September 10-12 Rockford, Illinois

The 8 field Sportscore Park was beautiful and the recent flood that closed the park was barely noticeable. 5 divisions (55,50,45,40,35) were held and 3 new Champions were crowned. One guy Mike White from Madison Wisconsin played in all 5 divisions. The field prep crew was awesome. Sportscore Manager, Marianne Larson and her staff were great to work with again providing gate keepers, scorekeepers, , hosting the umpires and staff and especially her hospitality ambassadors. The event went smoothly for the most part with cool playing weather.
Special thanks to tournament directors Loren Lathrop and Mike Watson and UIC Carley Parish and Kris Russom on souvenirs. The umpires also did a fine job with only a few complaints. Umpires were from Oregon, Canada, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Player ages ranged from 32 to 71. Players asked if we could add a 60+ Division next year and that may very well happen. People were excited to hear that we are adding Niagra Falls July 1-3 next year and we had 11 teams verbally commit to attend(ok their wives committed for them). The fields really took a rain blast very well Saturday morning and all games still started on time at 8 am and the rain really helped to make it a pleasant day as there was no dust and injuries were low as the cool temperature aided players, many who were playing in multiple divisions. As usual players had many suggestions through the weekend to help make the event better each year such as using a yellow ball, getting the curfew waived, using wood bats, adding a 60+ Division, staggering the championship game times and having teams play their way into upper and lower divisions on Sunday. Any and all suggestions are appreciated by the NAFA Directors. Without the curfew being waived we can’t really stagger the championship games but that would be nice except for teams with long drives or plane flights. We may add the 60 as we had 4 teams commit to bring 60’s next year. As far as the yellow ball and wood bats go those are reasonable suggestions but would have to be asked for by a super majority of the teams on the survey forms before those changes could be made as the players drive our changes not the Directors. The surveys will be posted on the website Thursday. A breakdown by class is provided below and this information is also on the website at www.Nafafastpitch.com

2011 Sites and Dates

The Rockford event will be more appropriately renamed the Midwest Masters World Series(Sept. 9-11) and may come back to Rockford although there were requests to check into new locations. The Carson City event will remain the West Masters(Sept. 16-18) and the new Niagra Falls Canada event( July 1-3) will be titled the East Masters(U.S. East/Canada East). The Las Vegas (October 22-23) event will give Masters teams 4 quality events they can attend annually in each part of the United States.

55-Over Division(Complete Bracket with scores are on www.Nafafastpitch.com)
A new champion was crowned with Nohren Farms from Illinois taking a well fought championship game 6-4 over the 2008 Champion Cardinal Home Improvement from Minnesota. 61 year old Pitcher Barry Dalmasso earned the Most Valuable Pitcher Award and won the championship game over Lou Heller of Cardinal Home.

55 Final Standings
Nohren Farms, Illinois, 5-0
Cardinal Home Improvement, Minn, 3-2
3rd Bowar Electric, Wi, 3-2
3rd Insurance Center, Wi, 2-3
5th News & Lou’s Thunder, Mich, 0-4
5th Gushow Excavating, Mich, 0-4
55-Over All World Team
MVP, Mike Drew, Nohren
MVPitcher, Barry Dalmasso, Nohren
Steve Hall, Nohren
Ron Windsor, Nohren
Jim Bone, Nohren
Lee Patton, Cardinal
Al Killian, Cardinal
Lou Heller, Cardinal
Steve Fedie, Cardinal
Chris Gentilly, Bowar
Al Wong, Bowar
Joe Wrresdorf, Bowar
Chris Tanner, Thunder

50-Over(Complete Bracket with scores are on www.Nafafastpitch.com)
The big upset of the tournament was the gutsy gutsy performance by insurance Center who knocked off the favorite Ohio Battery in 11 innings 6-5 and then almost did the same thing to Harold’s in the final losing 5-4 in a late rally. Defending Champion Berkanpas Development was knocked out it a great battle against Harold’s 4-1. Harold’s Supermarket went 6-0 to take the championship. Clayton Fleeman, Ray Foster and Allan Speckels were a great pitching combination for Harold’s.

50-Over Finals Standings
Harold’s Supermarket, Missouri, 6-0
Insurance Center, Wi, 4-2
3-Ohio Battery, Ohio, 3-2
3-Nohren Farms, IL, 3-2
5-Berkenpas Development, Mi, 2-2
5-Des Moines Metros, IA, 2-2
5-Bowar Electric, Wi, 1-4
5-Gushow Excavating, Mi, 0-4
9-Sand Prairie Const., Wi, 0-3(could not play fri night)

50-Over All World Team
MVP
MVPitcher Ray Foster, Harold’s
Larry Cushman, IC
Jeff Zeller, IC
Kent Stelter, IC
Mark Palsrud, IC
Rich Roy, Nohren
Brian Marty, Nohren
Bruce Pirkel, Ohio
Jim Huerta, Ohio
Jeff Bohne, Ohio
Butch Smoot, DesM
Gary Franzen, Berkenpas
Jim Keller, Gushow

