1. The Connection.
How they beat you: Balance. They are the most complete team in the nation and have no weaknesses to exploit. They play together often, have great team chemistry and now have the swagger and confidence of defending World Champions.
How you beat them: Draw them under ideal conditions. The ideal conditions to beat TC would be a small field (think Crosley or Angel here) with the wind blowing out. Cooler conditions, but not cold would be a bonus. They need to be pumped up and fresh, so perhaps the first game of the morning or in the later afternoon after a break. What you want to happen is they come out TOO fired up and their table setters smack a few solo homeruns in the first 2 innings and that leaves their sluggers having to get cute with their swings the rest of the game. When they are trying to preserve homeruns they generally cannot put together those huge innings they are known for.

2. Great Lakes.
How they beat you: Tenacity. They identify with the honey badger which is small but fearless. The honey badger, despite it’s size is the apex predator in the region due to its tenacity. That is the mindset of Great Lakes. You know you will get tenacious pitching, defense and hitting when you face them. You will not be served any cookies when batting and you will have to struggle to score every run. Conversely, they will spray the ball around the field and steal every base they can if they catch you dogging on defense.
How you beat them: Out execute them. You need to execute your game plan better than they execute theirs. To the naked eye their defense is flawless, but upon closer examination, when playing against top teams (take the WS championship game for example), there were double plays that SHOULD have been executed. These are not errors….just sloppy/slow execution. On offense there were missed opportunities for home runs with runners on base. They left several home runs in the tank on a few occasions. If they do execute their game, they are nearly impossible to beat. But, when they do miss those double play opportunities, you need to make them pay by tacking on a few “unearned” runs.

3. LAPD Blue.
How they beat you: Talent. They are a collection of all stars and position by position, their guy is probably more talented than your guy. Not only are they talented, but most of them play the highest level civilian ball all season so they are accustomed to playing at what is essentially professional softball.
How you beat them: Disinterest. Your players need to have a “I don’t care” attitude when hearing about the press clippings of all their superstars. Better yet, give me a team of brand new young players who know nothing about police softball and I will give them a shot against LAPD Blue more than a team that is familiar with their accomplishments. Teams beat themselves against the Blue because they THINK they are supposed to lose. Instead, do the opposite. Go in with the IDGAF attitude. This is exactly how Suffolk managed the biggest upset in World Series history, sending the Blue into the losers bracket in the opening playoff game last season. They had a bunch of young guys who had never played the Blue before, did not know who was who on their team, and they simply went out and played the game.

4. Maximum Elite.
How they beat you: Confidence. These guys know they are one of the top teams in the nation and they play with an air of confidence that is unparalleled in this sport. Even when they are chasing deep in the game, there is a sense in their dugout that at any given moment they are going to have that big break out inning and prevail in the end. This is likely attributed to their veteran leaders, but it certainly works because they seem unflappable even under the most dire circumstances.
How you beat them: Exploit their defense. Make no mistake, their defense is much improved. They are actually GOOD on defense now. But those teams ranked ahead of them are GREAT on defense. Max Elite will make their routine plays but with a few defensive exceptions (center field, shortstop) they are not what you would consider elite defenders. How do you go about this? Force them to make tough plays. Hard grounders into infield holes. Take a shot at the outfield lines. Run extra hard out of the box and make them force an errant throw. Be daring on the basepaths and make their outfielders throw you out. Push the game tempo on them and it could force errors.

5. New York Hounds.
How they beat you: Energy. Watching a Hounds game is like watching a Metallica concert as it is chocked full of energy and emotion. They are loud, proud and thrive on the energy they generate in the dugout. Rarely do you see a Hound sitting on the bench. They are usually standing in front of the dugout cheering their teammates on. If these guys get rolling, that energy is like a wrecking ball destroying all who get in the way.
How you beat them: Controversy. Anytime controversy is generated they lose their focus and redirect their energy to the source of the controversy. Usually this can be attributed to the umpire making a call they disagree with. Even if this call occurs in the first inning, they will dwell on it and replace that positive energy with negative energy. They don’t recover well once this occurs.

6. State 48 Syndicate.
How they beat you: Offense. This team is like the Kansas City Chiefs. They have an arsenal on offense and can beat you in so many ways up and down their line up. They can do it all on offense, base hit, gap hit and hit homeruns, even under the most difficult conditions. For a “young” team they are very confident and believe they should win every game regardless of opponent. They don’t get intimidated when facing the LA Blue, NY Hounds, and TC of the circuit. They know they can bang with all of them and come out on top.
How you beat them: Take what they give you. Like we said, they are like the Chiefs who are known for giving up as many points as they score. Syndicate will GIVE you runs. We have seen games where they give up double digit walks. We have seen them make multiple errors in the same inning. They rarely make stellar plays on defense. If this was 20 years ago, they would be the mirror of the Jacksonville PSC squad. If we had a way to go back in time, it would be interesting to see a State 48 vs JVille game at the old Houston tournament that was unlimited HRs and no time limit. The over under on that game would be 100 runs.

7. Mid Atlantic.
How they beat you: Intimidation. Lets be honest, nobody looks forward to playing Mid Atlantic. They can beat you with pitching, defense, offense, athleticism etc. and they have one of the sports greatest leaders in the dugout. These guys are good and they know it. The impose their will on opponents which is why they rarely fall outside the top 3 in every tournament they play in. They are former World Champions and they carry that swagger with them even though it has been a few years since they popped champagne on Fenway.
How you beat them: Hope they don’t show up. Not literally, they don’t drop out of tourneys. Terry is a man of his word and if he says he will be there, he will be there. The problem is, you simply don’t know who is going to show up for them. He is always plugging in players and patching holes at the last minute. If he could ever get his best 12 guys to commit to every tournament for a season they could go undefeated. That is exactly why they won their first world championship, he had commitment from his stars. But, based on past history he will be lucky to get those guys to commit to even one tournament and he will need to once again plug holes.

8. Angel Armor. #currently ranked 10 but have already earned their Elite 8 status for 2023
How they beat you: Defense. They thrive on low scoring games where they can emphasize their strength at pitching and defense. They go ALL OUT on defense and if they can keep the game below 20 runs, they got a shot to beat anyone.
How you beat them: Offense. It is still softball, and the ball still comes underhand. It doesn’t matter how good their defense is…if you are hitting outfield gaps and infield holes there is nothing they can do to defend that. They don’t have the offensive firepower to get into a slugfest with teams like State 48 or the Hounds. Now they are stepping up into the Super Heavyweight Division of Police Softball, they are going to need to find a way to generate more runs on a consistent basis.

9. DEA Combo. #bonus team as they are ranked 8.
How they beat you: Experience. This team is loaded with former Majors Division World Champions and Hall of Famers. They simply know how to win softball games and tournaments. Watching DEA is like watching Tom Brady. What does Brady offer? Speed. No. Cannon arm. No. Size. No. But that guy knows how to win games. That is the DEA Combo. On face value they SHOULD be too old to compete with these young guns. Their defense SHOULD be a tad rusty. Their baserunning should be a step slower. But, come game time, all the SHOULD’s go away and they silence their doubters time and time again.
How you beat them: Injuries. You certainly don’t wish for anyone to get injured but the truth is, their biggest enemy has been injuries. They are plagued with players who have suffered significant injuries. This is a testament to the effects of the aging process. Father Time has taken on all challengers and he is still undefeated. Unfortunately for the DEA, most of their players are north of 40 and some are pushing 50. The fact is, them getting through a tournament unscathed physically is highly unlikely at this point.


And there it is, a preview of the Elite 8 from the perspective of our PS.COM advanced scouting team.