The Sam McQuade Sr. / Budweiser Charity Softball Tournament preview

Link to the McQuades website with all of the information

Reebok will have a tent at the McQuades main complex for all of your shoe and equipment needs.  Stop by!

The 37th Annual Sam McQuades Charity tournament takes place in Bismarck, North Dakota this Friday through Sunday – June 22-24.  The tournament features over 400 mens and womens slowpitch teams in 15 different divisions.  SoftballCenter will be there to cover the tournament.  Look for pictures, reports, and videos next week.  A webcast will be attempted on the main field but the speed of the internet is a big question mark so it is doubtful anything can be broadcast.

The tournament schedule shows a homerun derby, the USA Futures team playing an exhibition game, and Team USA playing an exhibition game to kick off the festivities on Friday night.  Some of the lower divisions will also start on bracket play on Friday.  Then on Saturday all divisions play or continue to play with the finals of all divisions on Sunday.  There is more information about Team USA and the Future Stars team at the bottom of this preview.

The feature division is the Mens 'A' which allows 10 home runs.  The tournament is ASA sanctioned and the top division has just 5 teams.  Sonny's Softball Club the 3rd team that you see in the bracket has dropped out unfortunately. 

Link to a local Bismarck story about the McQuades tournament

Team Reebok/Longhaul/TYJA from Parrish, Florida
Dustin Roberts
Dennis Rulli
Luis Reyna
Sid Stephany
Vic Cordova
Terry Rosenbalm
Perry Hensley
David Kessler
Matt Crawford
Jason Baxter
Chris Larson
Mark Weber
Lee Trotter

Reebok has the majority of their regular season conference team plus pickups Chris Larsen who hits on the Long Haul bomber tour from Team Demarini.

Reebok should have great chemistry because most have played together.  They will also have a forfeit win in the pool play so their only pool play game against Nordkap will decide the Pool A #1 seed for the double elimination part of the tournament.

Reebok will also have a tent at the tournament selling shoes and equipment.  Check them out.

Nordkap Construction from Evergreen, CO
Travis Clark – P
Kevin Filby – C
Scott Zaciewski – 3B
Anthony Dress – SS
Johnny Gallegos – MID
Brett McCollum – 2B
Keith Anderson – 1B
Brandon Dillon – LF
Brian Zirkle – CF
Mike Umscheid – RF

Bob Olson
Rick Olson (Manager)

Nordkap is an all star team made up of 5 guys from Nordkaps regular season conference team (Clark, Filby, Dress, McCollum, and Zirkle), 4 players from R&M Metals (Umscheid, Dillon, Zaciewski, and Anderson), and infielder Johnny Gallegos.

Nordkap has put together a nice youthful team which should be entertaining to follow.  Again they play Reebok in pool A, so the winner of that game gets a #1 seed for the double elimination.  A number of the Nordkap players will play with The Futures team on Friday night and again on ESPN on Wednesday, June 27th against Team USA.

Annihilation/Easton from Cicero, NY
Brett Helmer
Brian Wegman
Geno Buck
Greg Connell
Bryson Baker
Brad Reckart
Chris Hansen
Reggie Schulte
Michael Melton
Dan Feichtner
Ben Cosgrove

Also on the team but not coming to McQuades:
Kevin Kennington,
Jeremy Yates
Brian Titus

Easton is stacked.  With Helmer, Wegman, Buck, Connell, and Bryson Baker you have 5 of the top players in the country.  Add to this the veteran Brad Reckard and some young players like Hansen and Schulte and a couple guys from PRI (Feichtner and Cosgrove).  This will be our first look at military player and Team USA's Michael Melton as well.

Team Combat from Seattle, WA
Derek Warren
Dal Beggs
Johnny McCraw
Rick Baker
Jake Myers
Jake Gallery
Bj Fulk
Frank Yielding
Davis Bilardello
Joey Smith
Mike Dill
Don Cooper
Bobby Nifong

Combats Don Cooper brings most of his regular season conference team to the McQuade.  He adds Dal Beggs from Laservision, BJ Fulk from Resmondo, Rick Baker from Laservision, and Jake Myers and Jake Gallery from the XTreme Combat 'B' team.  An interesting mix.

