2001 ASA Twitty Classic

The ASA Twitty was played in beautiful Hendersonville, Tennessee. Dan Smith/Backman/Mennose/Easton was the winner of this prestigious tournament. The Smith boys had to do this the hard way by coming through the losers bracket and double dipping a very good K&G/Sports/TPS. K&G had beat Dan Smith early in this tournament and went on to win the winners bracket championship, but came up a little short in the “if” game against Smith. K&G was down 27 -7 in the if game but managed to get back to tie the game at 29-29 going into the top of the seventh. Dan Smith scored six and K&G came up empty in the bottom of the seventh and Dan Smith had the Championship. Dan Smith was led by MVP Brett Helmer and home run leader Jeff Hall. Third place went to WW Gay/Aubrey’s/TPS who has been playing very well the last few tournaments. Dan Smith is off to a very good start in 2002, as they have won all three events that they have played in this season. They will be looking to move into the number one ranking if they can win in Richmond, Indiana next week.

The Twitty Class A Winner was Mid South /TPS/ who beat back a very good Twin States/ Worth Team to win this thirty-six team event. This was a tough tournament to win and would have been a lot harder if Mid South, Twin States and Creative Stucco played up where they should have in the open bracket, it would have been much better for the other thirty three teams. There is no question these three teams I named belong playing in the open bracket. That is another issue. These three teams are very good A teams and can play with all the other good A teams in the country. I know there were some other good teams in the A division, but not any that can compete weekend and week out with teams like these three, but remember this is only my opinion. Berardi’s who probably would have won this tournament if the other three were not playing finished fourth in this one. Who knows. Good luck to all the teams in 2002. As usual, another great job done by the Hendersonville Parks and Recreation and Dave LeMarbre.