45-Over(Complete Bracket with scores are on www.Nafafastpitch.com)
Top to bottom the toughest division as only 2 runs separated the top team and the bottom team. Great Parity and tough pitching, fielding and hitting by all teams. The parity was displayed in the final as It was a 0-0 draw as darkness fell in Rockford and as lightning and rain approached the game was called in the top of the 9th as the lights curfew took effect at the park and the only choice was to move to another park and hope to beat the lightning and rain but the coaches opted to hit the road and both went home winners. Brent Stevenson and Kevin Kammueller put on beautiful pitching performances in the final and had the other teams batters in check in a game that may have gone on forever. Kurt Decker of Eagle Pack was MVP, while Kevin Kammueller was the Most Valuable Pitcher although he thought Stevenson, Bobby Ginger, Shawn Sampson, Greg Wright were all deserving of the award. Every Game on Sunday in elimination play was very competitive with 8-6, 5-4,4-1,7-6 and 0-0 scores. The two semifinal battles between Eagle Pack who fought back a late comeback from CPI Classics and held on to win 7-6 and the 4-1 Jordan Realty win over first time attendee Fox Negaunee were great spectator games.

45-Over Final Standings
Co Champs- Jordan Realty, Minnesota, 4-0-1 and Eagle Pack, Indiana, 4-0-1
3rd CPI Classics, New York, 3-2
3rd Fox Negaunee, Michigan, 2-3
5th Insurance Center, Wi, 0-4
5th The Stock, Wi, 0-4
MVP Kurt Decker, Eagle
MVPitcher Kevin Kammueller, Jordan
45-Over All World
Scott Nielson, Jordan
Gerry Gubash, Jordan
Bill Hafner, Jordan
Chris Hammock, Eagle
John Sudges, Eagle
Bob Ginger, Eagle
Shawn Sampson, CPI
Kevin Anderson, Stock
Davy Tomlinson, Insur
Gary Karpe, Fox
Greg Wright, Fox
Bob Rabitalle, fox
Mike Vanderlip, CPI
Mark Lazarro, CPI

40-Over(Complete Bracket with scores are on www.Nafafastpitch.com)
Cary Trucking and Jordan Realty have a great friendly rivalry from when they battled in the final in 2008 so it was no surprise when the Cary players waited patiently for an hour for Jordan’s players to get through most of their 45-over semifinal game as the Jordan team had to split into two to play in the 40 and 45 final game being held at the same time. In a well fought game Cary’s came out on top behind tourney most valuable pitcher Jeff Graf who outlasted Jordan’s Kent Casperson who threw a gem himself in the final losing 6-4 after Jordan led 2-1 early. First year attendee KC Indios did well taking third along with Point Blank Tattoo/Gardner Company.
40-Over Final Standings
Cary’s Trucking, Michigan, 6-0
Jordan Realty, Minnesota, 5-1
3rd KC Indios, Kansas, 3-2
3rd Point Bl Tattoo/Gardner Co, Il, 3-2
5th Marion Bombers, Indiana, 1-3
5th Montana Iron Works, Wi, 1-3
5th Central Illinois Bud, IL, 0-4
5th-Midwest Free Agents, 0-4
40-Over All World
MVP Chris Rivard
MVPitcher Jeff Graf
All World
Mike Koenig, Cary
Shannon Damron, Cary
Steve Meyers, Cary
Jeff Kochanczyk, Cary
Kent Casperson, Jordan
Bill Lesher, Jordan
Paul Arntsen, Jordan
Shawn McCarthy, Jordan
Dave Meyer, Gardner,PB
Mike Davenport, Gardner, PB
Jerry Showers, Gardner, PB
Kevin Shaw, Indios
Lou Ramirez, Indios
Louis Orpeza, Indios
Jan Caban, Cent Ill
Gill Rowley, Montana

35-Over(Complete Bracket with scores are on www.Nafafastpitch.com)
In what was a replay of the Saturday night all important final seeding game which went 15 innings and 3.5 hours (where the Bar’s Bryan Lathrop had New Image batters befuddled, New Image won 3-2), New Image and MVPitcher Jeremy Holman beat the Bar Of Appleton 5-4 in the final in just 7 innings. New Image knocked a tiring Lathrop out of the game early but Dave Meyers came in and held his own against the tough New Image hitting lineup. An interesting thing happened in the final though as Jeremy Holman kept batters off balance with three different pitching styles which included his normal 7 foot leap, then he went to a modified Fp slingshot style and the finished with what surprised spectators , directors and even his own players, which was a push and drag traditional style(which of course no one knew he was even capable of). He mixed in his world renowned changeup and sent batter after batter to the chiropractor. Using a bowlers finish bracket, the semifinal game was one of the most exciting of the tournament as the Bar of Appleton came from behind in the late innings to best the host team BAC Pride 3-2 and a great pitching performance by Ray Reynolds for BAC.

35-Over Final Standings
New Image, Wisconsin, 4-0
Bar of Appleton, Wisconsin, 3-2
Blackhawks Athletic Pride, Il, 2-3
Central Illinois Budweiser, IL, 0-4
35-Over All World Team
MVP Tom Crouch, New Image
MVPitcher, Jeremy Holman ,NI
Jeff Jahn, NI
Les Wood, NI
Harvey Knutson , NI
Tim Ganzer, Bar
Bryan Lathrop, Bar
Matt Horton, Bar
Rob Miscovich, Bar
Kent Evans, Cent Ill
Matt Smith, BAC
Ray Reynolds, BAC
Chad Cruscher, BAC

NEXT UP….Carson City and the West Masters….Brackets are on www.Nafafastpitch.com