Smoky Mountain Classic

Bell Corp/Belcher/TIA/Backman wins this prestigious tournament by winning the “if” game against Resmondo Softball. “The Chimers” win for the first time in 2007 against Resmondo. Bell Corp was rolling through this tournament until the first game of the championship when they met their nemis Resmondo. “The Sod Boys” did what they’ve been doing all year run ruling Bell and sending this tournament to be decided by the “if” game. “The Chimers” wanted to put an end to Resmondo’s winning streak and did just that by run ruling the sod boys to win this great event. The “if” game started out slow until Bell went up by seven and never looked back. Bell was led by MVP Brett Helmer, but got a great effort by this whole team on route to the championship. These Resmondo/Bell Corp games were like the old days used to be between these two giants. Bell and Resmondo players started chirping right from the first pitch and continued to the last. I know this for a fact, between the lines there is no love, but off the field they’re the best of buddies. I know one thing for sure, when these two giants get it on with lots of people watching it doesn’t get any better than this. I think Bell Corp showed this weekend that they are not going to rollover and they will give the sod boys all they want the rest of the way. Helmer did a great job pitching and got help from the cheese man. Helmer, who is used to throwing 100-150 pitches a day to Wallace knows how to throw strikes. He also can field it pretty decent. The Bell boys hit it pretty good this weekend, and got great defense from Rulli and Rick Baker to help them win this one. Congratulations on a great weekend and good luck in Cincinnati.

Second place went to Resmondo Softball, who came into this tournament 33-1 and now stand at 40-3 for the season. “The Sod Boys” got beat by KME early in the tournament and then set sail to get back to the finals. Resmondo got back and then forced the “if” game, but came up short. I’ve been saying that this team has a chance to have the best season record and I still do. The sod boys have two more NIT’s left, the Conference Championship and the USSSA Worlds. We will see what happens. Congratulations on a good weekend and good luck in Cincinnati.

Third place went to KME/Chaney/Easton, who played extremely good in this one. The boys from the west coast would not go away from anybody, and came up just a little short. I will tell you that this bunch will give everybody they play a very tough time in the Class A Worlds, I guarantee you. This softball team has some very experienced players who know how to play the game. This team base hits it very good, and play very good D. Congratulations on a very good weekend, and good luck the rest of the way.

Fourth place goes to ABS/Easton. This is a veteran team with the players all being 35-40 years old. ABS beat some very good softball teams in this one, Aubrey’s, Jean Shoppe and other very good A teams on route to their 4th place finish in the Great Smoky. This is another team that will be very tough in the Class A Worlds. Veteran Jimmy Devine tore the cover off the ball hitting 919 with a bunch of homeruns for the weekend. Congratulations on a great weekend and good luck down the road.

I want to commend Joe Huff and Chris Clark on another great job running this first class Smoky Mountain Classic Tournament. It is a tradition like no other, “The Smoky’s”. When you win this grand daddy of all the NIT’s, it’s like you won a world championship. It’s been like that forever.

I also want to congratulate Air Transat from Montreal, Quebec for coming to play in the Smoky. I know these people personally, and I can tell you they are all first class guys and have a very nice B team. I think it is great that we can have our neighbors from the north come and play in the #1 NIT in the world. Thanks guys for coming and you did a great job playing here in the states. We hope you will continue to come over and play in the NIT’s. Good luck in your upcoming Canadian World Tournaments, and hope to see you guys soon.