Welcome to the Championship Play. You’ll notice by the name change, classifications are changing. Classifications A, B and C are for travel ball. Our group will now be called Rec and Rec All-Stars going forward. That’s consistent with the way other associations around the country classify their teams. This year, we have a strong 36 teams competing in Rec All-Stars South State. Tee Ball and Coach Pitch both have 10 teams each. That bodes well for the years ahead. The South State Tournament will be held at the Bayou View Sports Complex. The address is 4300 Hewes Av, Gulfport, MS. The Tournament Entry Fee for each age division is $250 for 6u/8u and $350 for 10u12u/16u. Teams can pay by cash, check, CashApp or Venmo. User name for online payment is tstanley2128 for each. Checks should be made out to USA Softball of South MS. Attached is the Tournament Information Packet. It should have most everything you might need. It has a checklist of items you’ll need including brackets, rules, and other stuff. You must have proof of age (birth certificates) and recent photo for each player on the roster. The roster form must be completed with each players’ name, address and birthday. Parents must sign the consent form. The President for your league must also sign off on it to certify all players are eligible for the respective All-Star team. Teams must check-in before you play. I’ll start check-in at 4:00pm on Friday and 6:30am on Saturday. It will be in the press box behind Field 2 (Two story building). There will not be a coaches meeting, but we’ll be glad to answer any questions you might have. Players will not sign-in this weekend. You will turn in your rosters and I’ll do a 100% check on birth certificates. Please allow enough time to check in.. Organizing your packet will make this go so much easier. ACE Training is required under the USA Softball Code. Federal law also mandates Safe Sport training. Dedicated to ending sexual, physical and emotional abuse of athletes. Governing bodies for all the Olympic sports are required to provide this training. Only one coach needs the training and it does not have to be the head coach. The training can be found at registerusasoftball.com. I will say the background checks have been extremely slow coming back. I’ve never seen it so slow. Do the best you can. It’s all pretty good training. Each team needs to leave the dugout as soon as possible. Teams meetings must occur off the field. The next team needs to be ready immediately following the prior game. That means lineups ready when you hit the dugout. There is no warmup on the field. Be conscious of the games being played… you could start earlier than the schedule states. It’s your responsibility to keep up with the brackets. Please keep an eye out on the bracket in case any changes are needed. The forecast is mixed this weekend. Typically South MS weather pattern of very hot with a 50% chance of showers. We’re hoping to get the tournament in on Friday and Saturday. But we’ll hold Sunday in reserve for weather. State Championships only come once a year and we really want to get this in. Please have your players start hydrating early. Also please watch grandparents during the day. One final reminder… I’m asking everyone to be especially nice to each other this weekend. We’re all there to have fun and see the kids play. We have a very imperfect game played by very imperfect people. Players, coaches and umpires will all make mistakes this weekend. You never know what people have going on in their lives and pressure they are under. It’s our job as adults to be examples for these young adults. Thanks for Playing USA Softball! … [Read more...] about 2024 USA Softball of MS Rec All-Stars South State Tournament
2024 Long Beach Invitational Updated Brackets
After brackets were sent out yesterday, we had an 8U team drop out. It required reworking the brackets because we lost two 8U games. Then I was able to move the late Friday 10U game to Saturday which got those kids home earlier. Attached are updated brackets. The 8U, 10U, 12U and 16U game times were affected. It also eliminated the play-in game for 8U. So please check the updated bracket for any changes to your first game time… Sorry for the change, but it was out of our control. … [Read more...] about 2024 Long Beach Invitational Updated Brackets
2024 Long Beach Invitational Brackets
