SPA News

DAYTON's FIRST FLIGHT TOURNAMENT held JULY 1-7 at the KETTERING FIELD COMPLEX combined with an earlier one day event (DICK ERNST SR SOFTBALL CLASSIC) held in APRIL registered a new high with 53 teams in attendance.

FIRST FLIGHT was the leader of the pair as 30 teams battled it out six brackets.

The DAYTON 70'S took the 65AA/70AAA title by going undefeated in bracket play with wins over DOC MARTEN (15-1), DR VINYL(15-14) and DOC MARTEN again in the finals.

The DAYTON DIAMOND DAWGS was the lone 65 AA team in the bracket.

The DAYTON SILVER EXPRESS won a home-town battle over the DAYTON LEGENDS with a pair of 15-10 and 17-16 for the 70AA title.

The RARE BREED out of COLUMBUS, OHIO beat the DAYTON 75's 18-9 and 17-5  for the 75 AAA crown.

CHICAGO PRIME downed the OHIO teams AAA CINCINNATI (21-9,14-6) and MAJOR DAYTON LEGENDS (23-5) to take top prize in the 60AAA/65 MAJOR five-team group.

AAA teams OHIO ELIE DOCS and DAYTON LEGENDS also were in the bracket.

The NINE TEAM 50 AAA group MJ LOWE and MIAMI VALLEY declared co-champs as the rain kept the two teams from playing each other in the finals.

MJ LOWE reached the finals beating the OHIO HITMEN 32-13 and DAYTON PROFFITT 9-5 to reach the finals while MIAMI VALLEY eliminated CIRCLE CITY 14-8 and DAYTON LENER 23-22 to get there.

ACTION SPORTS CINCINNATI 50's and BULL MOOSE 50'S were also in the bracket.

TEAM ILLINOIS with wins over ANTIQUES ROAD SHOW 12-5, DETROIT PONY EXPRESS 20-16 and touch em all 17-9 were the 55 AAA champs. BUCKEYE CLASSICS WAS THE FIFTH TEAM IN THE BRACKET.

GEM CITY downed LS?DB 21-7 for the 50 MAJOR crown with the DAYTON LEGENDS taking home the 55 MAJOR title.

The weather took its toll on the WOMEN'S ROCKY TOP NIT July 12-14 in KNOXVILLE with only three groups able to play.

SERIOUS FUN took the 55 DIVISION beating EAST COAST GEMS 7-4 in the title game. SERIOUS FUN had put EAST COAST GEMS into the losers bracket earlier with a 6-4 win but the GEMS downed 9-3 later on to set up the "IF" game championship.

The two teams were even in tournament play for the weekend with the GEMS beating SERIOUS FUN 11-9 in pool play. Others in the bracket were FIRE&ICE and SLUGGERS.

KRYPTONITE went undefeated in the 40/45 pool and bracket play beating TM FORCE 20-10,15-3 and LADY SHOT CALLERS 17-9 in bracket play and TM FORCE 17-15 and LADY SHOT CALLERS 19-3 in pool play.

PITCHES BE CRAZY was the fourth team in the group.

TAZ fought its way out of the loser's bracket to beat HILTON 16-8 to force an "IF" GAME and 11-8 in the title match. HILTON had put TAZ into the loser's bracket earlier with 13-10 win.

In pool play TAZ had beaten HILTON 14-5. OUTER LIMITS and PITCHES BE CRAZY rounded the 35+ group.

The HEART OF OHIO is back!!

Ten years ago it used to be one of the top drawing senior softball tournaments east of VEGAS when the Columbus Senior Softball Organization was running the tournament.

When COSSA dropped it attendance went way down but a revival took place this year with 57 TEAMS ATTENDING.

In one of the bigger brackets TEN TEAMS squared off for the 50 AAA title.

LOWES LEGENDS  won it with bracket wins over AREA FIFTY-ONE SOFTBALL (20-10), AREA FIFTY-ONE (17-16), MIAMI VALLEY (22-7) and OHIO HITMEN (17-9).

AREA FIFTY-ONE beat OHIO HITMEN (24-19) to take second.

Other teams in the group were CIRCLE CITY PLAYMAKERS, DAYTON LEGENDS, TEAM 216, GO SPORTS PLUS, DAYTON LEGENDS FIFTIES and BULL MOOSE 50's.

