Sunny beaches and 80 degree days was the surroundings for the Rick Hall Memorial/Jacksonville Masters softball tournament this weekend.

The tournament started out with 9 teams in a round robin shootout. Great Lakes, East Coast Lawmen and New York metro in bracket one. East Coast giving GLL their only loss for the weekend in the pool play. Bracket two had more heavyweights in it with Suffolk, Shamrocks and Mayport Squaring off. Bracket 3 pitted Ohio Lawmen, Wayne Oakland and Tri State lawmen in yet more great games

The weekend highlight for many was New York Metro pulled the old boys together to remember their coach Red Conry. Red would have been VERY proud of the boys. Hall of Famer’s Richie Carter, Dan Spinelli, Donny Meyer, Richie Malek, Glen Formica, Flip Mcgovern, all back in the same dugout with Jonny, Earl, Mick and the others. Donny, two months out of a knee replacement surgery playing the fields in several positions (pitching!!!) and Johnny Sager, making a comeback after a tough battle with cancer. Incredible showing.

Another highlight was Johnny Sanzo making the trek and starting with only 7 players, with players from other teams helping them out in the round robin until they could fill their team the rest of the way for the bracket play.

After the round robin, teams squared off against those in the opposite brackets. The battles were on and scores were high, with most teams playing the majority of the other teams in the tournament when the dust settled.

Great Lakes went through their side of the winners bracket beating Shamrock in the first round and Ohio in the second round before beating Wayne Oakland in the finals of the winners bracket.

Wayne Oakland beat Suffolk in the first round then squared off in one of the best games of the weekend with East Coast Lawmen. When the dust settled and over 60 runs were scored, Wayne Oakland pulled out the victory, reminiscent of the wars between Wayne Oakland and the great Tidewater teams. Wayne Oakland went on to beat Shamrocks to get a second crack at the eventual champs.

After losing to Great Lakes in the first round, Shamrocks went on to show why they are one of the top Masters teams in the country winning their next 3 games before running out of steam, losing to Wayne Oakland in the finals of the losers bracket in yet another tight race. Ohio Lawmen finished 4^th as they too ran up some high scores in their weekend venture beating NY and Suffolk.

Lenny Glover’s Suffolk County and Terry Dugan’s East Coast Lawmen tied for 5^th after playing very strong all weekend. Tri-State and New York Metro rounded out the field of teams tied for 7^th.

A HUGE thank you goes out to all the players and teams this weekend for a special contribution with a special thanks going to Scott Samis of the Shamrock masters. Scott took it upon himself to organize the Phill fundraising effort for the weekend. He had a great idea for a home run derby competition, but due to time restraints it wasn’t possible. All of the players/teams reached in their pockets without flinching and within minutes there was $810 raised to donate to the Pay it Forward campaign. Thank you again Scott and all that chipped in.

This weekend was clearly about more than softball as there seemed to be more beers passed and more camaraderie than in tournaments past in these short 2-3 days span. Ragtime owes an entry fee or two for some teams J J

Congrats again to the Great lakes Lawmen for their championship and to all that made the trip.

Stay safe and see you all on the next one.

2013 Rick Hall Memorial Champions great Lakes Lawmen

 Runners Up Wayne Oakland PSC

 

 

 

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 After the dust settled at the Sin City Classic, So Cal Alliance soundly placed themselves at the top of the heap by beating Hardcore in both the Single and Double Elimination tournaments. Sin City finished 3rd in the open division with Lockdown wrapping up 4th place.

    In the Gold Division, Nitro2go tpped the list with Warpigs finishing in 2nd. HogWild, LAPD, So Cal Riot and Copper Combo rounded out the field.

     Congrats to all the teams that made it out for the weekend and look forward to the rest of the LESA Championship Series events.

Below are the LESA West standings as of the first tournament.

1 Alliance             45
2 Hardcore           43
3 Sin City             41
4 Lock Down         39
5 Concord            39
6 DEA                  37
7 Aftershock         37
8 Battleborn         37
9 Nitro2Go            30
10 War Pigs          28
11 Hog Wild          26
12 LAPD                24
13 So Cal Riot        24
13 Copper Combo   22

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April 1^st has brought us many great pranks and far fetched stories the past few hundred years and this year is a doozy.

