Everyone eventually made their way back over to PBR and the night ran long.
We had torrential rainfall overnight into Saturday leading to a five-hour delay Saturday morning. The fields were literal lakes, as all five were covered in standing water when I arrived at the complex. The field crew at BMAC did a fantastic job pumping off the water and prepping the fields for us to get rolling.

Pool play began at 2:00pm with several close and competitive games including Missouri barely getting by North Florida 21-20, Maryland squeaking by the Norsemen 15-14 and Chicago Metro besting United KC 13-12.

When pool play concluded, South Florida came out on top with the #1 seed, followed by #2 Great Lakes and #3 Kentucky Blue. One big surprise in pool play was I-80 Cartel, who normally kills it in St Louis, came out 0-2, losing close ones to NYPD Finest and Dayton Metro.

As bracket play began, two teams raised some eyebrows, #9 Chicago Metro and #14 Center Mass. Chicago knocked off Midwest Heat and then beat #1 South Florida 19-18 to face Missouri. While Center Mass knocked of the Swami Favorite #3 Kentucky Blue and then beat North Florida in another close one 25-22, to face Great Lakes.

In the loser’s bracket, after losing their first game in double elimination, Midwest Heat knocked off Texas Fugitives and then NYPD Finest, to face North Florida. Also, after losing their first game, Connecticut Lawmen run ruled both United KC and Dayton Metro, before running into South Florida and getting sent home. Biggest surprise of double elimination was the early exit of San Antonio Law who went 0-2, after a strong start going 2-0 in pool play.

We played late into the night, past midnight and returned early on Sunday. We were able to get the first 5 games completed Sunday, but the heavy rain moved in and we had to clear the fields only a few innings into those next games. For the first time in ten years, I made that call to cancel this event. It was a tough decision to make, but ended up being the right call as another storm came thru in the evening, that would have nullified any efforts the field crew would have made to get more games in Sunday. This cancellation ended any hope of Texas Fugitives defending their Gold Division Championship as well as the Great Lakes defending their Majors Division Championship, hopefully they make their runs next year!

I would like to thank the staff, grounds crew, and management at the Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Complex, for all their hard work throughout the weekend. There were several others who deserve big thanks… Corny and DT with DeMarini, Todd with LHM, Mason with 1st Phorm, Matt with Lousiville Slugger, Chris with Dudley, Terri with Elle Management, Tom with TR Hughes, Nick with Feel State, Ashlee with Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group, Doug with Grey Eagle, Jason with Lohr, Marcus with PBR, Dan with Dynamac Sports Gear, Cullen with the St. Louis Cardinals, and all of our sponsors.

HUGE THANK YOU to all the coaches, teams and their families who traveled to St. Louis to be a part of the Annual Show Me Classic. Since the cancellation of this year’s Show Me Classic, I have been working on something to make sure that does not happen again in the future, stay tuned for details…

Final Standings (Top 8 Did Not Finish):
DNF 2-0 – Missouri Lawmen (up 11-3 in 3rd v. Chicago)
DNF 2-0 – Center Mass/Alpha Prime (up 5-0 in 3rd v. Great Lakes)
DNF 2-0 – Great Lakes (down 0-5 in 3rd v. Center Mass)
DNF 2-0 – Chicago Metro (down 3-11 in 3rd v. Missouri)
DNF 2-1 – South Florida (up 13-9 in 3rd v. Maryland)
DNF 2-1 – North Florida (up 7-5 in 3rd v. Midwest Heat)
DNF 2-1 – Maryland Outlaws (down 9-13 in 3rd v. S. Florida)
DNF 2-1 – Midwest Heat (down 5-7 in 3rd v. N. Florida)
T9th – Connecticut Lawmen
T9th – Kentucky Blue
T9th – NYPD Finest
T9th – I-80 Cartel
T13th – San Antonio Law/Bio-Techs
T13th – Texas Fugitives
T13th – Minnesota Norsemen
T13th – Dayton Metro
17th – United KC

All-Tournament Team:
Missouri – Justin Beal #7
Missouri – Dallas Johnson #13
Missouri – Matt Smallen #11
Center Mass – Denio Rodriguez #8
Center Mass – Ryan Register #44
Center Mass – RD Lyons #27
Great Lakes – Travis Perkola #8
Great Lakes – Jake Fenslau #24
Chicago Metro – Travis Morgan #99
Chicago Metro – Dustin Bowling #16