JOHN SCOLLO MEMORIAL RECAP
John Scollo Memorial Tournament Recap
The 2025 Scollo Memorial is a wrap. This year’s tournament was played on Thursday and Friday at the Space Coast complex in Viera, Florida, the home of USSSA. The tournament included 26 teams.
The host party was at the American Muscle Car Museum on Wednesday night and it did not disappoint; Andrew and Mark, thank you. The food and atmosphere were great again. We booked it again for next year. A special thanks to Brevard County Sheriff Ivey and his grill team, for cooking the food. We really hope more players can make it next year.
The opening ceremonies were held on Friday so Kyle could be there. The FHP honor guard presented colors and played the national anthem. We held a moment of silence for the recent deaths of LEO’s in Florida to include three Motormen who died at my agency, PBSO. Kyle Scollo and his mother Tiffany were our two speakers. Kyle talked of the last ten years and his journey to being a LEO like his father and his mother spoke of the hardships over these years to get Kyle to this place. I had a special presentation this year for Kyle. When John died, we retired his #3 jersey. I “unretired” #3 and presented Kyle with that number, as he is now part of the SFL team and will wear #3 like his dad. Donations and funds raised will go to First Help/Blue Help, Frontline Freedom, and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Foundation.
The brackets were stacked, as I normally stray from the rankings, and place teams against teams that rarely get a chance to play each other. The one thing that is obvious through two tournaments this year is there is more parity in teams, teams are getting younger and more athletic and every game now is a battle. Brackets were pre-determined with 15 upper and 11 lower. The Easton, Worth, and Miken bats, provided by Jason Kendrick, and the Worth Gold Dot balls provided by Mike Macenko were perfect for these fields. We also had the new, unreleased, Joseph Kampfer AXE Fury bats to swing, courtesy of HB Sports. All of these bats were great.
After some very competitive bracket play games, the top seeds in Majors were NY Empire, TBL Outlaws, and Miami Dawgs. Top seed in Gold was the eventual winner, 305 Elite.
There were many great games played by a lot of teams, depending on the wind it was all defensive or high outputs of runs. Big 1st round matchups pitted Kentucky Blues vs Great Lakes, with KY winning by one. The Brotherhood vs Sac Razorbacks, Missouri vs Miami 5-0 to name a few. SFL, Miami Metro Dawgs, Missouri Lawmen, and NY Empire made it to the final four undefeated games by beating the likes of Suffolk County, Max Blues, Kentucky Blues, and TBL Outlaws. NY Empire defeated Missouri and SFL defeated the Dawgs to set up the winner’s bracket finals. A game full of momentum changes, saw NY Empire close it out late and get to sit and wait.
Max Blues, showed why they are one of the best whenever they show at any tourney, they ran the losers bracket defeating Suffolk County, Kentucky Blues, and the Dawgs before eventually losing to the Missouri Lawmen.
SFL and Missouri played a tightly contested game, with SFL winning it late to advance to the championship vs NY Empire. Empire continued their tournament dominance and defeated SFL 22-12 to win the 2025 John Scollo Memorial. NY Empire having Duke back on the mound and their veteran leadership will be a tough out for anyone, congratulations guys!!
In the Gold Division, 305 Elite and Ct Lawmen were the top two seeds as predicted. We had a new police team on the circuit in Worcester County. They drew some tough matchups in the RR games, and their first-round matchup was against NY Express where they lost a close game 9-4. They were great guys who played hard, experienced police comradery, and saw how good the circuit was. I expect to see a lot more of Matt and his team. The depleted Chicago Metro team fought hard and almost pulled the upset against 305, losing 18-17, while CT Lawmen beat a very game MDF 11-2. The winner's bracket final had the top two teams, with 305 winning 18-16. Ct Lawmen then beat Chicago to set the rematch, where 305 Elite prevailed 23-13 becoming the 2025 John Scollo Memorial Gold Champions.
There are so many things I could go into on this final write-up, but that would take me forever. I am thankful for the old-school teams who always support this tournament and I am thankful for the new teams who gave us a chance to impress and came down this year. You all made this a success.
After speaking with USSSA this morning, they said they were ready for us to be back. They appreciated being included in tournament events, parties, etc and so many of you took the time to speak to them. This circuit is different, we are different, don’t ever forget what we all represent. It is way more than softball. The schedule for next year will be out soon, we have to work around Easter 2026.
The winners from both Divisions took home rings, bats or bat bags (courtesy of HB Sports) this year along with nice plaques. Next year, I look to improve the packages even more.
Majors:
NY Empire – Champs
Mvp: Rich Gili
All Tournament: Ryan Theiss, John Kassebaum, TJ Montalbano, Daniel Settoducato, Bruce Monro.
South Florida Lawmen – 2nd place
All-Tournament: Brandon Vicens, Craig Turner, Kevin Fry
Missouri Lawmen – 3rd place
All-Tournament: Jeremy Brown
Gold:
305 Elite – Champs
Mvp: Louis Miceli
All Tournament: Suni Castellanos, Julio Gonzalez, Guillermo Arteaga, Jeff Phillips
CT Lawmen – 2nd place
All-Tournament: Brian Discordia, Mike Aquinilo, Joe Franke
Chicago Metro – 3rd place
All-Tournament: Collin Haag
So many people to thank, who all played a part in the tourney:
USSSA and staff (Matt, Chuck, Ralph, Lexi, Dustin, Justin, etc), American Muscle Car Museum (Andrew Mackey) Donnie and Becky Meyer, Dave Bernhardt, Kevin Drummond, Jason Kendrick and Mike Macenko (Easton, Worth, Miken), Steve Rubiano (Dunkin Donuts), Rocco Mangel, Kyle Scollo and Tiffany Vanyo, Karen Solomon and Erin (Blue Help), Good Greek Moving and Storage, HB Sports (Chris Bastien and Mike Talbott).
Truly takes a village to put this on.
Thank you to all the teams for being here and for your continued support! I appreciate all the friendships this tournament and police softball has provided.
Respectfully,
The South Florida Lawmen Team,
Brandon West, Dave Bernhardt, Kevin Drummond