and Brickyard, No. 7 seed, beat the No. 2 seed LS/AMR, 12-9. In the second round of the winners’ bracket, Dudley beat Belly’s 31-24 and Brickyard beat Lansing 19-18. In the winners bracket final Dudley beat Brickyard 18-16 to secure their spot in the championship game. The Titans moved through the loser’s bracket by beating Brickyard 21-10 to advance to the championship game. The championship game proved to be a nail bitter with Dudley winning 14-13.

50 AAA Division: The 50 AAA division was home to 10 teams that played two seeding games into a three-game guarantee bracket. Teams consisted of 50 Degrees (MO), Big Hurt/Draft Picks (IL), Dayton Legends 50 (OH), Derby City 50’s (KY), Ironwood Homes (KY), Legacy (KY), Lowe Legends (OH), Miami Valley Softball (OH), Milwaukee Magic (WI), and Senior Dogs (MO).

To kick off bracket play, the No. 8 seed, Dayton Legends, beat the No. 9 seed, Miami Valley 20-5, the No. 1 seed Senior Dogs 17-4 and Legacy 18-13, before falling to 50 Degrees 25-19. 50 Degrees previously had topped Lowes and Derby City 14-5.

In the loser’s bracket, Lowes beat the Magic 25-13 to advance and Big Hurt a second time, 19-16, to advance to the third-place game. However, Dayton ended the winning streak of Lowes with a score of 19-12, securing their spot in the championship game. With a score of 25-19, 50 Degrees won, claiming back-to-back titles.

55 Major: The 55 Major division consisted of nine teams that played two seeding games into a three-game guarantee bracket.  Teams consisted of 1 Under Craft Beer/Eats (MI), Buster’s Beer & Grill (IL), Dayton Legends 55 (OH), Derby City 55’s (KY), Doug & Don’s Auto Care (MI), Dudley Lightning 55 (MO), KPI (IN), Pope Transport 55 (WI) and Speedwerx (MN).

The first game saw the No. 9 seed Pope Transport beat the No. 8 seed, Dayton Legends 15-13.  Pope advanced to play the top seed Dudley, where they lost 16-9. The No. 4 seed Speedwerx fell to the No. 5 seed, Doug & Don’s 12-11, No. 3 seed 1 Under beat the No. 6 seed KPI 27-14. Doug and Don’s then defeated Dudley 4-3 and 1 Under beat Derby City 23-22. In the winner bracket final, 1 Under beat Doug and Don’s in another close game, with a score of 21-18.

Down in the losers’ bracket, Pope beat Busters 14-7, Dayton 19-17, Dudley 21-20 and Derby City 16-15. They advanced to the third place game where they met Doug & Don’s and continued their winning streak with a score of 26-25. Facing off in the championship game was 1 Under and Pope. With a score of 18-16, 1 Under claimed their first ISA World Title. 

1 Under Craft Beer/Eats (MI) - Men's 55 Major Champions

55 AAA Division: The 55 AAA division consisted of four teams. Teams in this division played a full three-game round robin into a double elimination bracket. The teams were CPOA CLE/No. OH Printing, Midwest Eclipse (IL), Old Star’s 55’s (IN), and Team Illinois 55’s.

Kicking off game one in bracket play was CPOA and Old Stars. CPOA won with a score of 20-10. Team Illinois faced Eclipse, where Team Illinois won with a score of 14-10.  Team Illinois then faced CPOA in the winner bracket final and won with a score of 18-17.

In the losers’ bracket, Old Star’s beat Eclipse 14-13 and then beat CPOA 15-5 to claim their spot in the championship game.  With a score of 26-17, Team Illinois beat Old Stars to claim their title.

Team Illinois - Men's 55 AAA Champions
 

60 Platinum Division: The 60-platinum division consisted of six teams: Clean Planet/Univ. Auto (MI), Central Illinois Chiefs 60’s, Chicago Prime 60’s (IL), Dudley Lightning (MO), Motown Stars 60 (MI), and Windy City Softball (IL). Teams played two seed games into a three-game guaranteed bracket.

In the opening rounds of play, top seeded Windy City beat Dudley 16-12 and Motown 14-13 to capture the winner’s bracket final.

In the losers’ bracket, Clean Planet beat the Chiefs 13-12 and Chicago Prime 18-14 and Dudley, who they beat 16-6 to advance to the third-place game. There they topped Motown 11-4. The championship game was where Clean Planet’s winning streak ended, when Windy City won with a score of 17-16.

60 AAA Division: The 60 AAA division consisted of six teams; Champaign Softball (IL), Chicago Panthers (IL), Michigan Merchants, Old Stars 60’s (IN), Playmakers (WI) and Scrap Iron Xplosion (CO). These teams played a two-game seed into a three-game guarantee bracket.

Kicking off the bracket was the No. 5 seed Old Stars, who fell to the No. 4 seed, Champaign Softball, 15-14. Champaign advanced to play the No. 1 seed Chicago Panthers, where they fell 20-11. Meanwhile, the No. 3 seed Scrap Iron played the No. 6 seed Merchants, where Scrap Iron won 18-17. Scrap Iron advanced to play the No. 2 seed Playmakers, where they fell with a score of 14-7. Facing off in the winners’ bracket final was Playmakers and Chicago Panthers. With a score of 15-14, Playmakers claimed their spot in the championship game.

In the losers’ bracket, Scrap Iron beat the Old Stars and Champaign topped the Merchants 19-18. In the third game guarantee round, Scrap Iron beat the Merchants 23-22 and Champaign beat Old Stars 14-10. Champaign then faced Scrap Iron and won 20-18. They advanced to force a rematch with the Panthers, but lost 17-14. The Panthers qualified to meet the Playmakers for the second time in bracket play and for the Championship. And with a score of 18-17, the Playmakers claimed their title.

65 + Division:  The 65 + division consisted of two 65 Major teams; MN Masters/Ancell and Motown Stars  65’s (MI);  three 65 AAA teams; By Grace Redeemed (TN), Minnesota Blizzards, and MP Comp./Bomb Squad(MI); and to 65 AA teams; Blue Chips 65 (IL) and Indy Fog 65’s. These teams played a mixed three-game round robin and then broke off into their own brackets

65 Major: In game one of a two game bracket, Motown beat the MN Masters 19-11. Game two was won by Motown, with a score of 20-19, to claim their title.

Motown Stars (MI) - Men's 65 Major Champions

65 AAA: The No. 3 seed Blizzards faced the No. 2 seed Bomb Squad where Bomb Squad won 22-21. They advanced to play By Grace and lost 23-19. Blizzards and Bomb Squad faced off in the losers’ bracket where Bomb Squad won 16-9. Bomb Squad won the rematch and Championship game 14-11 forcing the “IF” necessary game. The “IF” game proved to be one of the best games of the tournament with Bomb Squad narrowly losing to By Grace, 15-14.

65 AA: In this two-team bracket, Indy Fog faced off with Blue Chips. Indy fog won the first game 16-11 and the Championship game 18-4 to claim their title.

Indy Fog (IN) - Men's 65 AA Champions

In the end, the tournament proved to be a world class event with 149 games in a three-day period. There were 44 one-run ball games and 20 games that ended with a three-run difference or less. We would like to thank all of the teams that participated in the event and send a special thanks to the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau and to the staff of Lincoln Park & Dunn Park who kept the park and fields at a level of perfection throughout the tournament.