5 TEAMS TIE FOR 2ND IN SOUTHERN'S 50AAA

Sept. 1, 2010 – Dave Dowell National Director

BIRMINGHAM, AL – The 2010 edition of the Southern Regional Championships kicked off in late August at the Liberty Park Softball Complex here. The famous Southern hospitality was on display as 26 teams battled unseasonably warm weather and each other for local supremacy and the coveted berths in the 2011 Tournament of Champions.

Friday marked the tournament start as the Men’s 65+ Division completed round-robin play in high temperature and humidity conditions to seed their Saturday bracket. More than 200 tournament players and their families were hosted at a Friday reception sponsored by and held at Tom Williams Porsche/Audi.

“Things just keep getting better and better in Birmingham for the Southern’s. They are gracious hosts who go out of their way to make Senior Softball welcome every year,” said SSUSA Executive Director Fran Dowell. Dowell was on site as the tournament director, along with newly elected SSUSA Hall of Fame Director Otis Rowland.

The Saturday session commenced in the Men’s 50+, 55+ and 60+ Divisions with a very tight schedule to accommodate the abbreviated two-day format for all divisions. The Men’s 65+ Division played their Brackets with the Carolina Crush (NC) winning the 65-AAA and Custom Graphics (GA) coming out on top in the 65-AA.

The Men’s 50-Major division was notable for close games throughout, with no team staying unbeaten for the weekend. Team Arkansas narrowly defeated Kittrell Acoustics (AL) in a close championship game (21-19) to take home the trophy.

The Men’s 50-AAA was a much more complicated affair. The seven teams played a full six-game round robin, with the best record winning. That was the easy part, as Monster Softball (TN) finished at 5-1 for the title, but there were five other teams who finished with identical 3-3 records. After application of multiple tie-breakers, the Pensacola Merchants (FL) was declared runners-up, with Montgomery Swarm (AL) in third.

The five-team Men’s 55/60-Gold Division took a more conventional approach to crown a champion. The 60-Major Wild Bunch (AL) completed an undefeated weekend with a 20-10 championship game victory over Jim & Joe’s Ice / Williams Food Service (KY).

The six-team Men’s 60-Silver Division also played a full five-game round robin to award the championship to the best record in the group. It came down to the last of the 15 games played as the Georgia/Alabama Masters and the L.A. Legends (LA) both entered the game unbeaten at 4-0. The Georgia Alabama won what was in effect the championship game 28-10.

Dave Dowell is one of the SSUSA’s National Directors and he authors all SSUSA administered tournament schedules as its National Schedule Consultant. Dave may be reached at dave@seniorsoftball.com