Jason Kendrick’s ASA/WSL Tournament

Seventy nine teams came to beautiful Freedom Park in Valdosta, Georgia last weekend to compete in Class D, C, B, A and an Open Division, and believe me it was competitive. First of all I want to say what a tremendous job Jason, Nate and the entire Freedom Park staff did putting this tournament on. Nate and Jason went sleepless in Valdosta all weekend to make this one of the most successful tournaments in the world. They worked their butts off with Nate regisitering the teams and selling apparel and Jason running the tournament and also playing with his Big League team in the Open Division. Now for the tournament, it sure was a pleasure for me to watch all the levels of play they had, and I can tell you the D,C and B teams can flat out play the game, some better than others but very competitive. The D Championship was won by Tucker’s Softball team, who believe me can base hit and play solid defense. This bunch plays a lot of ASA tournaments and are a very close nit team. They have some talented ball players and beat a very, very good class D team called Newman’s, who finished second in this one and played extremely well all weekend long. Third place went to American Travel who also played well. The C Division Championship went to Avalon Screen, who can flat out play this game. They have a great hitting team, play terrific defense and have enough pop to make this bunch a Class C Natioonal Championship wherever they play in Class C this season. Great job guys, I really enjoyed watching you guys play. Second place goes to Synergy By Easton, who is another great team in Class C who also have some very talented players. The Easton boys looked to run out of gas as they had to battle back through the loser’s bracket and came up just a little short in the Championship Game. I look for this bunch to win a lot in 2003 and should win a National or two. Third place was Yard Dawgs who have a very good C team. They can hit and play defense and will be a contender in the Nationals. The Class B Division winner was Jean Shoppe, who were the Class of the B Division in this one. This club has some very good players and should do very well in the B Nationals. Second place went to Easton Rage, another good looking B team who had to battle back through and did a fine job getting back to the Championship. Team KFC finished third and look to me like a very good B team who will be a strong contender in the Nationals. The Open Division was won by Vernon’s/Miken who played a terrific tournament. This bunch scored 114 runs in 5 innings in one game. That was a record run production game in 5 innings, 114-98, pretty crazy. Jason Kendrick’s Big League All Star team who had Helmer, Hall, Thomas, Dubose, Jason and a host of other good players won the Winner’s bracket, but had to forfeit because players had to catch flights. Vernon’s/Miken and Aubrey’s/Powerhouse/TPS ended up in the championship and Vernon’s won that. Congratulations Vernon’s. Overall this was a great weekend and next year you will get to see some of the action on Fox Sports Net who covered this tournament. I would like to commend every team who participated in this ASA/WSL event. Once again I would like to say unbelievable Jason and Nate, and also thank John Daniels and the WSL staff for helping make this a memorable event. I also would like to thank all the people who purchased raffle tickets on the four wheeler where the proceeds on it will be given in honor of the great Harold Nichol’s for helping in his granddaughter’s education fund.