CANADIAN TEAM WINS 55s IN SPRING NATIONALS

May 1, 2012

POLK COUNTY, FLA. – Teams from six states and Canada competed in the 8th Annual Spring Nationals here at the end of March.

The Spring Nationals is the first step of the most coveted prize in senior softball -- the Triple Grand Slam.

Playing in the Spring Nationals qualifies teams to compete in the Eastern Nationals in August in Raleigh, N.C. Winners of the Eastern Nationals receive a berth to the US National Game (against the winner of the Western Nationals in their division). Teams that win the US National Game (played during the World Championships in Phoenix in October) and the World Championships win the Triple Grand Slam.

In addition, winners of each division are invited to Tournament of Championships here in Polk County in February 2013. The TOC was a tremendous success this last February. Only the winners of the top 20 SSUSA Championship tournaments are invited. In addition, the event includes several free events, including hitting clinics, skills contests, an All Star Game, a banquet and free rings for winners (See stories on Pages 16-17)

Scoring tended to be in bunches of runs in some divisions of the Spring Nationals.

The hitters from Good Times of Florida picked a great time to get hot in winning the Men’s 50 Platinum Division. After moving through bracket play with a number of close games, Good Times hitters needed all the runs they could muster in a 37-29 win over the Florida Renegades to win the title.

The Florida Classics lost all three of their seeding games, then turned it on in bracket play to win the Men’s 50 AAA Division. They topped the Twin City Movers from Illinois 25-12 in the finale.

DNM Rampower 55’s from Ontario came a long way to win the Men’s 50/55 Silver Division with a 19-9 triumph over Atlanta Recycling.

The Men’s 55/60 Platinum Division was won by Hollis Appraisals of Florida, which topped Addison Park, also of Florida, 37-32 in the championship game.

The Men’s 60 Major Division went to the South Florida Heat, which knocked off the Syracuse Merchants from New York 21-13 in the title game.

In the Men’s 60/65 Silver Division, Florida’s Slug-A-Bug went undefeated to win the 60 AA championship over Voice Tech of Florida 20-14. Voice Tech earned the title as the 65 AAA champion.

Cross-Cut and Bucs Bulls, both from Florida, met in a two-game series with Cross-Cut winning 10-9 and 11-10 to take the Men’s 65/70 Silver Division.

In the four-team Men’s 65/70 Platinum Division, the Florida Thunder came out of the loser’s bracket to upend the Florida Legends twice by score of 31-20 and 23-19 to win the division.

SPRING NATIONALS ALL TOURNAMENT PLAYERS 2012

Men’s 50 Platinum-Good Times-Gino Myers, Mark Thomas, Kurt Smith, Tim Fincher, Richard Bokinsky.Northeast Storm- Dave Gianelli, Ron Hargrove.

Men’s 50AAA-Florida Classics-Joe Hicks, Henry Campbell,Ira Turner, Joe Skipper,Skip Skipper.Twin city Movers- James Houseth,Paul Cox,Steve Vickers.No Names-Mark Miller, Bob Marse.

Men’s 50/55 Silver-ATL Recycling Solutions- Mike Iaciofano, Rick Goss,David Hutchins.South Fl.Ball Busters- Felix Sanchez, Matt Cuomo.

Men’s 55/60 Platinum-Pat McLellan, Audie Hollis, Jimmy Shingledecker, Chip Cregar,Gary Deaton. Addison Park- Horace Jefferson, Doug Schram, Pete Bassignani,Mike Babchick,John Miles.

Men’s 60 Major-South Florida Heat-Herb Tiedemann,Roy Oke,Luis Specht,James Rappoli,Don Ingham.Syracuse Merchants-Butch Sweeny, Gary McSweeney,Dave Hadden.

Men’s 60/65 Silver-Slug –a-Bug-Roger Hale,Phil Farmer,Dave Whitney,Hugh Mitchell,Frank Straub.Voice Tech- Mike Marcum,Jim Davidson,Dennis Schroeder,Glenn Rose,Chuck Detore.Stancil Photos-Bill Gaffney,Robert Joyce.

Men’s 65/70 Silver-Cross-Cut- Paul Ibert, don Atkins,Aaron Philips,Bob Dipietro,Larry Sweet.Bucs&Bulls- Jerry Flannery,Bill Denegar,Sam Ferguson.

Men’s 65/70 Platinum-Florida Thunder- Roy Hern, Terry O’Donnell,Gary Morgan,Bob Conrad,Derry Dedman.Fl.Legends/Human Kinetics- Bill Brotherton,David Decker,Ramon Valdes.Village Merchants-Tom Gilewski,Dick Kanyan.