2006 Columbus, IN NIT

The USSSA Conference Tournament in Columbus, Indiana, which was the fourth of the season, was won by Resmondo – KME Softball. That makes two in a row for “The Sod Boys”, who went 5-0 on route to the Championship. I had reported after their first tournament in Kissimme that they looked like they were getting old. I said they would need to pick it up a whole lot to get back to winning. I also said it would be very hard for this team to win playing on 300′ fields. I know this, they have proved me wrong and I must admit that I talked way out of line on this one. I should of known that there are a whole lot of players who have done nothing but win throughout their whole career, including their sponsor. I know there’s a long way to go in the 2006 season, but it sure looks like the other teams will be chasing Resmondo al l season long again, we will see. Resmondo won this one this weekend without their ace pitcher Andy Purcell, who had surgery last week on his back. This was another total team effort. “The Sod Boys” are base hitting, hitting for power when it counts, and playing great defense in the last two weekends. Good job and good luck in your next one.

Second place went to Northwest Pipe/3N2/Bud Light/Easton who just continues to play some great tournaments every year against the better teams. Larry has always put a very competitive team together, and this year’s edition is no different. They find a way to beat good teams every year, and so far that’s what makes this conference play so competitive, teams like Northwest. Congratulations to Larry and the whole gang on a great weekend, and good luck the rest of the season.

Third place went to AM/Las Vegas/Benfield/Reece’s/Shade/Easton, who just came up a little short in this one. Make no mistake this is a very good team who will bounce back I guarantee you. This bunch has played extremely well so far, and I am sure they will continue. Good job boys, and good luck in the next one.

Fourth place went to R&D/AAA Glass/Easton, who played their first Conference Tournament of the season, and played very well. I’m here to tell you anytime Cobbie has anything to do with a team, it will be very competitive and will never quit, I guarantee you. Cobbie has the ability to get the best out of his players, that’s for sure. This team will get better every weekend it plays. I know this, you better play at your best when playing a “Cobbie coached team”, or you will come up short I promise. Good job boys. I hope to see you down the road soon.
I think the biggest question is what’s wrong with Specialty Tank/Worth, who has not got to Sunday yet. I for one believe this is a very talented team and it’s taking time for this bunch to come together. I believe when it all comes together this team will be a force in this Conference. They have some great hitters and some very good defensive players. They just need to come together, we will see. Good luck boys.

I’d like to make some comments on last week’s Softball Report. I wrote that Bell Corp did not play very well. Scott O’Neill posted that he did not like me writing about how his team played, without getting info. from him. I totally agree that I should not write without getting information first. I’m here to tell you that I did get the info. I needed to write the report from other people. I knew how many runs Bell scored against all the teams they played. I expect them to score a lot of runs against the lesser teams. I also know there will be times when the great teams have a bad game against the lesser teams, and I understand that. I wrote that Bell did not play well, because they did not play well against Resmondo. That is where they have to play well to consider it a great weekend. So that’s how I based the story. Believe me there are no secrets in softball, we all know tha t. I have a lot of respect for Scott and he needs to know that I do get as much information as I can from a lot of people around the country in the softball world before I write my softball report. I hope this clears up that matter. I respect the fact that Bell Corp is without a doubt one of the top teams the game has ever had, so therefore I’m not here to bash them or knock them down. I just try to tell it the way it is, like it or not. There was another article that I reported on about the tournaments the rest of the year, where I said there was one more NIT to be played on baseball fields. The reason I wrote that was because when I was in Kissimme for the first tournament I was told from one of the Kansas representatives, that the Kansas NIT would be played on the bigger fields. I guess that was changed on the post that Hank Bassett put on the message board the very next day. I’m sorry if that offended anybody, but I only wrote what I was told.