GEM CITY MERCHANTS lost the first game 30-31 to AMERICAN METAL RECYCLING but bounced back with 19-3 and 25 22 wins to win the best-two-out-of-three for the 50 MAJOR CROWN.

The finishers in the 55 MAJOR were DLB SOFTBALL champ and CPOA Runner-up. OHIO ELITE/AMK, MOTOR CITY PUSH and DAYTON LEGENDS rounded out the 55 MAJOR bracket.

ANTIQUE ROAD SHOW downed TOUCH EM AA (23-19), BULL MOOSE (20-9) and TOUCH EM ALL (17-11) to win the 55 AAA title. TOUCH EM ALL beat  BULLMOOSE 23-8 for second.

DETROIT PONY EXPRESS was the fourth team in the group.

JUST ONE MORE beat DURHAM SILVER STICKS 22-12, 18-10 for the 60 AA title. DURHAM edged DAYTON DIAMOND DAWGS 12-11 for second place.

JP MOTERMEN went 4-0 in bracket play with wins over LOUISVILLE SILVER SLUGGERS< CINCINNATI 60's, LOUISVILLE and OHIO ELTE DOCS and capture the 60 AAA top prize.

Others in the bracket were PEPCO/SFS, CHAMPAIGN SOFTBALL, DAYTON LEGENDS and OHIO SIXTIES.

The MINUTEMEN/SFS edged UNIVERSAL SOFTBALL twice in bracket play (27-25. 9-6) and a long with a 20-6 victory over UPSTATE EXTREME ROYALS took the 65 AAA crown.

UNIVERSAL beat CAVCO 21-9 for second place. Others in the bracket were MCMAHON<COYNE<VITANTONIO; and SIDELINE BULL MOOSE.

The 70 AA saw ROCHESTER CLASSICS end on top followed by MICHIGAN LAKERS, LEGENDS OF DAYTON, ROCHESTER ROYALS, INDY 70's and DAYTON LEGENDS SILVER EXPRESS.

DAYTON LEGENDS had a long day in order to win the 70 AAA Crow.

They started with a win over CHICAGO HITMEN (24-10), dropped to the loser's bracket with a 10-16 loss to STEEL CITY. They beat DR VINYL (26-11), MIDSTATE SENIORS (16-14) LEFEGUARD FINANCIAL (20-5) and STEEL CITY twice (25-21. 19-12)  for the title.

Yhers in the bracket were DOC MARTINS ROPE COURSE and COSSA.

The 75 AAA went to RARE BREED with a pair of wins (21-12, 18-3) over DAYTON LEGENDS.

Twenty-two teams participating in the SPA 2019 TEXAS LONE STAR NIT learned first hand how to spell WAXAHACHIE June 7-9 as they battled for titles at its SPORT COMPLEX. When the dust cleared TEN TEAMS were crowned champions.

The TEXAS LEGENDS beat the TEXAS THUNDER in a third deciding game 19-13 to take the 60 AA crown. The Thunder won the second game 15-14 and the LEGENDS the first by a 22-18 count.

The THUNDER took the 60 AAA title.

LA LEGENDS beat OAK-ARK 9-6 and 12-9 for the 70 AAA title. The LEGENDS also beat OAKIES 17-2 in the opening round. OAK-ARK downed the OAKIES 22-12 to reach the finals.

Others in the bracket were TEXAS CLASSICS and TEXAS RAIDERS.

The 75 DIVISION saw HILL CONTRACTING drop TEXAS 75 KNIGHT RAIDERS 16-3 and 19-3 for the top prize.

GONZALEZ INSULATION edged TEXAS THUNDER 24-22 in winning the 65 MAJOR TITLE while the THUNDER claimed the 65 AAA award.

TEXAS ACES defeated TEXAS ELITE 27-15, 30-24 and ETX 23-22 to win the 50 AAA CHAMPIONSHIP.

Others in the bracket were UNDISPUTED TRUTH and UNDERDOGS 55"s.

ESCOBAR BODY SHOP took home the 50M PLUS crown beating ROCKIN N LEGENDS 26-25 and OK RHINO 27-25.

ROCKIN N LEGENDS downed MANCAVE 29-7 for the 55 MAJOR title while MANCAVE took care of OK RHINO 29-18 for the 50 MAJOR top prize.

