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Online now: 2 members: BigH, softball4b; 81 anonymousDetails for 17Black
Real name:
Gary Kadow CPOA Cleveland
Location:
Mentor, OH
Division:
Men's 55
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| Aug. 7, 2019 17Black | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: How does it work Other Associations do this too--------not just SSUSA SSUSA did the opposite we got moved from Major to AAA three years ago. I lost several players who wanted to still play Major at Nationals and Worlds, so we became a legitimate AAA team from that point. Had to fill out appeal forms with all other associations as we wanted to play same division in all associations In a rival association, we finished 2nd at their world tournament (only six team bracket) last year, (1-1) in seeding games and (4-2) in double elimination for a (5-3_ record overall but still got bumped back up to Major---------we did hit 14 home runs in 8 games which is less than 2 a game. But it is what it is, so we play Major in that Association and still AAA in all the others until we hopefully actually win something down the road. In the meantime we still don't hit very many homers as a team, but we often score 20+ a game To me your average runs per game "MAY" mean more than the homers, because if you hit 6 homers a game and only score 10-12 runs a game are those teams really major too?? A team that can often score 20/24 + runs a game with two homers may be the stronger team. Lastly when we got moved to AAA from Major we just kept playing the game, replaced our lost players with a few new players, had tourneys where you would occasionally do very good or maybe go (1-4) all weekend which isn't fun either. But we keep getting back on the horse, won a few tourneys in other associations in 2018 (after two very hard seasons) and we keep playing for the Love of the Game regardless of division. No its not fun losing, but if you are surrounded with good friends and team-mates that are good to hang out around on the weekends, (and don't mind getting back on the same horse) sometimes that's more fun than the actual ball games too, and can pay off in the long run. |
| Aug. 6, 2019 17Black | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: ISA World Series Team Illinois Congrats on Winning 55AAA---------You got us in the darned open inning on Sunday. We ran out of gas after that. Nice Job. GK CPOA Cleveland. |
| Aug. 6, 2019 17Black | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: ISA World Series Jeff, Congrats on winning 55 Major. You always have a strong team! GK |
| Aug. 2, 2019 17Black | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: ISA World Series Agreed on Dunn---------fortunately we only played 2 seeding games there Friday in 55's. I believe 50 Major was there for the main tourney Saturday & Sunday---------Dunn won our vote as the absolute worst playing complex we have been at since our existence as a team beginning in 2013. On the other end of the stick however, we LOVED playing at Lincoln Park Saturday and Sunday, was like playing in Yankee Stadium compared to Dunn. I also agree it was very well run tournament, organized, on time, overall pretty good umpiring. I knew something was up when I went to the Managers Meeting Thursday evening, and the tourney director's head dropped when he even mentioned the word "Dunn" The last time we played in Columbus Indiana was 2016, and we never played at Dunn, so I didn't know what to expect. We were at Lincoln Park all 3 days back then. |
| Aug. 1, 2019 17Black | Topic: Teams looking for players Discussion: AAA team from Ohio Needs Shortstop for Richmond VA August 9/10/11 Looks like it might have been Olympian Athletic from PA? |
| July 30, 2019 17Black | Topic: Teams looking for players Discussion: AAA team from Ohio Needs Shortstop for Richmond VA August 9/10/11 Thx who moved to Major? |
| July 30, 2019 17Black | Topic: Teams looking for players Discussion: AAA team from Ohio Needs Shortstop for Richmond VA August 9/10/11 I most probably should have listed our age bracket as (55-AAA) for ISSA and SSUSA |
| July 30, 2019 17Black | Topic: Teams looking for players Discussion: AAA team from Ohio Needs Shortstop for Richmond VA August 9/10/11 CPOA Cleveland (Ohio AAA/ISSA) needs a quality shortstop for ISSA Worlds in Richmond VA August 9/10/11 We DO have rooms the 8/9/10 YOU must be from Ohio, PA. WV, KY, Indiana or "The State up North" We have 3 shortstops, who cannot make it due to work related issues and 2 were injured in Columbus Indiana at ISA Worlds this past weekend. We DO have a couple calls out to players we know who are checking their schedules on short notice, so serious inquiries only (10) strong AAA teams are in the field and (7) play Major in one Association or another Serious inquiries only email GARY at cpoacleveland@hotmail.com THANKS |
| July 17, 2019 17Black | Topic: Product review Discussion: Softballs We're back :) Quite a few different faces than 2016. Let's play ball. |