Rumors spread that WO18 was going to shed his green and gold for the burnt orange of an Alliance team for a summer weekend out west. The rumors were not out for long before Lucifer called complaining of a cold chill and pipes freezing as well as farmers were complaining of their pigs flying off into the sunset.

 

The April fool prank of the century may or may not have fooled anyone but one thing is certain, to save the world from spinning backwards, there doesn’t appear to be any chance of this rumor happing at this stage of the game.

Enjoy the day and stay safe as always!!!

 

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The Rick Hall Memorial Tournament will continue on as planned. The tournament will still be played as scheduled with a couple minor changes. Helping David Stevens with the tournament to insure the tournament plays on will be Terry Dugan and Andy Wurm with the addition of Donny Meyer who has volunteered to run the bracket board and keep the beer cold.

    The city of Jacksonville Beach has graciously offered to pick up the tab for the fields and umpires so that the players don't have to worry about that aspect of things. The Hampton Inn (formerly Comfort Inn Oceanfront) will still be the host hotel.  (904)241-2311
To block rooms request JAX POLICE SOFTBALL (Group Code JPS)
WWW.Jacksonvillebeachoceanfront.hamptoninn.com Room block will be held until 4/1/13.

Round-Robin play on Thursday April 25th - Friday April 26th double elimination tournament starts.Tournament scheduled thru Saturday afternoon....no play on sunday travel day.

There will more information and activities added as they come in.

Any questions contact Andy Wurm at WAYNEOAKLAND1@AOL.COM

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The 4th Annual Brad Moody Memorial tournament in Manteca, Ca has agreed to be the final leg in the 2013 LESA West Coast Championship Series. This "Trifecta" of tournaments will certainly deermine who shakes out at what level by the end of the year rankings.

   Good luck to all teams and tournament directors for the 2013 season

PLAY BALL!!!!

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The Dave Dunmore Memorial Tournament is slated for Septemner 13th-15th 2013 in Toronto, Ontario Canada. This great tournament has been played for the past 27 years and has raised over a million dollars for charity. In the past there have been some teams from "The States" that have experienced the Canadian atmosphere and they have said it is one of the most fun tournaments going.

     The Toronto Police team is inviting and and all law enforcement teams to join them for the weekend and experience some real northern hospitality.

    More information can be found at www.Davedunmore.com

David A. Dunmore
E.O.W. 9/18/84

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    After almost 13 years the LESA points circuit is back in action. The four biggest tournaments in the east will host this years battlegrounds. Virginia Beach "Battle at the Beaches, Long Island- New York, National Police Championships- Cincinnati, and the USSSA Law Enforcement Worlds in Sterling Heights/Warren are the four battlegrounds to determine the LESA Champion of 2013.

     The West will be joining the LESA family and will host a Championship circuit as well.  SinCity Madness and Lake Tahoe have agreed to host a tournament with a third tournament to be announced in the near future.

  Line Drive Sportz in Sterling Heights has offered to donate team pullovers to the East LESA Series Champions. More prizes to be announced.

LESA East "GRAND-SLAM" Tournaments:

Virginia Beach, Va           May 17-19
Long Island, New York    June 1,2
Cincinnati, Oh                   July 18-21
Sterling/Warren, Mi          Aug 2-4 

LESA West "Trifecta" tournaments

Sin City Madness                 March 15-17 
Lake Tahoe Classic            July 18-20
Tournament TBA

 

LESA Points system

 

10 points awarded for participating in a tournament
15 extra for playing in upper divisions 

 

20 for 1^st place
18 for 2^nd
16 for 3^rd
14 for 5^th
12 for 7^th
10 for 9^th
7 for 13^th
6 for 17th

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 Who is the top Police team in Florida?? It would seem so far in 2013 that the claim goes to Mike Kletsky's South Florida Lawmen. SFL cruised into Orlando this weekend and captured their second straight Brian Aselton Memorial Championship by defeating North Florida in the finals.  Scotty Bridges North Florida team took second place ahead of Terry Dugans Mid Atlantic Lawmen. Rounding out the top 5 were Cranston PD and the newly formed Florida Enforcers.

Top 5 finishers

1) South Florida

2) North Florida

3) Mid Atlantic Lawmen

4) Cranston PD

5) Florida Enforcers

It would appear Johnny Sanzo once again kept the memory of Ofc Aselton alive by putting on another successful tournament.

