Team 454 Emerald/Worth captured the USSSA "A" World title.


By Robert Campbell Orlando, FL. --- One of the most anticipated Softball


World Series in the last 5 years. This season A teams had unprecedented success and parity in conference play. The talent is fearless and level of play reaching new heights, as the youth movement continues. The 2011 USSSA Class A World Series had 21 high powered teams in the hot and humid Florida sun. The early winners were Sinister, EWS Easton, Suncoast/Reebok, Woodlaw Famous Easton, Team 454 Worth, R&M Easton, PrimeTime, and 1st Step/DCS. Team 454 Emerald Worth playing its finest all


season long was matched against Woodlaw Famous Easton in the winner’s bracket semi-final. Team 454 was down early by 5 runs and stormed back in the 5th inning to secure the lead and a win 20-16 moving to the winner's bracket championship. In the other winner’s bracket semi-final game R&M


Metals/Troupe/TCP/Easton from Waterloo, IA. was arguably one of the top A programs over the last three Conference events. They secured mid-season additions of Easton veterans Sam Lopez, Nick “Noodle” Robertson, Matt Albert, and Veteran Manager Chris Chaney. R&M faced Sinister/Pritchard/Miken. The competition featured some incredible defense by


R&M outfielders Brian Zirkle, Nick Robertson, and shortstop Scott Roen that kept the game low scoring. The game see-sawed and lead changes occurred in


nearly every inning and with Sinister up 12-11 going into the home half of the seventh. R&M made two quick outs on Sinister’s Mike Rose excellent pitching and command of his defense. R&M added hits by Mike Roen and Aaron Middendorf.


Brian Zirkle secured an infield hit and the bases were loaded. Veteran Sam Lopez came to the plate with the game in the balance and Sinister countered with Pitcher Jeff Graus. After four pitches from Jeff Graus, Sam Lopez walked


and the tying run scored to even things at 12. Re-enter Sinister’s Rose to face R&M’s Chris Greinert with the winning run on third. Chris Greinert showed extreme patients at the plate as he took three consecutive balls for


"A" World Offensive MVP Nick Robertson (Right side) with an .844 batting average and Manager Chris Chaney.


a walk-off 13-12 game-winning walk. The winner’s bracket final would see R&M


Metals/Troupe/TCP/Easton face Team 454 Emerald Worth. The game was played on a rain soaked stadium field under less then desirable conditions on Saturday night. Team 454 began to separate in the 4th inning with an offensive barrage by Mitch Mabes, Kyle Moyer, Kevin Bazat, Wayne Habermehl, and Will Rhew as they scored 8 runs to brake the early tie. R&M failed to keep pace and Team 454 Emerald Worth won a trip to the World Championship final with a 22-13 victory. The loser bracket was full of the division’s top teams as


upsets ruled the early rounds for top ranked Shoppe/Team TPS/Elite, Sonny’s/Desert Falls/Elite, SunCoast Reebok, and EWS/S&L/DrGrpahix/Easton. On Sunday, EWS and Woodlaw Famous survived the losers bracket treacherous path to see who would face R&M Metals/Troupe/TCP/Easton. Woodlaw Famous Easton jumped out to an early lead on


the powerhouse EWS and never looked back. Woodlaw Famous run-rule EWS in the fourth inning 33-13. R&M


Metals/Troupe/TCP/Easton would now face Woodlaw Famous Easton to earn a trip to the Championship finals. The third place game featured two strong offenses


but defense ruled the day. R&M would put together a 16 run game to finish off Woodlaw 16-10. By the fifth inning R&M jumped out to a 11-1 lead.


Pitcher TJ Thompson with stellar defense from Sam Lopez, Matt Albert, and Brian Zirkle was working a great game against Team 454 offense. R&M held off a final inning rally by team 454 and


forced the A World title to the ‘IF' game. One early setback for R&M was that starting Pitcher TJ Thompson went down from dehydration in the first inning. The Championship pitching matchup was now Kyle Yerkes, R&M and Andy Vitcak for Team 454. R&M was down early in the contest 5-4. Team 454 started their power surge in the 3rd inning as the ball began to fly. They took themselves to modest leads through the defense of Evan Gallmeier (A World Tournament Defensive MVP). The contest through the 5th inning was close with R&M


players Chris Greinert and Kyle Yerkes countering with the long ball. Team 454 took the lead in the bottom of the 5th with key homeruns by Wayne Habermehl, Don Rogers, and Will Rhew (A World Tournament MVP). This completed their 8 homeruns limit but more importantly staked them to a pivotal 21-17 lead. R&M made 2 quick outs in the 6th and then garnered 2 key hits. One homerun remaining, R&M Pinch-Hitter Keith


Anderson stepped up and delivered a clutch three-run homer that tightened up the game to 21-20. Team 454 went 1-2-3 in the 6th but held the lead going into the 7th inning for the title. R&M had their 2-5 hitters coming up and Pitcher Andy


Vitcak shut them down allowing one hit by Nick Robertson (A World Tournament Offensive MVP). was all R&M could deliver as Andy Vitcak made two outstanding plays on missiles right back up the middle box. The last out was an incredible catch by Vitcak and


fitting as Team 454 Emerald/Worth based out of Glen Allen, Virginia with a 5-1 record were the 2011 “A “ World Champions. Manager Tim Tiny Taylor stated, “Our players and entire organization realized our goal from day 1 and we could not be prouder of our accomplishment.”


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Softball Today • August 2011


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