| July 17, 2019 17Black | Topic: Product review Discussion: Softballs Thanks Nancy, long time no see :( |
| July 17, 2019 17Black | Topic: Product review Discussion: Softballs OK Thank You Dave, I guess we will see when we get there. |
| July 17, 2019 17Black | Topic: Product review Discussion: Softballs FYI I'm only asking because I "think" ISA uses Trump "Rocks" |
| July 17, 2019 17Black | Topic: Product review Discussion: Softballs What softball are we using in Columbus Indiana for ISA World Series? I am "assuming" its going to be Trump Stote since its SSUSA Rules?? |
| Nov. 21, 2018 17Black | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Happy Thanksgiving HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all from Cleveland. Be Safe and enjoy your family and friends over the Holiday Weekend !! Lots to be Thankful for. Daughter got married, all the family health is excellent, and we had a successful softball season in 2018 too. 2019 Softball here is only 6 months away :( |
| Nov. 5, 2018 17Black | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Excessive Speed Pitch playing in a new senior league in Cleveland that uses a pitching screen. Screen is exactly 6 feet. You have to pitch "over the screen" which takes all flat pitches and excessive speed calls out of equation. And the pitcher can still field the ball too, but he is protected from any screamer up the middle. This leaves the ump with only one other legitimate judgement call pitching (maximum height of the pitch) I was skeptical this past season but the screen and no flat pitching worked out very well. |
| Oct. 29, 2018 17Black | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Keys to Tournament success one more thing. Guys who coach the bases (1st and 3rd) have to talk, yell, be demonstrative, CANNOT stand there like statues. I see LOTS of base coaches just yapping with the fans on the other bench. Coach the base. Tell a guy coming into 3rd when to slide (they cant see the play behind them) (Don't get tagged out at 3rd) Put the brakes on somebody when the cut off man catches the relay and makes a nice pivot, don't get thrown out at home. |
| Oct. 29, 2018 17Black | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Keys to Tournament success Score more than the other team. Any way, shape, form. Steal runs wherever you can successfully (turning singles into doubles or moving guys consistently 1st to 3rd, decoy on the bases when possible to get outfielders to throw to the wrong guy & advance) On offense draw walks, our guys all take a strike (99% of the time). (at least when playing with 0-0 counts) Taking even one strike can get you comfortable in the box if nothing else. Some pitchers just cant get ahead of the count on you. Win those games!! On defense have a pitcher who rarely walks anybody, those turn into runs for the bad guys. Your Pitcher needs to field the middle. Teams will pick on pitchers who cant catch any ground balls left or right of either kneecap. I don't care what anybody says, team chemistry, bonding, hanging out after the last game of the day at tourneys, having dinner and a couple beverages together, communicating, etc, goes a long, long, long way on the field. I see lots of teams don't gel, guys all head in different directions on their own sometimes. The Bonding is sometimes better than the softball. ^^^^ and when doing so, don't stay out till the wee hours of the morning after midnight, stay hydrated and get 7/8 hours++ of sleep as possible. Have each others backs. Your best player will have a bad game but somebody else needs to pick him up (in the line up and words of encouragement) Your least productive player offensively may be able to do other things, (be a great defensive player, be that guy who moves two bases at a time?) **** After 10 years of watching guys runs bases for other guys in the line up and burning themselves out by Sunday, my goal (if I can find somebody) is to find (1-2) guys to bring who might only come as runners, period---until they change the rules. I see guys get 30+ at bats in a tournament that also run 3/4/5 times a game for other players. That can be a recipe for injury/fatigue and disaster. Find "Your Forest Gump" |
| Oct. 28, 2018 17Black | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Winter Worlds titanhd: Thanks for your comments and I "tend to agree" with you. Because if that was the case we wouldn't have been dinged in 2016? Tim, OK, I did call SSUSA in 2016 (George I think?) I asked about declining the drop, all they (he) said was "you are AAA" you can still enter tourneys as a "Major" but you are reclassified AAA?? The issue I had is emails were sent out to our team individuals, (bySSUSA) before I even knew what was happening, and guys jumped ship before we had any time to react accordingly. Our roster was then formed as an AAA team moving ahead and where we have been playing for two season in ALL associations. Tim, I am questioning the "eye test" because looking back at "stats" for 2016 we were indeed (2-3) at Fort Myers with one horrible game where we lost 26-11 to the eventual tournament champion in start of double elimination. One bad game or run differential may have weighed on decision, but we still averaged (17.6) runs a game, won a couple and the others were pretty close? (which makes titanhd's comment potentially relevant? I dont know if the Indianapolis Brickyard results come in to play for 2016? I know SSUSA is slow posting tourney results "on-line" but that tourney was 2 and a half years ago and still not posted on-line??