Before any of the planned events or tournament took place that weekend, a Stanislaus Combo player decided to surprise his girlfriend and got down on one knee….congratulations to the future Mr. & Mrs. Block.

On Thursday night, most of the participating teams were represented in our group of one hundred at Busch Stadium, for the Cardinals/Cubs game. That was followed by our annual Friday night player’s party at PBR St. Louis, where Javier Colmonero, of the Degenerates, was recognized with a plaque, on PBR’s Freedom Friday, for his time with the US Army and with the California Highway Patrol. The hardest partying team of the weekend remained in the state of California, as last year’s winner, LAPD Blues, passed the torch to Ruben and CenCal for 2019.
Saturday morning began pool play and there were no real upsets this year, but a couple notable pool play games were the Degenerates topping Kentucky Blue(19-18) and San Antonio Law over The Shield (13-12). Pool play concluded with CenCal Connection coming out as the top seed, followed by the Minnesota Lawmen at the two seed, and both earning byes for the double elimination bracket.

San Antonio bested The Shield(17-7) for a second time, before getting knocked to the loser’s bracket by Minnesota(10-6).CenCal made their way to the undefeated game against Minnesota, after coming out on top of a back and forth battle with the Missouri Lawmen(26-25). Minnesota ultimately sat top dog, after a huge inning that sealed the victory against CenCal(25-13).

In the loser’s bracket, I-80 Cartel knocked off Stanislaus Combo(16-13) and The Shield(14-9), before getting sent home on a walk off homerun against Missouri(14-13). San Antonio rattled off wins against Great Lakes(19-9), Missouri(28-17) after being down by 15 runs, and CenCal(23-11), to earn the spot versus Minnesota in the Championship. San Antonio stayed hot with a (14-11) victory and forced the IF game against Minnesota. The IF game was more of the same, as San Antonio came out on top (20-17), completing their amazing run, and winning the 2019 St. Louis Show Me Classic.
The first six teams that were eliminated from the double elimination bracket were moved to the Southwest Airlines drop down bracket. This bracket played out with Stanislaus and NorCal Standard meeting in the Cali-Only Southwest Airlines Final. NorCal had their opportunity in the 7th inning, and down one run, but Stanislaus held on and won a close one (15-14), to win Southwest Airlines bracket.

I would like to thank the staff at the Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Complex, for all their hard work throughout the weekend. There were several others who helped make this tournament a success, and who deserve big thanks… Dennis with Louisville Slugger, Greg with Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group, Mike & Brett with PBR St. Louis, Doug with Grey Eagle Distributors, Jason with Lohr Distributors, Dan with Dynamac Sports Gear, all of our sponsors, and Skylar Monnig.
Also, thank you to all the coaches and the others behind the scenes who brought your teams to the St. Louis Show Me Classic for a great weekend of softball and camaraderie. I know how hard it is to get players together to travel, and without you guys this tournament could not have happened. Finally, congrats to my friend Trini and the San Antonio Law for your hard fought victory!

Final Standings:
1st - San Antonio Law/Shields For Kids
2nd - Minnesota Lawmen
3rd - CenCal Connection
4th - Missouri Lawmen
T5th - Great Lakes Lawmen
T5th - I-80 Cartel
T7th - The Shield
T7th - Midwest Heat
T9th - United KC
T9th - Stanislaus Combo
T9th - Degenerates
T9th - NorCal Standard
T13th - Dayton Metro
T13th - Kentucky Blue

Southwest Airlines Bracket:
1st – Stanislaus Combo
2nd – NorCal Standard
3rd – Kentucky Blue
4th – Dayton Metro
T5th – Degenerates
T5th – United KC

All-Tournament Team:
Manny Reyes (Tournament MVP) - SA Law/SFK
Andres Monterrubio - SA Law/ SFK
Jonathan Reyes - SA Law/SFK
Jeremy Whaley (Defensive MVP) - Minnesota
Corey LaPlante - Minnesota
Adam Peeler - Minnesota
Jorgie Vina - CenCal
Eric Mattos - CenCal
Joseph Kuster - Missouri
Michael Costa - Missouri