SPA News

PANAMA BEACH, FLORIDA - With ANN HUMBLE looking down from above  the initial SPA ANN HUMBLE MEMORIAL WINTER WORLD SERIES went off in perfect weather November 1-3 at the PANAMA BEACH'S FRANK BROWN PARK COMPLEX.

HUMBLE (1948-2018) was a well loved and dominant force in women's softball, especially in the GULF area where she spent 30 years with the HILTON SOFTBALL team as player, manager and coordinator.

HUMBLE was also a member of THE SPORTS HALL OF FAME.

She along with her husband ROBERT HUMBLE , who is still involved with HILTON SOFTBALL, together were mainstays of women.s softball.

In its initial appearance as a SPA TOURNAMENT, the ANN HUMBLE MEMORIAL saw champions crowned in five divisions.

In a white-knuckler 55'S BRACKET, SHO ME 55'S won by edging SLUGGERS 22-21 and 13-12 in the bracket finals. In opening action they beat SHO-ME 60'S 21-9.;

In bracket play the champs edged SLUGGERS 22-21 for the title  and 13-12 in an earlier bracket game. In pool play.

The SLUGGERS reached the finals by beating SHO-M 60's 22-9.

But talk about close games, in pool play the SLUGGERS beat SERIOUS FUN 9-8 lost to FIRE&ICE 12-13 but beat SHO-ME 55'S 10-9. Then in bracket play they lose to SHO-ME 55's 21-22 and 12-13.

In five of their six tournament games they scored 63 runs and their opponents 65 with all games decided by one run. In their only non-one run game they beat SHO-ME 60'S 22-9.

The champion SHO-ME 55's were similar scoring 63 runs in five games and gave up 69 with the sixth a 21-9 win over SHO-ME 60's.

FIRE&ICE downed JWP 50'S twice 19-10 and 14-11 in winning the 50 PLUS CROWN.

EAST COAST GEMS continued their domination of SPA WOMEN'S 55 PLUS division by going 6-0 in pool and bracket play to easily take the title.

The Champs beat SERIOUS FUN 19-6, 12-8 and THE PLAYERS 12-6 in bracket play. SERIOUS FUN downed THE PLAYERS 21-15 to reach the finals.

HIGH CALIBRE dropped LADY SHOT CALLERS 20-6 and 13-3 in winning the 45 PLUS championship.

PITCHES BE CRAZY 35's downed HILTON 40's 35 PLUS 15-13 and 11-7 to take the 35/40 title. PITCHES other bracket win was 26-13 over their sisters the PITCHES BE CRAZY 40's.

HILTON 40'S 35 PLUS bear PITCHES BE CRAZY 40'S 22-3 to reach the finals.

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA - Ten teams challenged the weather OCTOBER 17-20 at MIKE DESORBO EXCHANGE PARK in PENSACOLA, FLORIDA.

TEAM LOUISIANA downed DOC C twice 23-17 and 20-13 for the 50 PLUS CROWN.

Four teams went at it in the 60 PLUS group with SMITH MASION beating BAND OF BROTHERS for the title. SMITH MASON reached the finals with a 23-20 over WESTROCK.

WESTROCK had the satisfaction of sending BAND OF BROTHERS to the loser's bracket 20-19 in first round play. The fourth team in the bracket was SMITH MASON.

TRAVELERS an DAG went best two-out-of-three for the 70 GOLD title with winning twice 25-9 and 14-13. DAG took the middle game 17-11.

THE 70 SILVER went to BOYD METAL over MISFITS.

DALTON, GA - SHO ME 60'S and HAMEL LADIES battled it out in the best two out of three SEPT 18-22 at  DALTON, GEORGIA HERITAGE PARK for the SPA 2019 60'S SILVER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP.

To nobody's surprise it went the full three games to decide the champ.

SHO ME 60's took the opener 16-15 but HAMELS unIoaded the guns in game #2 roaring to a 20-10 win.

SHO ME 60'S showed everyone who the 60's champs were as they defeated HAMELS 16-11 in the deciding title game.

MEMBERS OF THE 2019 SPA WORLD CHAMPION SILVER SHO ME 60'S ARE: ROSE BOLL, MARY LAMBING, JUDY HURST, JANET WALTON. CINDY HIGGINBOTHAM, ANNETTE M. KIMERY, JOANN WILLIAMS, KAREN KUSHNER, PAMELA MOORE, THERESA HOUPOS, LORETTA JOHNSTON, BETH FRENCH, CINDY THOMAS, HOLLY STARKS, DONNA FOLEY and REBECCA ATKINS.