The Women's SPA TWITTY SENIOR WOMENS NIT TOURNAMENT June 16-19 at DRAKE CREEK PARK in HENDERSONVILLE, TENNESSEE was music to a number of team's ears.

Acting out a pair of CONWAY TWITTY hits "The Games that Daddies Play" and "You've Never Been this far before", 29 teams took part in the tournament.

Showing why they love coming to HENDERSONVILLE the TN SR STARS 50;S, EAST COAST GEMS 55'S and JOLICO 65's all were repeat champs with JOLICO making it a THREE-PEAT.

SMOKEY MOUNTAIN STARS was the fourth team in the bracket.

In a re-run from 2018 JOLICO'S 65's beat the OHIO CARDINALS 16-2 and 10-9 to win the 60 PLUS bracket. Jolico also beat the GOLDEN GALS 12-8 on the way to their straight TWITTY title.

TN SR STARS bounced the DREAMGIRLS 17-14 and 21-19 for their repeat 50 PLUS crown. The champs also beat 50 CALIBRE 20-11.

DREAM GIRLS dropped FIRE & ICE 13-6 to reach the finals. JWP was the fifth team in the bracket.

In the 55 PLUS it was EAST COAST GEMS repeating with wins over THE PLAYERS (19-8), SERIOUS FUN (17-8) and 19-4 over SHO ME #1..

THE PLAYERS made it to the finals edging SERIOUS FUN 12-11. In the battle for MISSOURI "bragging rights". SHO-ME #1 downed SHO-ME #2 14-11.

SUNNY BEACHES kept JOLICO 60's from repeating by beating the 2018 TWITTY champ 10-7. The Michigan team didn't go down without a fight forcing a third game beating SUNNY BEACHES 9-5 in the "IF" game.

The champs had put JOLICO into the loser's bracket earlier with a 12-9 win after barely edging HAMEL LADIES 7-7 in the opening round.

Others in the bracket were NOREASTERS and SHO-ME602"s.

Six teams squared off in the 35 PLUS group with MIDWEST MAYHEM downing HILTON 40's 11-9 and 18-7 for the crown.

MIDWEST MAYHEM took the long way around to win the title by after winning the opener 20-19 over OUTER LIMITS they lost to HILTON 40's 13-15 to fall into the loser's bracket. They earned their way to the finals beating SAVE SECOND BASE 20-16, OUTER LIMITS 24-14, PITCHES BE CRAZY 18-4  and HILTON 40's 18-17.

Wicked game was the sixth team in the bracket.

KRYPTONITE downed HIGH CALIBRE 21-5 to take the 45 Plus CROWN.

PITCHES BE CRAZY were the 40 plus champs.

 LADY SHOT CALLERS were the fourth team in the bracket.

Twenty-six teams mainly from Minnesota and Wisconsin invaded PIONEER PARK, MINNESOTA JUNE 6-9 to play in the SPA/SSUSA STEVE SIMMONS MOSQUITOLAND CLASSIC.

In a mixture of AAA and MAJOR championships were earned in 50, 60,70 Majors and 50, 60, 70, 75/80 AAA.

MN LUMBERJACKS defeated MAHER HOMES 24-11, 25-24 for the 50 AAA title while CPD/ANCEL downed IOWA DEMONS 24-15 for the MAJOR crown.

CT VIPER also participated in the 50's groups.

The 60's saw WISCONSIN PLAYMAKERS lose twice to MINNESOTA LUMBERJACKS 12-14, 14-19 as the LUMBERJACKS won the 60 AAA title.

MINNESOTA MERCHANTS downed ALL AMERICAN RESTORATION 22-14 to take home the 60 MAJOR crown.

Other teams playing in the 60's group were MINNESOTA MERCHANTS and MINNESOTA MASTERS/ANCEL.

The MINNESOTA PRIZE defeated ALL-AMERICAN 19-9 TO WIN THE 70 major  with CHICAGO STRIKERS beating BADGER CLASSICS 18-13 for the 70 AAA Crown.

Also participating in the 70's were MIDWEST EXPRESS, CHICAGO HITMEN, ROCHESTER RAPTORS, MINNESOTA MASTERS and MINNESOTA LUMBERJACKS.

PROHEALTH  75's  was the winner over MINNESOTA MASTERS 80'S IN THE 75/80 BRACKET.

