Walkers, Sting, Flyballers, Thornton’s win McCracken at Midwest

INDIANAPOLIS – Midwest Sports Complex hosted 46 adult teams March 29-30 for the 32nd Annual McCracken Softball Tournament, the season-opening tourney representing the first chance for men’s and coed teams to qualify for the 2008 NSA World Series. The weather on Saturday was cold in the morning but turned nice later, while Sunday’s weather was cold and windy with a small shower early.

Click here for pictures – scroll to the bottom of this page for video!

We had enough teams to run a combined Men’s “B” and “C” tourney with, 13 teams from Indiana, Illinois, and Tennessee participating. The “D” tournament featured 14 teams from Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. The “E” tourney had 12 teams, all from the Hoosier state. And the Coed event consisted of seven good teams, all from Indiana.

Here’s a rundown of the action from each division …

Men’s B/C
The B/C division was loaded with some great comp from everywhere in Indiana and some out-of-state teams as well. The two teams that surprised everyone were Blast Softball/Double Eagle Turf and Second String Softball.

There had been a lot of talk on various softball message boards that Second String shouldn’t be playing C, and that they can’t compete. Well, everyone may look a little differently at them now. Second String put 42 runs on a very solid DeHart Rentals team. Blast, meanwhile, had a great showing in beating some good teams this weekend.

The Cousins Roofing team out of Fort Wayne, IN, looked very strong and should be a force in C play – they should see a lot of Sundays this year.

But in the end, it was arch-rivals from Indiana that have faced each other for years in Badgers and Rock-Tenn/Walkers. Badgers won the winners’ bracket and waited for Cousins and Walkers to fight it out. Walkers prevailed, so they would have to double-dip Badgers …

And they made it happen. Badgers couldn’t keep it in the park, while Walkers played the game how you’re supposed to play it.

Your top three B/C teams:

1. Rock-Tenn/Walkers (IN)
2. Badgers (IN)
3. Cousins Roofing (IN)

Other B/C teams that competed …

Misfits Softball (IL)
Baseline Softball (IN)
Blast Softball/Double Eagle Turf (IN)
DeHart Rentals (IN)
Indy Force (IN)
Moore’s All-Star/Indy Explosion (IN)
Second String Softball (IN)
Team Reload (IN)
Thornton’s/Circle City (IN)
Pennsylvania Ave. Sports/Easton (IL)

Men’s D
There were 14 solid teams competing this weekend in the D division, which should be tough week-in and week-out with some talented teams and players.

In the semifinals, we had All Star/Rookies going against Citywide Paving and Indy Sting/Superior Roofing taking on Havoc form Michigan. All Star beat Citywide and Sting beat Havoc, setting up a game with a lot of friends from both teams that used to play together.

Sting won the winners’ bracket and waited for a team to fight out of the losers’ side. That team ended up being Havoc, but in the end Havoc just couldn’t get it done against a good Indy Sting squad.

Your top three D teams:

1. Indy Sting/Superior Roofing (IN)
2. Havoc (MI)
3. All Star/Rookies (IN)

Other B/C teams that competed …

CRM (Curry Ready Mix) (IL)
Citywide Paving (IN)
Franchise (IN)
Good Ole’ Boys (IN)
Hitzfield Construction (IN)
Hoover Hearing (IN)
Legends of Fighting Softball (IN)
Local 440 (IN)
Main Event Softball (IN)
Freeze/Koval Properties (MI)
Indiana Underground (IN)

Men’s E
In the E division, it was base-hitting softball that was being played. Most finals were single-digit scores since no home runs are allowed in E.

The OC Outlaws just didn’t have enough to get past Flyballers of Lafayette, IN. Flyballers were lucky to win their first game of the day, when the score was tied in the bottom of the seventh inning and the other team smacked an HR to give Flyballers a run to win the game.

Your top three E teams:

1. Flyballers (IN)
2. OC Outlaws (IN)
3. Longhorns (IN)

Other E teams that competed …

Bedford Crew/Evolution (IN)
Bush Leaguers Softball (IN)
Flaherty & Collins/Young Guns (IN)
Game Time (IN)
Indy Outlawz (IN)
Psycho Asylum (IN)
QST Inc. (IN)
Rabid Bats (IN)
+ Ballers (IN)

Coed
The Coed division of the McCracken had seven of the best teams from Indiana playing. This division will probably have a different winner every week, and the teams all have solid girls that know the game.

Thornton’s/Circle City 2 looked good, winning the first tourney of the year and beating Sloppy Seconds twice for the title. There was no if-necessary game needed for this one as Thornton’s rolled.

1. Thornton’s/Circle City 2 (IN)
2. Sloppy Seconds (IN)
3. NTS Softball (IN) ??

Other Coed teams that competed …

DP Softball (IN)
Rock-Tenn Softball (IN)
Touch ’Em All (IN)
WTFE (IN)

This was a great start to the season! We at Midwest Sports Complex hope that everyone had a good time, and we hope to see you all again soon. PLAY BALL!

Thanks to Tony Maxwell and Derik Watts for contributing to this report!