In Honor of John Scollo
New York once again dominant in Florida but this time it's Nassau Blues! Connecticut claims Gold.
This year’s tournament was played on Friday and Saturday at Pierson Park in Wellington, Florida. I definitely like the Friday, Saturday format for several reasons, travel expense, host party convenience, etc. and Sunday as a travel or rainout day.
This was the most talented tournament I have put on as far as parity amongst the teams. Many of the northeast teams were hurt by flight problems and teams went short on players…but they played their tails off.
Rocco’s host party was great as usual and he even showed and spoke to the whole restaurant and told the John Scollo story and bought everyone a drink in the restaurant, the crowd gave us an ovation, Rocco is the best and great supporter.
The opening ceremonies on Friday were well represented by county and city officials who are so accommodating and gracious with helping us with this event. The Scollo Tournament officially retired out Donnie Meyer with a framed jersey to say “thank you” for the 40 years of Police Softball. Donnie has been a staple, along with Becky Meyer, of this circuit and what it means to all of us to play and fellowship together. We love you brother!!
I made a special presentation this year, which I had planned since last year’s tourney, to retire out the founder of the South Florida Lawmen, Mike Kletzky. No other SFL player will ever wear #23 (Kletzky) or #3 (Scollo). Legends, who brought me into this game and team, I am forever grateful.
Lastly, we did a 50/50 raffle and fundraiser for one of my players Dustin Crouch and his fiancé who is very sick. Becky Meyer and Lisa Amlin, THE BEST, spent most of the day selling tickets for this. Matt Bolan, all three are NFL player and wives, won the raffle and donated the pot back to Dustin. We raised thousands of dollars for him and I am forever grateful of everyone’s generosity.
The 3 brackets were stacked as I normally stray from the rankings and place teams against teams that rarely get a chance to play each other, more fun to me. It worked out perfect as we had some great round robin games. The one everyone was talking about, and I witnessed, was TBL over Lockdown 58-35, this is not a misprint. The cool air at night made for an epic offensive battle. Game ran well over 2 hours.
After bracket play the top seeds in Major were SFL, Missouri and Max Elite.
There are so many great stories in this tournament, Lockdown loses the epic game and then runs through the loser’s bracket with 10 guys and finishes 3rd. Necessary Force loses 6 players to flights and those guys never missed a beat, had fun and went to Gold and battled. This team reminds me of the startup SFL team years ago, they just have a good time and will compete the best they can.
Nassau and Missouri both got hot and stayed hot and were the most consistent teams throughout. Nassau is very talented and stayed consistent scoring runs and played great defense. Missouri and the new players they added will be a force all year. The sitting for 3-4 hours took its toll, and catching a hot Nassau was a tough out for them. Two great games.
In the Gold Division Ct Lawmen, the #1 seed, ran the table and could have easily played Majors with the way they were swinging it. Midwest heat gave them all they could handle and lost 22-18 in the ship. Super excited to have Tommy and Dan represent their teams at our tourney.
Majors:
Nassau County – Champs
Mvp: Luke Noone
All Tournament: Anthony Montesano, Nico Apadula, Jimmy Postiglione
Missouri Lawmen – 2nd place
All Tournament: Chris Ellison, Matt Smallen, Andy Sides
Gold:
Ct. Lawmen – Champs
Mvp: Donnie Acus
All Tournament: Jared Szuba, Ari Velez, Luke Leonnardi
Midwest Heat – 2nd place
All Tournament: Eric Wetstein, Aaron Corley, Jordan Johanson
So many people to thank, who all played a part in the tourney:
Village of Wellington, Becky Meyer, Lisa Amlin, Jim Wolters, Jim and Annie Bateman, Jason Coker, Dave Bernhardt, Steve Dunkin Donuts, Rocco Mangel, Kelly Richter, Kyle Scollo, Todd Clancy, Zach Legato
Thank all the teams for being here and your continued support! I appreciate all the friendships this tournament and police softball has provided.
Brandon West
SFL #25