O&S Cattle from Eagan, MN
Don Dedonatis Jr
Andy Purcell
Jeremy Isenhower
Lee Powers
Kevin Bazat
Bubba Mack
Jason Madsen
Jared Krasselt
Shaun Bauer
Matt McGowan
Justin Barber
Ryan Oconnel
Geno Burdick

Manager Dennis Doerr

O&S rounds out the field of teams for the 'A' division with an all star team group of USA players Don Jr, Purcell, Isenhower, Powers, Mack, and Bazat mixed with some up and coming players from Minnesota and Wisconsin.

I don't even want to pick this tournament.  Its impossible to tell which group of players will mix well and roll through the tournament.  One thing is for sure the talent on each team should keep any team from run ruling another team.  If you see a run rule it was because of momentum or lack of belief in one another.

Should be fun to see. 

Final picks: (flip a coin)
1) Annihilation/Easton
2) Nordkap Construction
3) Reebok
4) Team Combat
5) O&S Cattle

Don't beat me up on the picks.  I honestly think any of the 5 could win and I just want to see 13 or 14 great games with no run rules… 

Info about Team USA and the Futures team that will play exhibitions at the McQuades on Friday night

2012 USA Softball Men’s Slow Pitch National Team
26 Rick Baker Outfield West Harrison, Ind. L/L
4 Bryson Baker Infield Magalia, Calif. R/R
99 Dal Beggs Infield Gainesville, Fla. R/R
34 Geno Buck Pitcher Red Wing, Minn. R/R
14 Greg Connell 2nd Base Moultrie, Ga. R/R
3 Don DeDonatis III SS Kissimmee, Fla. L/R
15 BJ Fulk Catcher King, N.C. L/L
44 Brett Helmer Utility Cicero, N.Y. L/R
35 Johnny McCraw Outfield Lake Wylie, S.C. R/R
19 Andy Purcell Pitcher Kissimmee, Fla. R/R
11 Brian Rainwater Outfield Kathleen, Ga. L/L
9 Dennis Rulli 3rd Base Moorpark, Calif. R/R
22 Ryan Thiede 1st Base Wood Dale, Ill. L/L
12 Brian Wegman Outfield Hamilton, Ohio R/R

2012 USA Softball Men’s Futures Slow Pitch National Team Roster
Kevin Bazat(Columbia, Mo., Team 454/Emerald Consulting/Worth)
Travis Clark (Kenosha, Wis., Nordkap/Desert Falls/Easton)
Anthony Dress (Rosemount, Minn., Nordkap/Desert Falls/Easton)
Kevin Filby (Cardington, Ohio, Nordkap/Desert Falls)
Jeremy Isenhower (Olathe, Kan., Resmondo/Specialty Tank)
Chris Larsen (Vancouver, Wash., Team DeMarini/Famous)
Bubba Mack (Milton, Fla., Resmondo/Specialty Tank/Worth)
Tommy Melton (Mont Claire, Calif., American Legion and All Armed Forces)
Lee Powers (Gaston, N.C., Shoppe/Team TPS/Elite)
Luis Reyna (Tampa, Fla., TYJA/Reebok)
Nick Robertson (Scottsdale, Ariz., Sonny’s/Louisville Slugger)
Jimmy Salas (Whittier, Calif., Resmondo/Specialty Tank/Worth)
Frank Allen Yeilding (Birmingham, Ala., Team Combat/Derby Boys/Pacific Headwear)
Brian Zirkle (Kanakakee, Ill., Nordkap/Desert Falls/Easton)

The all-star team that will play Team USA is:
Suncoast
Sid Stephany
Perry Hensley
Victor Cordova
Dustin Roberts

Combat
Joey Smith
Davis Bilardello
Derrek Warren

Nordkap
Anthony Dress
JD Genter
Kevin Filby

Easton
Reggie Schulte
Brad Reckart
Dan Fiectner

O and S Cattle
Justin Barber
Ryan Oconnell

June 27, 2012
Slow Pitch Showdown
USA Softball Men's Slow Pitch National Team vs.
USA Softball Men's Futures Slow Pitch National Team
Live on ESPN2 from the ASA Hall of Fame Complex, Oklahoma City
Tickets: 800-654-8337 or SoftballOutlet.com

June 30, 2012
Border Battle IV
USA Softball Men's Slow Pitch National Team vs. Canada Live on ESPN2 from the
ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, Oklahoma City
Tickets: 800-654-8337 or SoftballOutlet.com