USSSA NIT Cajun Classic – Carencro, LA

Budweiser/Summerlin/I-Team Travel/Master Graphics/Easton rolled through the 22nd. Annual Cajun Classic to capture a trip to Disney World for the USSSA World Series in September. Make no mistake about it this bunch can flat-out hit it with anybody. Led by MVP, slick fielding outfielder and the leading homerun leader in the nation up to now Scott King, along with the cough drop brothers Jeff and Jerold Smith, who believe me can hit with anybody. Then add Bob Fischer, who came into Sunday’s games hitting under the Mendoza line, but came alive Sunday especially in the Championship game hitting four homeruns, with 12 RBI’s leading the assault in the win over 2nd. place Hague/Resmondo/Specialty Tank/TPS. The Budweiser boys are strong hitting from 1-11, and will score a lot of runs every weekend out. I can tell you, don’t take this team lightly, they are very good. Hague/Resmondo played this tournament without “Big” Wendall Rickard and Larry Carter and could of used those two big bats against those Budweiser boys, but as I reported before this tournament the management of the Hague/Resmondo team had elected to leave them home this weekend because of the new homerun rule being in effect. I earned a lot of respect for Jim Wessel this weekend when he told me before the Championship game that he had made a mistake leaving them home. He said he certainly could of used those two big boys against Budweiser with the 16 homerun rule in effect. Finishing in 3rd. place was a team who had been struggling early in the season, but came into this one and played excellent all weekend long before falling to Hague/Resmondo in the losers bracket final was Mississippi/Worth. I had Mississippi/Worth ranked in the Top 15 early, but slid them out when they were faltering, but I knew they were a much better team than they had been showing, and they definitely proved it this weekend. Getting the 4th spot is a team that I’ve been hearing a lot about lately, but I admit I didn’t know myself how good they might be. Take my word for it this is a very, very good A team, Quick/Advanced Roofing/Nike, another one of those good Texas teams with excellent players. Believe me they will be heard from come National time. I have been attending the Cajun the past few years and most of the time I’ve been at the park from 8:00 in the morning to well past midnight, but this year with 20 teams entered, but softball fans this year I was eating a steak at 9:30 and I’ll tell you the reason why. Robert Boudreaux and his Louisiana USSSA staff had the perfect ball for 300′ fields, a .44 core 350 compression Legend. You had to hit it to get it out, and if you missed it didn’t go. Now as for the new homerun rule, once again I think it was perfect when the A teams played against each other. In my opinion I believe that when the better teams on the 300′ fields play against the A teams we still end up with a lot of run-ruled games. I believe it is not the answer to leveling the playing field, but that’s another story. Congratulations to Robert, his staff and his umpiring crew who did another terrific job in running this tournament.

Congratulations to Budweiser/Summerlin/I -Team Travel/Easton for winning this prestigious tournament.

All Tournament Team:

Quick/Advanced Roofing/Nike: Kirk Swaim, Wade Casey

Mississippi/Worth: Todd Thomas, Shay Cooper, Craig Upton

Hague/Resmondo/Specialty Tank/TPS: Scott Streibel, Albert Davis, Paul Brannon, Randy Kortokrax

Budweiser/Summerlin/I-Team Travel/Master Graphics/Easton: Jeff Smith, Jerold Smith, Shane Dubois, Rusty Hoke, Scott King, Bobby Fischer

MVP: Scott King