Only four teams showed up for the May 5 8-9 AWARDS EXPRESS tournament at CONCORD, NC's FRANK LISE PARK but that was fine with BLACKBURN TRUCKING.

The TRUCKERS beat THE GRILL 16-12 in the deciding game after THE GRILL won the "IF" game 18-3 to force the extended match.

For the tournament the two teams went 2-2 against each other. THE GRILL went undefeated in pool with a 20-10 win over BLACKBURN but was edged 19-18 by the champs in opening round of bracket play.

The other teams participating were LAST CALL and CAROLINA PROSPECTORS..

PENSACOLA,FLA - The 2019 SPA WOMENS TOURNAMENT opened the season APRIL 12-14 at MICHAEL J. DESORBO EXCHANGE PARK in PENSACOLA with the SPA WOMENS SPRING NATIONALS.

Twenty-one  teams took part in the event which featured lots of close and "IF" games as the ladies battled for titles in the 35,40,45,50 and 55 Divisions.

The TN STARS captured the 50 AAA bracket by beating JWP twice 25-17 and 24-11. They also disposed of H-TOWN SISTERS 16-1 and FIRE&ICE 19-4.

The STARS went 6-2 in bracket and pool play with the only defeats being to JWP. 

JWP went undefeated in pool play and through the first two games of bracket play before losing the final two games to the TN STARS.

Others in the bracket were H-TOWN SISTERS and FIRE&ICE.

THE PLAYERS went undefeated (6-0) in both pool and bracket play to capture the six-team 55 DIVISION.

The champs took down SERIOUS FUN twice in the finals of bracket play 14-0  and 12-9 along with an opening round 17-8 win over SHO-ME.

SERIOUS FUN also had six wins in the tournament but was saddled with three defeats, all to THE PLAYERS.

Others in the 55 DIVISION were H-TOWN SISTERS, SHO-ME, SUNNY BEACHES. and LA SPORTS. The 35 DIVISION also saw an undefeated team win its bracket as PITCHES BE CRAZY went 5-0 in the six-team field to take home the top prize. The PITCHES knocked off JWP twice in bracket play to wrap it up.

JWP downed OUTER LIMITS 17-13 to make it into the finals.

Teams in the six-team group were PITCHES BE CRAZY, JWP, OUTER LIMITS, HILTON, WICKED GAMES and MIDWEST MAYHEM.

KRYPTONITE beat PITCHES BE CRAZY, TM FORCE and ARKANSAS SYNERGY in bracket play for the 45 PLUS crown while ARKANSAS SYNERGY edged TM FORCE 10-9 for the 40 PLUS title.

Teams in the 40/45 bracket were KRYPTONITE, ARKANSAS SYNERGY, TM FORCE, PITCHES BE CRAZY and LADY SHOT CALLERS..

"It was a great tournament with plenty of outstanding players and individuals," TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR MIKE DESORBO played," The ladies really had their hitting shoes on and played outstanding defense. They really are outstanding softball players."

SPA continued to be the number one men's senior softball tournament drawing card in MARYLAND attracting 33 teams to the GLEN BURNIE TOURNAMENT may 1-4 at the BACHMAN SPORTS COMPLEX.

"GLEN BURNIE has been a fixture with SPA over the years always drawing between 30-50 teams," SOFTBALL PLAYERS ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT RIDGE HOOKS said. "We were a little down this year with 33 teams but we will probably bounce back to 50 teams next year."

ELEVEN DIVISION champs were crowned in 2019 which saw winners in all age brackets.

The HIGH STREET BUCS won the 70's beating NORTHERN VIRGINIA FORCE (18-0) and SPICERS (17-11) in the finals. NORTHERN VIRGINIA reached the finals downing SPICERS 17-11.

The 70 MASTER crown went to the NEW YORK STATESMEN who beat BRADFORD WHITE 16-9 in the third game in a two-out-of-three showdown. The STATESMEN took the opener 12-10 but BRADFORD rallied to win the second game 17-11.

HAMEL BUILDERS BEAT PEACHTREE 23-10 and JERSEY MASTERS 18-11 for the 80's title.

PEACHTREE reached the finals with wins over BAILEY CAVALIERS 23-22 and 27-10.

The HIGH STREET BUCS downed ROCHESTER TITANS (26-18)and SPRINGFORD (26-25) to win the 65 MAJOR championship while the TITANS claimed AAA title.

