Myrtle Beach Spring National 2022



Coming out of pool play the top 4 teams in the Major Division were #1 thin Blue Line, 2 KY Blues (Clear), 3 NY Hounds, #4 North Fla.

Coming out of Gold as the top 2 seeds were Necessary Force and Northern Lawmen.



Some of the surprises in pool play: Thin Blue Line grabbing the #1 Seed, Max Elite AND Nassau Blues Needing to win their last pool play game to qualify for a birth in the Major Division, and CT law as well as Center Mass, not only holding their own but knocking off some established east coast Major Division teams!!!!!



Once the seeding was established major and a gold double elimination tournaments were set…..



Lets start with the Gold : #1 and #2 Seeded teams Necessary Force and Northern law got Bye Games and waited for the winners of Detroit PSC and Marylands Finest as well as CT Goatz and Dayton Metro.

Detroit PSC edged out MArylands finest and Dayton beat CT Goatz to advance……. Detroit and Necessary Force slugged it out in an exciting game with Necessary force pulling out the win! Northern Lawmen, after knocking off two years worth of rust caught fire and beat Dayton Metro to set up an entertaining game with Necessary Force…..



Mean While Detroit PSC went on a run in the losers bracket sending several teams home for the weekend (or at least back to enjoy the beach or one of the resorts pools)



In the Undefeated game of the Gold Bracket Northern Law and Necessary Force matched up with the Canucks pulling out the Win forcing a rematch with Detroit and Necessary Force…… Necessary Force bested the Boys from Detroit setting up a rematch with the Canadians!!!!!

Northern Lawmen came out sluggish in game one of the Championship, Necessary Force came out on fire!!!! Not a good outcome for our brothers up north in game 1. Necessary force FORCES the IF game in the championship!!!!!!



In the Championship game the guys from Necessary Force proved that they are still the top dog in the gold division besting the Northern Lawmen and taking the Gold Division TITLE…….

ALL TOURNAMENT GOLD:

JR Aluska, Sean Brainthwaite, Nick Locilento, Chris Kuzminski, Mike Zderko, Anthony Anglisano, Casey Asschert, Justin Vatour, Russ Hopkins, Billy McNutt and Brandon Wilson.



The Major Division taught us quite a few things… One being “its now how You start, its how you finish.” In opening round games Max Elite beat Center Mass, CT Law beat Missouri, The Hounds beat Nassau Blues Great Lakes beat Suffolk North Florida Beat Detroit Metros finest, and Mid Atlantic beat Maryland Outlaws.

Round 2 saw Max Elite catch fire and put #2 seed KY Clear into the losers bracket Speaking of catching fire……. Mid Atlantic avenged a pool play defeat against TBL and knocked #1 seeded team into the losers bracket.. other round 2 games saw the Hounds besting CT law in extra innings with some controversial umpiring calls unfortunately factoring into the outcome… (We learned that the east coast has another Major caliber team in CT Law) and Great Lakes/ Miken pulled away from North Florida.

The Quarter finals gave us Max Elite VS the Hounds and Mid Atlantic VS Great Lakes/Miken……… In a spirited contest against the east coasts two most consistent teams The Hounds pulled out the win against MAX ELITE…… Mid Atlantic took a step back against Great Lakes/Miken (but this game saw the men from MAL start to get that swaggar back, you could see this teams confidence building)



In losers bracket games we saw Suffolk go on a run knocking Metro Detroits Finest, and Ky Clear out of the tournament. Missouri ALSO found their game and sent Nassau, TBL and Center Mass home before being sent home themselves by Max Elite. Maryland finished off CT Law and Suffolk before being knocked out by MAL…….



This left us with the Hounds and GLL/ Miken in the undefeated game and Mid Atlantic VS Max Elite in the losers bracket……. MAL tired and with injuries stacking up found a way to pull out a win against the MAX Elite men.

Meanwhile the Hounds and GLL/Miken played the exact type of game you would expect between these two east coast titans, great defense and timely….. Unfortunately for the Hounds GLL/Miken bested the boys from the Big Apple….. Setting up a losers bracket final or the Hounds vs MAL………



Every contest between these two teams is “spirited” to say the least but the mutual respect between the competitors and coaches is noticeable to say the least. MAL came out swinging and the Hounds came right back with and answer… The game went back and forth before the MAL men pulled out their 5th win of the day………



Our championship game was Great Lakes/ Miken VS Mid Atlantic Lawmen, Great Lakes/ Miken showed us that they know how to win tournaments. This squad stays calm under pressure, Biscuit sets the defensive tone and perfectly places his guys in the right places on the field to make plays………. While at bat this crew hits gaps, hustles from base to base and utilizes every part of the field!!!!

GLL/Miken walked away as the Major Division East Coast Spring National Championship !!!!!!



MAJOR ALL TOURNAMENT Team:

MVP Jeff Graus :Biscuit” ( go figure)

Ty Rubio, Travis Perkola, Devon Crawford, Adam Orozco, Alex Genoa, Chris Lewellyn, Kurtis Snyder, Darin Bumgarner, Marieo Foster and Jeff Graus…



Some take aways from the East Coast Spring Natty:

Mid Atlantic is back!!!! This group walked away from Myrtle Beach bumped and bruised but that walk had a whole bunch of that MAL SWAGGAR to it…

GLL/Miken has all the pieces in place to win a world title, timely hitting, steady defense and the best pitcher in Police softball… Sounds like a recipe for success!

CT Lawmen are a legitimate Major team and NO ONE is doing themselves any favors by taking them lightly…..

The Outlaws have a talented group of individuals if they get the dedication from some of their younger guys they are going to be a threat no matter who they face.

Northern Lawmen came south and showed everyone that they will be a contender.

While we give a ton of accolades to teams like the hounds and Max Elite from being extremely consistent on the circuit you cant knock the Boys from Necessary Force. Every tournament they show up, give it their all in their pool play games, end up in the gold bracket, get knocked into the losers bracket in gold and win it!!!!!! Not to mention they are a great group of guys to hang out with and drink a few beers!!!!



The tournament didn’t go off without any hiccups though, CT Law lost in extra innings on a controversial call by the umpire, Unfortunately umpired blow calls, it happens, its part of the game, you cant file a protest over a bad call and the tournament director cannot over rule an umpires judgement call, even if you show me video evidence. It’s a judgement call.



The super gold dot balls that were used for this event definitely were not “rockets” playing good defense matters with these balls. Not one game saw the limit of 6 home runs. Yes the fields are big (325) all the way around with a 12 ft fence and there was some wind but these balls made for a different game.



Speaking of balls……………… there was an accusation that one team was using “altered” balls…. I will squash that rumor. That particular team played their pool play games at a field that had a pond beyond left and center fields. They hit several balls into the water in their pool play game, How do I know, I pulled a couple of their balls out myself. Did any of these balls make into a game??? Possible, but what advantage does anyone have hitting a wet ball??? Secondly, if a team feels like the ball is altered, present the ball to the ump and have the ump contact the tournament director.



All in all it was a great tournament with a ton of exciting games!!!! Be Safe and we cant wait to see everyone next year……