St. Louis Show Me Classic
The St. Louis Show Me Classic, held this past weekend, was loaded with some of the best teams in the Police Softball Circuit.
The big fields at BMAC, along with the wind and the high humidity made for some low scoring, but very competitive games. The humidity mushed up the balls and there were many players that did not hit a home run, with only the “real” home run hitters hitting them, which made for interesting games and adjustments. I have to mention how absolutely awesome it was to see Trini and Camper battling with their teams, out on the fields in St. Louis, after all they have been through.
During pool play, some notable games were the Iowa Lawmen defeating Ohio Lawmen, San Antonio Law beating DEA Combo and United Kansas City over Kentucky Blue. Also, Midwest Heat lost a one run game to DEA Combo, before defeating North Florida Showdown. These games caused some of the pre-tournament favorites to be seeded lower than expected once bracket play started.
Coming out of pool play, the Missouri Lawmen earned the top seed in double elimination, but in typical Missouri fashion they came out with zero intensity or emotion in bracket play and laid an egg, in a (15-0) loss against Ohio Lawmen. LAPD Blues shook their late night at PBR, once bracket play started, and rattled off wins against Kentucky Blue, San Antonio Law and Great Lakes Lawmen, before getting sent to the loser’s bracket by Ohio Lawmen. Kentucky Blue played in some of the closest games of the weekend, with a one run loss to LAPD Blues (14-13), a one run extra inning win against Missouri Lawmen (16-15), and a one run loss to Great Lakes Lawmen (24-23) which ended their tournament. Ohio Lawmen were 0-2 in pool play, with losses to Iowa Lawmen and Missouri Lawmen, but were able to right the ship and win 4 straight to guarantee their spot in the Championship game, for their second straight year in a row.
After the Great Lakes Lawmen and DEA Combo were able to squeak by Kentucky Blue(24-23) and North Florida Showdown(18-13) respectively, they faced off to see who would play LAPD Blues. It was another battle at BMAC, with Great Lakes coming out on top (15-12), against DEA Combo. LAPD Blues then shut down Great Lakes to move on for redemption against Ohio Lawmen in the Championship. LAPD stayed hot with a (20-8) victory and forced the IF game against Ohio. The IF game was more of the same, as LAPD came out on top (22-10), winning the 2018 St. Louis Show Me Classic.
The first five teams that were eliminated from the double elimination bracket were moved to the Southwest Airlines drop down bracket. This bracket played out with United KC coming back in the bottom of the 7th against San Antonio Law to win (20-19), and meet the Missouri Lawmen in the “I-70” Southwest Airlines Final. Missouri ended up on top of United KC, at the end of yet another close game (17-15), to win the drop down bracket.
The home run derby held on Saturday came down to Chad Agustin (United KC) and Jon Hedges (Kentucky Blue). They tied in the final head to head round, with 7 homeruns out of 10 swings each. They then went to a sudden death swing-off, where Hedges came out on top. I appreciate all the participation in this home run derby, as all the proceeds raised from it went to a local Officer and his family. To everyone who brought patches and coins for the Officer’s kids, thank you.
I would like to thank the staff at the Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Complex, for all their hard work throughout the weekend. There were several others who helped make this tournament a success, and who deserve big thanks… Dennis with Louisville Slugger, Dan with Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group, Ben & Mallory with PBR St. Louis, Gretchen with Summit Distributing, Doug with Grey Eagle Distributors, Jason with Lohr Distributors, Dan with Dynamac Sports Gear, all of our sponsors, Shawn Rogers and Skylar Monnig.
Also, thank you to all the coaches who brought your teams to the St. Louis Show Me Classic for a great weekend, all the way around. I know how hard it is to get players together to travel, and without you guys this tournament could not have happened. Finally, congrats to LAPD Blues on a hard fought victory!
Final Standings:
1st LAPD Blues
2nd Ohio Lawmen
3rd Great Lakes Lawmen
4th DEA Combo
T5th Kentucky Blue
T5th North Florida Showdown
T7th Iowa Lawmen
T7th United KC
T9th Midwest Heat
T9th San Antonio Law
T9th Missouri Lawmen
All-Tournament Team:
MVP Keoki “Kimo” Cavaco – LAPD Blues
Bryan Schmidt – LAPD Blues
Mark Tolliver – LAPD Blues
DEF MVP Brian Key – Ohio Lawmen
Josh Ullery – Ohio Lawmen
Brian Dawson – Ohio Lawmen
Dave Zierk– Great Lakes Lawmen
Jon Tibaudo – Great Lakes Lawmen
Brian Slover – DEA Combo
Rob Mason – DEA Combo