DALTON, GA - The 2019 60 GOLD WOMEN'S SPA WORLD CHAMPIONS chosen ones are the LADIES CHOICE team.

The LADIES CHOICE downed JOLICO 60'S 11-6 in the title game at DALTON, GA'S HERITAGE PARK.It was a do-or-die game for the champs since JOLICO had come out of the loser's bracket to give LADIES CHOICE their first loss (27-10).

The champs had gone undefeated in their first two games beating JOLICO 13-8 and SUNNY BEACHES 16-7.

JOLICO had taken the long way yo the finals beating MARYLAND RR 6-1, losing to LADIES CHOICE 8-13, downing MARYLAND 17-5, beating LADIES CHOICE 27-10 and losing 6-11 in the title game.

MEMBERS OF THE 2019 SPA 60 GOLD DIVIDION WORLD CHAMPIONS LADIES CHOICE are: JUANITA EVANS, CAROL M. MCCOY, DONNA VANDAGRIFF, DARLENE SHELLEY, CYNTHIA TUCKER, JUANITA BRYANT, DANA MALONE, STEPHANIE SOARES, DONNA TOFT, CHERYL COYLE, JACQUELINE DIAZ, RUTH LITTLE, STEPHANIE HOFFMAN, LINDA PALMER, MILDRED ALLEN, YVONNE ARNOLD, C.R. RAMIREZ AND KATY BRADY.

DALTON, GA -  CHICAGO PRIME was perfect in all five games (2 pool, 3 showdown) in winning the SPA 60 AAA CROWN Sept 4-8 at DALTON, GA"s HERITAGE PARK.

With only two 60 AAA teams the championship was decided by a three-out-of-five battle between the PRIME and CINCINNATI 60'S,

After a close 11-7 win by the PRIME in the first game, it was strictly no contest in the next two. The PRIME won 23-8 and 19-4.

The CHICAGO PRIME also could add a 55's title to their resume since they beat the 55 WORLD CHAMPS TN CONNECTION 13-12 in pool play as well 55 team MARYLAND COUGARS 18-3.

Members of the CHICAGO PRIME 60 AAA SPA WORLD CHAMPS are: DAVE SMITH, LAVERNE ABENS III, MIKE GORDON, RICHARD HERRING, JEFF HORN, MARTIN LOLICH, MURRAY RICHARDS, RICHARD DELAY, RICK KELLEMEN, JAMES YOUNG, JOHN MIRANDA, GARY SMITH, FRED SCHEUB, SCOTT EATON, LOVELLE JOHNIKEN, TIM CANNON, ANTHONY DAVIS and PAUL PUDAITE.

The 2019 SYLVANIA OHIO SPA GREAT LAKES NIT hit a new high this year drawing 44 teams, this despite the SPA WORLDS for 75 and 80 were the following week in COLUMBUS, OHIO,

Champs were crowned in two 50 AAA brackets, 60 AAA, 65 AA, 65 AAA, 70 AA and 70 AAA AUGUST 1-4 at SYLVANIA'S PACESETTER PARK.

Fourteen teams entered the 50 AAA division which was divided into a GOLD BRACKET and SILVER BRACKET.

OHIO'S LOWE'S LEGENDS came out of the losers bracket to defeat  ONTARIO, CANADA'S RAM POWER 24-21 AND 10-7 to take the six-team GOLD DIVISION title.

LOWE"S fought their way to the title beating AREA 51 SOFTBALL 15-12, HOMER LOVERS 21-10, losing to RAM POWER 11-18 and downing HOMER LOVERS 15-14 to set up the battle with RAM POWER.

Others in the GOLD GROUP were DIVERSIFIED MACHINE and FLYTIME.

The OHIO HITMEN bested ONTARIO'S LAKESHORE CONSTRUCTION 18-15 and 18-16 to win the 50 AAA SILVER BRACKET. On the way to the title the HITMEN also beat the DAYTON FIFTIES and DAYTON 50's.

LAKESHORE reached the finals by beating MOTOR CITY PUSH 19-3.Others in the eight-team bracket were SYLVANIA BULL MOOSE, MIAMI VALLEY and TEAM 216.

UNIVERSAL MACHINE dropped ONTARIO"S BRANTFORD NISSAN 23-14 and 19-15 to win the 65 AAA title. UNIVERSAL had lost to BRANTFORD earlier 14-22 in bracket play but reached the finals with a 23-5 and 12-2 wins over CAVCO.

BRANTFORD went 2-0 with wins over SIDELINE BULL MOOSE 16-13 and UNIVERSAL 22-14 before losing twice to UNIVERSAL IN THE FINALS.

