Rainiest World Champs in Decades Punches Session 3

Oct. 1, 2025

By Donna McGuire
Softball News Report

Who says it never rains in the desert?

For the third playing session in a row, heavy wet stuff falling from the sky disrupted games during the 2025 Senior Softball-USA World Championships being played in the Las Vegas area through Oct. 5.

Three parks — Hollywood, Sunset and Arroyo Grande — suffered significant numbers of washed-out games on the session’s opening day, Sept. 26. That caused a reshuffling of Sept. 27 schedules for many divisions at numerous parks. More rain affected some play on Saturday.

“This year is the wettest year since we came to Las Vegas in 2012 – and is one of the wettest years in the 28 years I’ve been directing the Worlds,” said Terry Hennessy, SSUSA’s chief executive officer.

“The park crews in Clark County and Henderson worked most of the night to get fields back up, and our directors and umpires worked in some fields until 1am to get the games in for the teams,” said Hennessy.

Thanks to schedule revisions and long days at the parks, 10 divisions crowned champions on Session 3’s final day, Sept. 28.

With men’s 40+ teams and all women’s divisions playing, the session drew a record 172 teams. Schedulers packed 543 games into three days.

Photo by Sara Cox.
Despite 172 teams competing in the session, there were only 10 divisions, with the largest being Men's 40+ Major with 67 teams.

Two teams secured one of the most coveted championships in SSUSA play — the Triple Grand Slam. To earn that award, a team must win either the Eastern or Western National Championship, then win the USA National game at Worlds, and also win their division at Worlds. Only a few teams succeed each year.

Shots Fired, a women’s 50+ team from Rhode Island, captured the Triple Grand Slam by winning five games in a row on championship Sunday. Front Row, a men’s 40+ team from Texas, capped an undefeated tournament by winning the Grand Slam in the Major Plus division.

World champions earned free Jostens rings, a golden trophy and berths to the 2025 Tournament of Champions. The Triple Grand Slam champions earned free Beebe shoes and winning teams of a USA National Game won a free DeMarini bat.

Results:

Women's 40+ Masters Major: Seventh-seeded Carolina Redz of North Carolina (photo below) scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to claim a 16-15 championship victory over sixth-seeded Royal-T Real Estate/LaFlamme of Washington. Top-seeded TABU of California finished third in the 15-team division. Firestarter of Washington took fourth. USA National Game: TABU 17, Vintage of New Jersey 7.

Women's 40+ AAA: After being seeded 12th in a 23-team division, Rogue Prime of California (photo below) tore through bracket play unbeaten in six games, including a 19-10 championship game during which it never trailed against third-seeded Las Maletas of Arizona. The seventh-seeded Utah Relics won six elimination games to finish third. B Elite Ballers of North Carolina captured fourth. USA National Champion: Mood Swings of California. (No opponent.)

Women's 40+ AA: Second-seeded Idaho Spirit, which lost only once in six games, scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to edge top-seeded Poly Chics/Cali Gold of California 16-15 in the title game. Guam Women's - Team SOTTA placed third. Isla of Guam took fourth in the four-team division. USA National Champion: Poly Chics. (No opponent.)

Women's 50+ Major: Third-seeded TTAU of Florida held runner-up and fourth-seeded Cash Out 50s of California scoreless in the final two innings of the championship game, which TTAU won 12-11. Second-seeded Power Mix of Virginia took third in the eight-team division. 50 Shades Women's Team of Indiana placed fourth. USA National Champion: Power Mix of Virginia. (No opponent.)

Women's 50+ AAA: Sent early to the elimination bracket, top-seeded Shots Fired of Rhode Island won five in a row, including 15-8 and 7-6 championship game victories over fourth-seeded West Coast United of California. That gave Shots Fired a Triple Grand Slam title. Sixth-seeded ATL of Missouri captured third place in the 11-team division. Second-seeded Takin' Chances of California finished fourth. USA National Game: Shots Fired 8, Takin’ Chances 6.

Women's 55+ Major: Third-seeded Covelli/High Octane of Ohio won its final two games by two runs each, including a 15-13 championship victory over top-seeded SWI/Rueblur of California. Third place in the three-team bracket went to All Mix’D Up of Arkansas.

Women's 55/60+ Gold: The third-seeded Lady Scorpions, a 60+ Major team from Arizona, defeated the 55+ AAA team Bomb Threats of North Carolina 16-6 and 18-12 in their two championship games. Both teams won division titles. Good Vibes of California finished third in the three-team bracket.

Men's 40+ Major Plus: Top-seeded Front Row of Texas (photo below) won a thrilling USA game, which finished in a downpour, before dispatching all four of its bracket opponents. Four of Front Row’s six overall wins were one-run affairs, including a 23-22 championship nail biter against seventh-seeded SMC of Maryland that gave Front Row the Triple Grand Slam title. Second-seeded Tai/Elite Sports/Onyx of California won four elimination games to finish third in the 12-team division. Sixth-seeded SwingCoast/Spartan Bat Co. of Missouri claimed fourth. USA National Game: Front Row 25, Tai/Elite Sports/Onyx 24.

Men's 40+ Major: Schedulers split this massive 67-team division into four “pods” for seeding games and Saturday bracket play, with top teams from each pod coming together for championship Sunday. Headcase of Washington (photo lower left), which had been seeded eighth in pod D, lost the first championship game 27-20 before capturing the second one 33-17 over 5AI-Badd To the Bone BBQ of Missouri, which had been seeded 14th in pod B. The second seed from pod D, TSC/Anarchy of New York, placed third overall. Tarz Nation/G Brand of Michigan, which had been seeded eighth in pod A, captured fourth place. USA National Game: HDI/She Gone Sports of Virginia 34 (photo lower right), The Ravine of California 26.

Men's 40+ AAA: Sixth-seeded Team Panthers of Utah (photo below) won all seven games it played, including a 21-20 championship victory over third-seeded OPP/Nimble Crane/Pace Field Services of Delaware. Team Panthers averaged 24 runs a game and won by an average of eight runs a game. Seeded 13th, the Black Kings of Maryland knocked off the top seed on its way to a third-place finish. Tenth-seeded GTR of Oregon lost its first bracket game then on six elimination games to finish fourth in the 26-team division. USA National Game: Hella Nor-Cal of California 25, Sarahi’s Painting and Construction of North Carolina 15.