 Congrats Johnny and keep up the good work and congrats to South Florida Lawmen.

 

        

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The 2013 U.S.S.S.A. World Tournament/ Wouters Sawyers Memorial

The dates for the 2013 Sgt Christopher Wouters/Ofc Mark Sawyers Memorial Tournament are slated for Aug 2nd,3rd and 4th.  Last years  "Class Reunion" was a special weekend bringing lots of old faces in for a great weekend and honor the 30th Anniversary of the start of the Grand Daddy of all police tournaments, "The Detroit Classic".

   Great Lakes Lawmen and Greene County Oh were crowned USSSA Champs.

       More information will be released as it becomes available in the near future.

 

     

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September 8, 2012

   The 2102 National Police Softball Tournament came to a close with Florida's Down 2 Earth capturing their first Title by defeating a very good Minnesota team. D2E was defeated by Minnesota in their first game of the Round Robin, however, they cruised through bracket play defeating some outstanding teams including Minnesota in the winner's final. Minnesota, a team that never quits battled through the loser bracket to reach the finals and set up a rematch. The finals proved to be a battle between two heavy weights. After six and a half innings of spectacular hitting and fielding the difference came down to a 3 run DINGER in the bottom of the seventh inning propelling Down 2 Earth to their first National Police Softball Championship and set of championship rings.

Down 2 Earth's Allen Westfall was named the best Defensive Player and Paul Cullen was named the Tournament MVP.

All Tournament selections for Down 2 Earth:

Clint Hart, Ryan Register, Brandon Worrall and Chris Villano

Minnesota's All Tournament Selections:

Bobby Lambert, Mike Dahlstron, Adam Keeler and Ken Fry

Third Place went to the Great Lakes Lawmen. Their All Tournament selections were:

Dave Zierk, Scott Waxweiler,Mike DiCicco and Patrick Hill

2010 and 2011 Champs, Ohio Lawmen finished fourth. Their All Tournament selections:

Brian Key and Butch Castor

New Jersey Shamrocks and local favorite Greene County Enforcers tied for fifth.

New Jersey Shamrocks selected Brandon Dunning as their All Tournament Selection while the Greene County Enforcers selected Lloyd Alexander.

In the Masters Division the Ohio Lawmen playing some tremendous softball captured the Masters title defeating Minnesota.

Ohio Lawmen's Calvin Johnson was named the tournament MVP, followed by their All Tournament Selections:

Terry Ables, Todd Brewer, Brian Key and D.J. Williams

Minnesota's All Tournament selections:

Freddie Gray, Darryl Boerger and Mike Dollerschell

Cincinnati Master finished third. Their All Tournament Selections were:

Pete Ballauer and Mark Smith.

Each year the National Police Softball Championship presents a Sportsmanship Award to an individual that exemplifies what Police Softball is all about and this years selection was Cincinnati Master's Manager Chuck (crazy8) Zimmerman.

Terry Ables and I would like to thank all the teams that came and participated this year. Even though the numbers of teams were down the caliber of play had to be some of the best police softball anyone has ever watched over the past 41 years. Thanks to the players and fans for making this tournament very special.

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Classic Softball Weekend

 

 

The 2012 USSSA Law Enforcement Worlds had a new venue this year. The Sgt Christopher Wouters/ Ofc Mark Sawyers Memorial Softball Tournament moved to Halmich Park in the City of Warren this year and despite the threatening weather was a rousing success by most accounts.

 

Nineteen teams showed up to play this weekend with more than half of the top 20 teams in the country competing. 10 different states were represented with the DEA Combo traveling the farthest, all the way from California. South Florida and Jacksonville Masters came in from Florida and the famed New York Retro represented the east coast. Chicago Metro and several Ohio teams solidified the 17^th Annual event with the mainstay Michigan teams. The weekend was also a celebration of the 30^th year of the famed Detroit Classic Softball Tournament. Numerous Hall of Famers and old players from the past were on hand to rekindle old stories and catch up on lost time.