We’re coming down to the home stretch. Only 2 weeks remaining in the summer All-Star season. We have a really strong 32 teams registered to play this weekend. The good news is we are just barely able to fit the tournament in without playing on Sunday. The bad news is we have a full slate of games on Friday night. I did my best to limit the travel, but some things I just couldn’t do anything about. The tournament will be played at the Long Beach Softball Complex. The address is 760 Klondyke Rd, Long Beach, MS. Proceeds from this weekend’s tournament benefit the players of the Long Beach Girls Softball League. Tournament entry fee is $175 for TB/CP and $200 for Fast Pitch. Teams need to pay the Tournament Entry Fee before they play their first game. Teams can pay with cash, check to LBGSL, or Venmo to @lbgsl-lb. Please make a note if paying Venmo. The gate fees for parents is $10 for adults, ages 6-11 is $7 and kids 6 and under are free. Parking is severely limited.. no campers. Car pooling is encouraged. Long Beach only has the 4 fields, so scheduling 59 games on 4 fields was a challenge. But I squeezed it in. It’s going to be real important to keep games moving so we can stay on time though. The same routine as last week applies. Each team needs to leave the dugout as soon as possible. Teams meetings must occur off the field. The next team needs to be ready immediately following the prior game. That means lineups ready when you hit the dugout. There is no warmup on the field. Be conscious of the games being played… you could start earlier than the schedule states. It’s your responsibility to keep up with the brackets. Please keep an eye out on the bracket in case any changes are needed. The forecast is encouraging.. but extremely warm. So please have your players start hydrating early. Also please watch grandparents during the day. We remember when the heat didn’t bother us. Next thing you know, old grandma done dropped out… We want everyone to have a safe and enjoyable weekend. Thanks for Playing USA Softball! … [Read more...] about 2024 Long Beach Invitational Brackets
2024 Gulf Coast Championships Tournament Information
This year is absolutely flying by… We’re coming up on the end of the season already. This weekend marks the 2024 Gulf Coast Championships. We have 45 teams participating in this year's event. The event will be held at the Pascagoula Sport Complex. The address is 1813 Tucker Av, Pascagoula, MS 39567. You’d think with 7 fields, it would be easy. But there are some complications to work out. No one wants to play on Sunday. It’s Sunday to start with, it’s Father’s Day… and the forecast just isn’t very good. We have 12 teams in Tee Ball and Coach Pitch. Doing a one day tournament with that many teams is just brutal. So we need to start Friday night. It’s cooler and it will take a lot of pressure off on Sunday. I got creative mixing TB and CP games. For the most part, we avoid too many back to back games until we get down to the end. Per City of Pascagoula policy, no game can start after 10pm. So it’s extremely important this tournament run on time. We do a good job for the most part, but we must keep the games rolling. Each team needs to leave the dugout as soon as possible. Team meetings must occur off the field. The next team needs to be ready immediately following the prior game. There is no warmup on the field. We’ll be very conscious about the clock and keeping things moving. 1. The entry fee for Tee Ball and Coach Pitch is $250 and Fast Pitch is $300. 2. Attached is a Roster Form. For this weekend, I do not need it signed. We just need a list of players that will be participating. First and last names with the birthdate for each player. 3. You’ll need to have a birth certificate and recent picture for each player. I recommend put each player in a sheet protector where it can be easily retrieved. 4. Rules for All-Stars are attached. Please familiarize your age division. It will cut down on a lot of arguments. Someone from each team will need to check-in with me before they play. Entry Fee needs to be paid and the Roster Form turned in. It can be paid with check, cash, CashApp ($tstanley2128) or Venmo (@tstanley2128). If you using Venmo, please add $10 to cover the credit card fees. Finally, the Gulf Coast Championship is a special event. It was first held in 2011 as a symbolic way of recognizing the best teams in our region. It’s evolved since then and I’m very excited to see the interest so high. I asked for everyone’s patience and understanding this weekend. It’s been a long season and everyone’s nerves are getting frayed. So let’s make this a great weekend. Thanks for Playing USA Softball! … [Read more...] about 2024 Gulf Coast Championships Tournament Information
2024 East Central Invitational Brackets
Below are brackets for this weekend’s 2024 East Central Invitational. The good news is this will be the largest USA Softball event in Hurley with 30 teams participating. The bad news is they only have four fields. So it’s a bit of a scheduling headache. We were able to keep 8U, 12U and 16U. But 6U and 10U will have to play on Sunday. The address to the park is Lum Cumbest Park, 18417 Hwy 613, Moss Point, MS 39562. The forecast is looking encouraging. So hopefully we’ll have a warm and dry weekend. Please have your players hydrate. Only 3 more tournaments left in the spring/summer season. Looking forward to a great day of softball. Thanks for Playing USA Softball! … [Read more...] about 2024 East Central Invitational Brackets