Tournament wrapup

ISA Senior Worlds Attracts 52 teams from 13 states

Oct. 1, 2008 – Jerry Jackson

By Jerry Jackson

The 2008 ISA Men’s Senior’s World was held August 1, 2, & 3 at the beautiful Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Complex, in Bridgeton, MO, for the third year in a row. Fifty-two teams from 13 states, in 10 different divisions, participated in this year’s event.

Things started great on Friday, except the weather was very hot, over 105 heat index. Several players went down because of the heat. We had to call the local paramedics three times because of players going down from the heat. After the third time, the local fire department decided to bring their first-aid bus to the complex and leave it while we were playing ball. I want to thank the Bridgeton Fire Department for helping make our players safe at this event.

We made it through most of the pool play on Friday, but I was worried about the players and the heat on Saturday. After checking the forecast several times, I decided to change the pitch count from 4-3 to 3-2 for Saturday and Sunday. I did this because the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday was even hotter than Friday.

Now, let me clear up some rumors that were floating around about the 3-2 count. At no time did the fact that I left out the 55AA bracket division for Saturdays and Sundays schedule have anything to do with the changing of the pitch count. Leaving those 4 teams out was a major mistake on my part. My staff and I checked the schedule several times and we just simply made a mistake.

Saturdays schedule was completed, leaving us 40 games to be played on eight diamonds to crown champions in 10 divisions on Sunday. I had told my wife on Saturday night that the tournament was going great. Good games with great competition. Sunday morning we get up and while driving to the ball park we saw the darkest, ugliest clouds I’ve seen in a few years. I thought we were going to have a tornado. We didn’t have a tornado, but we had 3 inches of rain in 30 minutes. The diamonds were flooded.

After discussing the situation with the complex management, we made a joint decision to cancel the rest of the tournament. Here was the problem. We had lost the lower three diamonds for the day. I was told that we might be able to have the upper five diamonds ready by 2pm.

Now, do the math.

We had 40 games to play and now we only had five diamonds. That’s 8 games on five diamonds starting at 2pm. Each game takes about 1hour and 30 minutes to complete. That would have had us finishing about 2am in the morning. Now we could have shortened the games by going to 5 inning games. Still, those games would have taken 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. That has us finishing about midnight. In my opinion, that was not a good solution to finish the tournament. The bottom line is, when it rains nobody wins. I have been running tournaments for 30 years and this has been the worst year I have ever seen regarding rain in the Midwest.

Here is the way the tournament finished by divisions:

In the 50 Major Plus Division, Hendricks Sports from Texas went 3-0 in pool play and defeated Grayhounds/Elite from Minnesota 24 to 8 to claim the title. Greyhounds finished second. Hendricks Sports placed the following players on the All World Team – Ivan Dennis, Curtis Chiasson, Russell Young, Randy Hendricks, Andrew Sigur, and Bud Weathers was named MVP in the 50 Major Plus Division. The Greyhounds placed 3 players on the All World Team – Jim Kaup, Steve Sauve, and Mike Reuvers.

The 50 Major Division was won by Gekle from Michigan, and placing second was Travelodge 55’s. All World Players for Gekle were Eddy Karas, Charles Howliet, Denny Ladd, Mike Sullivan, Dave Mossoian, and Craig Fairbanks was named the 50 Major MVP. Travelodge 55’s placed three players on the All World Team, but the names have not been given to me at this time. KC Barons finished third and placed Gary Mitchell and Tim King on the All World Team.

In the 50AA Division, Chicago Prime defeated KC Renegades 19 to 15 for the title. The All World Team players in 50AA from Chicago Prime were Bob Tortorici, Dave Koelper, Jim Kenny, Tim Diamond, and Elmer Piper was the 50AA MVP. Making the All World Team from KC Renegades were Tom Palmer, Jay Bodenhamer, and Mackey Lashbrook.

In the 50AAA Division, Brickyard and Sports Print were the last two undefeated teams and Brickyard defeated Sports Print 17 to 8 on Saturday. This gave Brickyard from Indiana the title and Sports Print from Missouri second place in the 50AAA division. Topeka Drillers from Kansas and South Florida Heat from Florida tied for third in this rained shortened event. Bill Meyer, Richard Dennis, Wayne Sears, Mike Morris, and John Mutz, MVP, were named to the All World Team for Brickyard.

The 55 Major Division had three teams in the division. Rhinos from Illinois finished first with Arkansas Naturals finishing in second place. The Naturals placed Gary Crews, Randy Wilson, and Steve Huff on the All World Team.

The 55AAA division had 9 teams participating in the division for the world title. The Chicago Classics Bobcats from Illinois won the title Saturday night by defeating Sonic Blast Fossils from Iowa, 31 to 15. First place Bobcats placed the following on the All World Team: Jimmy Brumunn, Mike Caliendo, Ray Jenkins, John Pecora, Steve Wiersma, and 55AAA MVP was Bob Dillion. Second place Sonic placed Dean Becker, Jeff Robinson, and Charlie Aldrich on the 55AAA All World Team.

The 55AA Division was won by Springfield Redwings from Missouri and second place went to Zeppelin from Kentucky. Springfield Redwings placed Nate Nelson, Mike Comstock, Russ Carrison, Tim Spickard, and MVP Cory McCallister on the 55AA All World Team.



In the 60 Major Division, Michael’s Force 4 from Illinois was the last undefeated team and took home the title. Second place went to MN Masters from Minnesota. Force 4 placed Al Alt, Ed Carleson, Wayne Fielder, Mike Michalek, Tim Whiting, and MVP Ron Bruce on the All World Team.

The 60AAA division had 8 teams in the division. Michigan Express from Michigan won the title, while Oklahoma Turf Pro from Oklahoma took second place. Michigan Express placed Sam LaPiccoho, Tom Denewith, Terrell Hill, Bob MacMillan, and MVP Rudy Zontni on the 60AAA All World Team. Joining them were three players from Oklahoma Turf Pro: Jim Torrence, Steve Ravenkamp, and David Huddleston.

The Indianapolis Classics won the rained shortened 4 team 65AAA Division. Second place was awarded to Midwest SilverJox. The following players from the Indianapolis Classics made the All World Team: Bob Marshall, Ed Rankin, Bill Smith, Jack Holding, and MVP Mel Eubank.

In closing, I want to say “THANK YOU” to everyone that participated. Also, I want you to know that I do not work all year to put on this event to have it finish like it did. But sometimes there are things you just can’t control. This was one of those times.

May the rest of your softball year be filled with health, happiness, and many hits. Hope to see you at the ball park in the near future.