(please do not say your stats were wet) We were (4-0) in that tourney and playing in a newly formed "6th Great Lake" when one of our players blew out his knee in that "quagmire" and missed two years of softball in re-hab after reconstruction. As we watched him taken away in an ambulance none of us really wanted to even finish that tourney so we lost that game and another and finished (4-2) BTW got home after picking him up in the hospital before a 6 hour drive home and got back at 2AM. Did those results come into play? It's "water over the dam" at this point, no pun intended, 1000 days ago, cant go back, just move on. SSUSA is probably indeed the biggest senior softball organization. You have a lot of clout that affect every aspect of teams and rosters. My main point moving forward is "why" does every winner have to move up? Certainly not a dynasty winning one year in a row? I think if a team won 2-3 years in a row, Maybe the deserve a bump, but again, why couldnt a team come back and try to defend a championship? I mean where is the Major Plus team supposed to move up to??? There are good teams out there that play "lots of tourneys" and do very well, who wont go to worlds or nationals in some associations because they dont want to get hot and move up. I am not saying I agree with that motive at all, but for the teams that do attend, its semi-sweet winning something big, and then realizing you may have to regroup and retool the following year, making roster decisions that can affect friendships for life. |
| Oct. 27, 2018 17Black | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Winter Worlds The rating system by SSUSA and SPA in many ways does not make sense when it comes to doing well in a world or national tournament (and an overall season in general) In 2016 we were 55 Major in SSUSA-----we were .500 in SSUSA/ISA events in 2016, finished 2-3 at Winter Worlds in Fort Myers with a short handed roster and got knocked down to AAA after the tourney???---------so several guys leave and start their own team because they wont play AAA the following year-----------we move into AAA for 2017 as requested, have to fill out appeal forms with ISSA and SPA to also move to AAA with a legitimate AAA roster in the other associations. ISSA is easy, took 2 minutes. SPA wanted rosters, scores, tourney results, head to head match-ups for a couple years, was worse than doing my taxes. Mailed an envelope with back up data that cost about $7 bucks to mail but the appeal was granted after about two months. So we go play AAA (legitimate) in all the associations. 2018 we finish 2nd in Dalton SPA 55AAA last month, automatic move up to Major? I sort of get it, but we only hit 14 home runs in 8 games, less than 2 per game. Finished 3rd last week at ISSA Nationals in AAA, we hit 5 homers in 6 games. That's not MAJOR to me. But we average over 20 runs a game. By finishing 2nd in Dalton SPA knocked us back up to MAJOR for 2019, probably going to follow suit and do SSUSA/ISSA/ISA as Major in 2019 because we don't want to play Major in some tourneys and AAA in others----------- BUT there should be more that goes into it than finishing at the top of a big tournament. We hit over .700 as a team but don't have the overall power to play Major and gosh forbid, what if we do well in another one 2019. Cant get elevated to Major Plus hitting 14 homers in 8 games. We can score, we single and double throughout the line up and have solid defense. But we aren't Major Plus and I question my own roster wondering if we can even play Major any longer with the losses to roster we had after 2016. I guess we will find out. We are a team of close friends all living within 25 miles of each other, want to stick together, don't need to go picking up other guys, don't want to, want to stick together and play over 85 ball in 25/30 years seriously as friends first and foremost. I mean if we as a team want to go hit on a Tuesday Night we send out a text and everybody shows up, most teams cant do that. What's the matter with winning a division one year and coming back to try to defend the title the following year in same division? Still do not understand how you knock teams back a division that go .500 in your own sanctioned events though, that blew my mind after 2016. If we went 0-5 in events OK I get it, but c'mon. GK CPOA Cleveland 55AAA |
| Sept. 27, 2018 17Black | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: 55 Major Stick8 Congratulations on the win, and a special "shout out" to our pals Jimmy K. and Jake N. from Cleveland. That's a huge bracket to claw your way through, NICE JOB to ALL. GK |