ROADHOUSE BLUES and NORTHERN VA FORCE rounded out the five team bracket.

MARYLAND CLASSICS tripped PINEBELT CARS 30-20 AND 18-3 for the 50 AAA title. TIME BANDITS were third in the three team bracket.

THOMAS LAW lost the opener in the best two-out-of-three 28-29 to TEAM USA in the opener but rebounded taking the next two 32-25, 34-28 for the 50 MAJOR + title.

The 50 MAJORS saw BOB JOHNSON run the table in bracket play with wins over PHOENIX TUBE (24-19), COVELLO SANITATION (19-18) and WV HOTSHOTS (22-11) for the championship 50 MAJOR TROPHY.

PHOENIX TUBE beat CAVELLO SANITATION 21-16 for second.R

ROBELL PAINT was the fifth team in the group.

It was another bracket sweep as ACTION AUTO downed BUILDING INNOVATION (25-10. 29-13) and PHOENIX TUBE 24-5 for the 55 MAJOR crown.

THE NATIONALS filled out the four team bracket.

MARYLAND COUGARS beat CRUNCH IT 20-17 and MONECARY BREWERS 29-23 TO WIN THE 55AAA/60AAA title.

NORTHEAST STORM wrapped up the tournament as the 55 MAJOR + STORM beat 60M PROMOTION 17-16 and 28-13 in the 55 M+/ 60 M finale.

MONTGOMERY, ALA - MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA entertained 27 teams for the SPA MENS SOUTHERN SPRING NIT MARCH 14-17.

Champs were crowned in NINE DIVISIONS with the 40/50 group having the most teams with nine.

SIX ONE FIVE bested SOUTHEAST WATER SWARM 36-35 in the title game after losing to SOUTHEAST 32-36 earlier to force the "IF"  championship showdown.

While SIX ONE FIVE had an easier road to the finals with wins over WALKER BROTHERS 27-19, ATLANTA MONARCHS 35-34 and SHIELD CONSULTING COLOR BY DESIGN 44-42 it was not the case for SOUTHEAST.

The SWARM beat DOCS SOFTBALL 31-19 but lost its next game 31-32 to WALKER BROTHERS to fall into the loser's bracket,

SOUTHEAST faced a marathon trip to the title game beating LIGHTHOUSE 31-20, TEAM ARKANSAS 36-21, WALKER BROTHERS 24-18 and SIX ONE FIVE 36-32 to make it to the finale.

Teams in the nine-team bracket were SHIELD CONSULTING COLOR BY DESIGN, SOUTHEAST WATER SWARM, TEAM ARKANSAS, LIGHTHOUSE LOOKOUTS, RIVER ROCK CONSTRUCTION, DOC'S SOFTBALL, ATLANTA MONARCHS, SIX ONE FIVE SENIOR SOFTBALL and WALKER BROTHERS.

T-REX SOFTBALL won the 60 MAJOR CROWN with SEASONED VETS the 60 AAA CHAMPS. Others in the field were BAND OF BROTHERS and GAS.

TRAVELERS 70 were the 70 MAJOR winner with THE TITUS COMPANY 65 AAA champion and COLUMBUS LXV taking the 65 MAJOR TITLE. DEEP SOUTH SOFTBALL was the fourth team in the bracket.

KPI SOFTBALL bested MONSTER SOFTBALL in a 2-out-of-3 match-up winning 21-18 and 37-22 and losing 31-30.

Four teams battled it out for the 55 AAA crown with MONTGOMERY SWARM after losing its opening bracket game 17-19 to PANHANDLE won four in a row including the championship game.

The CHAMPS beat DARELL HARRIS 22-6, PANHANDLE 16-13 and TENNESSEE CONSTRUCTION 26-14 and 25-14.

TENNESSEE had beaten PANHANDLE 20-18 and DARELL HARRIS 28-26 to reach the finals.

KENTS PLAYERSbeat BRICKYARD SOFTBALL 43- 36 and GEORGIA RENEGADES 27-26, 33-18 to go undefeated in bracket play and claim the 50 AAA crown. ACTION SOFTBALL was the fourth team in the bracket.

"It was a good way to start the 2019 year," RIDGE HOOKS SOFTBALL PLAYERS PRESIDENT said. "There were great games in all the brackets, I expect next year to see a huge increase in the tournament."