Show Me Classic Full Recap

The weekend kicked off Friday night with the Swami and his wife rolling into town for some pregame drinks at the Players Party at PBR Ballpark Village, before a large group headed over to the Cardinals Rockies game at Busch Stadium. As always, it was hot as hell in St. Louis, the drinks were flowing and the Bull caught many victims from our party.

Pool play began early Saturday with a ton of very close competitive games. The biggest surprise being Chicago Metro coming out of pool play with the overall #2 seed after double digit wins over both Missouri Lawmen and NYPD Finest. Great Lakes, Center Mass and Sac Razorbacks all came out strong also going 2-0 in pool play and got the #1, #3 and #4 seeds respectively.

All 14 teams in attendance were seeded into one double elimination bracket after pool play. In the first round of bracket play we had some big upsets with the newly revamped Midwest Heat squeaking by Sac Razorbacks 19-18 and NYPD Finest dominating SA Law 28-10. To end the day Saturday, the Sac Razorbacks, who were able to rattle off two wins after their loss to Midwest Heat, SA Law, Norsemen and Chicago Metro all finished their opponents sending them to the Drop Down Gold bracket on Sunday. 

To start the day Saturday Great Lakes, who were down the entire game to Missouri Lawmen, were able to walk them off in the bottom of the 7th to send them to the long road in the loser’s bracket. Center Mass did the same to TBL Outlaws beating them 22-21. In the loser’s side of the bracket SA Law held off the Norsemen and Chicago Metro beat yet another Majors team in St. Louis, upsetting the Sac Razorbacks 35-23. In doing so, Chicago Metro secured a berth to the World Series as the highest finishing Gold team in the Main Bracket. In the undefeated game Great Lakes doubled up Center Mass, to sit in the king seat awaiting their opponent for the Championship. Missouri Lawmen were able to rattle off a couple wins to face Center Mass, but ran out of gas in their fourth straight game losing 27-15. Center Mass went on to face Great Lakes for the hardware, which Great Lakes convincingly won, for their record setting 6th Show Me Classic Championship!!! (2016 over DEA Combo – 2020 over Minnesota Lawmen – 2021 over I-80 Cartel – 2022 over Missouri Lawmen – 2024 over SA Law – 2026 over Center Mass)

The Gold Drop Down Bracket also began on Sunday morning with the 6 teams who were eliminated from the Main bracket on Saturday. Again some great close scoring games to start with NYPD Finest over I-80 Cartel 19-18 and Midwest Heat over MOKAN Guns 15-14.  It played out with NYPD Finest facing Midwest Heat in the undefeated game where NYPD Finest dominated sending Midwest Heat to the loser’s bracket. A couple more close games in the loser’s bracket with Bluegrass knocking off I-80 Cartel 11-8 and MDF/Dayton beating MOKAN Guns 28-21. MDF/Dayton rattled off three straight wins to face NYPD Finest in the Championship game. MDF/Dayton fell behind early but came all the way back and won 23-21 to force the IF game. In the IF game MDF/Dayton won the flip and secured home for the game. Again, MDF/Dayton fell behind early trailing 20-6, NYPD started chirping maybe a little too loud and lit a fire under the gassed MDF/Dayton team, as they responded with 8 in the bottom of the 6th to close the gap to 20-14. NYPD was able to scratch once going up 21-14 into the bottom of the 7th. MDF/Dayton got to within 3 with 2 on and 2 outs and 3rd Basemen Zac Banks hit a bomb to tie the game at 21-21 and ultimately send it to extras.  NYPD put up 3 in the top of the 8th. MDF/Dayton led off with two singles and then a walk to load the bases, then one more walk to bring in a run, 24-22. Bases loaded, no outs, down two for MDF/Dayton and the next batter hit a fly ball to shallow right which led to a 9-2 double play as the runner tagging up from third was thrown out at home after the catch in right. Arguably the most exciting game of the weekend ended 24-22 with NYPD Finest becoming the first BACK to BACK to BACK, 3 TIME St. Louis Show Me Classic GOLD Champion!

I would like to thank the staff and management at the O’Fallon Family Sports Complex, for all their hard work throughout the weekend. There were several others who deserve big thanks… Grant with O’Brien Law Firm, Randy with Guild Mortgage, Tom with TR Hughes, Nick with 1st Phorm, Corny with DeMarini, Todd with LHM, Terry with Lockdown Sports, Michael with Lousiville Slugger, Ashlee with Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group, Kevin with Grey Eagle, Jay with Lohr, Dillon with PBR, Dan with Dynamac Sports Gear, Corey with Wallis Companies, Cullen with the St. Louis Cardinals, and ALL of our sponsors.

FINALLY A HUGE THANK YOU to all the coaches, teams and their families who traveled to St. Louis to be a part of the Show Me Classic and helped make it a successful event. I know it is becoming harder and harder to get everyone on the same page to travel to events, but I have enjoyed running this tournament over the last 13 years, whether it’s 12 teams or 20 teams, I do my best to make it easy for everyone to enjoy themselves.

MAJORS DIVISION RESULTS

1. Great Lakes/Koval

2. Center Mass

3. Missouri Lawmen/Randy Morgan Mortgage

4. TBL Outlaws

T5. San Antonio Law

T5. Chicago Metro

T7. Norsemen PSC

T7. Sac Razorbacks

T9. NYPD Finest

T9. MDF/Dayton

T9. Midwest Heat/Blueray Construction

T9. Bluegrass

T13. I-80 Cartel

T13. MOKAN Guns

MAJORS ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM

Justin Rzeszutko TOURNAMENT MVP (Great Lakes/Koval)

Derick Ward (Great Lakes/Koval)

Joe Saunders (Great Lakes/Koval)

Jeff Graus (Great Lakes/Koval)

Ramon Quinones (Center Mass)

Matt Kelley (Center Mass)

RD Lyons (Center Mass)

Vladimir Gomez (Missouri Lawmen/Randy Morgan Mortgage)

Jeremy Brown (Missouri Lawmen/Randy Morgan Mortgage)

Dallas Johnson (Missouri Lawmen/Randy Morgan Mortgage)

GOLD DIVISION RESULTS

1. NYPD Finest

2. MDF/ Dayton

3. Midwest Heat/Blueray Construction

4. Bluegrass

T5. I-80 Cartel

T5. MOKAN Guns

GOLD ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM

James Rogers TOURNAMENT MVP (NYPD Finest)

John Egan (NYPD Finest)

Steve Smocer (NYPD Finest)

Chris Fesler (NYPD Finest)

Alan Reichenbach (MDF/Dayton)

Tyler Goodnight (MDF/Dayton)

Chase Whitaker (MDF/Dayton)

Dan McIntyre (Midwest Heat/Blueray Construction)

Danny Johnson (Midwest Heat/Blueray Construction)

Jordan Johanson (Midwest Heat/Blueray Construction)