 

500+ people and several TV news channels were on hand for the emotional opening ceremonies to honor the lives of the officers killed in the line of duty the past year. The traditional bag pipes, 21 gun salute and taps once again left everyone realizing the true meaning of this weekend. Several recognition awards were also handed out during the ceremony. Tim Grundmann ,wearing his Pinellas team colors, was officially inducted into the Police Softball Hall of Fame. Robbie Freitas from Jacksonville was recognized for is lifetime contributions to the Law Enforcement game and Chicago’s Anthony Buonadonna was recognized for his sportsmanship in leading his team all around the country to various events.

 

Congrats and thanks fellas.

 

 

 

A two hour rain delay set things back on Friday afternoon. With the skies dark and threatening, the fields held up nice and Friday pool play was completed in “one pitch” style. Because of the bad weather, several players from other teams flights were cancelled and could not get in till the next day. It was very cool to see other teams offer their own players to help out each other so the spirit of the game could continue and everyone had enough players with no complaining. It was special to see life long combatants playing on the same side of the field. The traditional home run derby was postponed till Saturday due to the late start . Todd Amlin beat out 20 sluggers to win a 2013 bat donated by tourney sponsor Line Drive Sportz. Line drive in conjunction with Worth, Miken and Combat supplied 50 bats for the weekend. Each field was supplied 10 identical bats of all different weights and balances. A real bat wars to some degree.

 

 

When Saturday came, all bets were off and everyone had their game faces back on. Ohio Lawmen were back on track as was South Florida Lawmen, Great Lakes Lawmen and Metro Detroit’s Finest, all making it to the final four. After the dust settled, Ohio and South Florida were facing off in the finals of the winners bracket after beating Great Lakes and Metro Detroit respectfully. Wayne Oakland came back after being knocked into the losers bracket by Ohio Lawmen and defeated DEA and Metro Detroit. Wayne Oakland’s run slowed and they lost to defending USSSA World Champions Great Lakes Lawmen to finish 4^th in the Open Division. Ohio Lawmen defeated South Florida to put themselves in the cat bird seat coming back on Sunday. Great Lakes Lawmen came out rested and solid all weekend with a full team and were able to defeat South Florida for 3^rd place then complete a double dip of Ohio Lawmen to repeat as USSSA Law Enforcement Open Champions. Rounding out the Open Division was OH-50, Metro Detroit, Jacksonville masters and DEA.

 

In the “B” Flight, Greene County Enforcers won their 2^nd tourney in their 7 year history to become the 2012 USSSA “B” Flight World Champions. To do so, Greene County had a hard road to travel and needed to also complete a double dip of NY Retro. Retro was led by a whose-who of Hall of Famer’s who came in special for the “Classic” weekend. Greene County clawed their way out of the losers bracket after losing to Chicago in the final 4 round. Previous back to back champions Chicago Metro finished 3^rd after losing to NY Retro in the finals of the winners bracket then again to Greene County in another fantastic finish game. Finishing 4^th was Detroit Police after also losing to Greene County in their quest for the Gold. Miami Valley and Dayton PD finished tied for 5^th. Rounding out the “B” flight was Detroit Enforcers, Macomb Sheriffs, Federal Air Marshalls, Warren Mi and Sterling Heights.

 

All World Selections were as follows:

 

Open Division: 

MVP Scott Waxweiller- GLL 

Gold Glove- Higinio Rivera- Ohio Lawmen 

All World- John Andreson- GLL 

All World- John Zintak-GLL 

All World- Derrick Ward-GLL 

All World- Jeff Grause- GLL 

All World- Jake Negray- Ohio 

All World- Brian Key-Ohio 

All World- Dusty Bowling-Ohio 

All World- Carlos Ramos-SFL 

All World- Matt Tindale-SFL 

All World- Todd Amlin-Wayne Oakland

 

“B” Flight

 MVP- Tony Vitale- GCE 

Gold Glove-Ryan Theis NY retro 

All World- Kevin Cavanaugh- GCE

All World- Terry Ables- GCE 

All World- Doug Schwalbach- GCE 

All World- Jamie Givens- GCE 

All World- Earl Phillips- NYR

All World- Richie Carter- NYR

All World- Kevin Medina-NYR 

All World- Jimmy Knapp- Chicago 

All World- Johnny Hand- Chicago 

All World- Steve Perry- Detroit PD

 We would like all the teams that came to our 17^th Annual “Local Tournament” here in the Motor City and we hope to continue the tradition in the future. As always please stay safe!!!!!!

 

Kevin and Andy