BRANTFORD NISSAN 70'S AA also lost to a team coming out of the losers bracket for the eight-team 70 AA crown.

KENTUCKIANA beat LEGENDS OF DAYTON 17-8, MICHIGAN LAKERS 22-21 before losing 6-9 against BRANTFORD dropping them in the losers bracket.   They bounced back beat RUSH TRUCKING 15-17, gave BRANTFORD its first loss 20-19 and won the "if" game 17-14 for the 70 AA title.

Other teams in the bracket were TORONTO, ROCHESTER ROYALS and COSSA.

The 70 AAA crown went DAYTON LEGENDS who also had to come out of the losers bracket.

DAYTON beat RUSH TRUCKING 17-10 in their opener but lost to STEEL CITY 9-15 in their next game. They knocked off CHICAGO STRIKERS 20-3 and then forced an "IF" game dropping STEEL CITY 11-8. In the finals DAYTON LEGENDS edged STEEL CITY 11-7 for the 70 AAA title.

HANDLAND FLOORING was the other team in the five-team bracket.

PONY EXPRESS delivered the mail going 3-0 in the four-team 55 BRACKET. The CHAMPS beat ANTIGUE ROADSHOW 10-7, TEAM ELITE 15-14 and  ROADSHOW AGAIN 17-7.

SYLVANIA BULL MOOSE 55'S was the fourth team in the bracket.

CHICAGO PRIME also went undefeated in bracket play to capture to 60 AAA championship.

The PRIME beat JP MOTERMEN twice 13-5 and 19-9 as well as PEPCO/SFS 24-8.

DAYTON LEGENDS 0'S, OHIO 60'S and SYLVANIA 60'S were the other teams in the six-team bracket.

Only three teams were entered in the 65 AA division and JUST ONE MORE beat bot (OHIO SILVERADO'S, DIAMOND DAWGS) to win the title.

The SPA TOM WILLIAMS TRI-CITIES CLASSIC celebrated its 27th year July 12-14 at the WINGED DEER PARK in JOHNSON CITY, TENN.

SPORTS LETTERING scored one for the VOLUNTEER STATE winning the 75's crown in an "IF Game".

SPORTS LETTERING won their first two games over GEORGIA CLASSICS (15-12) and TRI-CITIES (9-8) before the TRI-CITIES team forced an "IF GAME" with a 16-11 win.

SPORTS LETTERING answered back with 20-8 win in the title game.

TRI-CITIES 60's made it through the 60/65 bracket beating GEORGIA CLASSICS 17-16, losing 8-9 to SPORTS LETTERING and beating BLUE SKY 16-15 before the final two games to decide the 75 BRACKET CHAMPIONSHIP.

MOBLEY beat TRI-CITIES 60'S 18-12, TITUS COMPANY 65'S 24-1 and KINGSMEN 18-12 for the 60's TITLE while TITUS COMPANY took home the 65 crown.

TITUS COMPANY beat TR-CITIES 20-11 to set up the finale with MOBLEY

MARIETTA, GEORGIA played  host to 21 teams JUNE 20-23 at the AL BISHOP SOFTBALL COMPLEX in the SPA PEACH STATE CLASSIC senior softball tournament..

Ten teams squared off in the 50+MAJOR bracket with LIGHTHOUSE going 4-0 in lighting up the scoreboard to take home the title.

In their four wins the champs touched home plate 134 times in wins over SE SWARM (35-5,35-33), BEST WAY (31-16) and RIVER ROCK (33-19).

SE SWARM reached the finals beating BEST WAY 28-27 to take runner-up honors.

Others in the bracket were DUDLEY, WALKER BROS, TN COMETES, DOC'S SOFTBALL, ATLANTA MONARCHS and TEAM INTENSITY.

The MONTGOMERY SWARM bested KENT PLAYERS 23-15 and 21-17 along with a 25-18 defeat of WDMS to win the 55 AAA bracket. KENT PLAYERS reached the finals by downing GEORGIA RENEGADES 19-8.

DARRELL HARRIS took the top prize in the 55 AAA group with a pair of wins over ATLANTA RECYCLE (20-12, 26-16) and a 23-18 defeat of TN CONNECTION.

ATLANTA RECYCLE edged PANHANDLE 22-21 reaching the finals.

Three teams battled in the 60 AAA/65 MAJOR group with GAS downing COLUMBUS LXV 24-11 and MOBLEY ROOFING 117-10 for the title. COLUMBUS LXV beat MOBLEY ROOFING 22-10 to reach the finals.

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 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.