It was feast or famine for Softball Times/Worth/Tanel in the Kentucky USSSA Men’s Class ‘C’ State Tournament August 16th at Northern Kentucky Sports Park. The Lexington team won their first two games via the mercy-rule, then won their last two by a single run.

Softball Times/Worth/Tanel held off a furious rally by Dizzy Roosters/Wicks Pizza 12-11 in the championship game to pull out a 12-11 victory in an all-downstate finals. The champions had outlasted Dizzy Roosters 24-23 in eight innings in the winners’ bracket finals.

Their other victories came in five innings over defending champion Sentry Fire/Red Eye Sports/LBYC 21-8 and JLC/Legends 16-3. Scoring early and team speed were they keys to winning the tournament, said Softball Times manager, Raymond Moscoe. “Also, the fact that we had so many extra base hits. We had thirty doubles, ten triples, and eight home runs. Chad Mullins (.722) was named tournament MVP “because of his clutch hitting.”

Also, he had to play defense over the middle and he had been catching all year, “ pointed out Moscoe. “And he did a very good job of having to play defense for the first time this year.”All-State selections included Ernie Mobley (.822), Johnny Leep (.643), Kevin Rassman (.643) and Chad Hockensmith (.611).

“It was good to see Ernie come out of a semi-slump because he’s batting clean up behind the best hitter in the state, Chad Mullins,” remarked Moscoe. “It was also good to see him use only one bat the entire weekend. He had hit only .500 the previous weekend.” Cory Alsop anchored the defense, said Moscoe.

“We built early, quick leads and used our team speed, “

said Moscoe. “We’re typically the quickest, fastest team on the field every time we play, so that

“He’s our shortstop and he stands out for us every weekend. He’s been our defensive MVP all year along with Kylie Vaughn. Kylie wasn’t here this weekend so we put Kevin Rassman in center field. Kevin has been the best center fielder I’ve had in fifteen years and now he’s hitting it as well. His hitting is matching his defense. He did struggle for the first ten tournaments as far as his hitting.”

Softball Times built a sixteen-run lead in their first game, a twelve-run lead in games two and three, and an eight run advantage in the finals to force teams to play catch up. Locals Sentry Fire and JLC weren’t up to the challenge.

Softball Times jumped out to a 17-1 lead against Sentry, scoring five in the 1st, three in the 2nd, two in the 3rd and seven in the 4th. John “Lumpy” Williams delivered the big blow in the 1st with a two-run triple. Ernie Mobley cracked a two-run homer and Danny Snodgrass added a two-run triple in the seven-run 4th.

Mobley collected four hits in all, and Williams contributed two doubles and a triple. JLC drew first blood with a two-run homer in game two, then tacked on a third run in the top of the 2nd. But Softball Times responded with sixteen unanswered runs over the next three innings to mercy-rule JLC 16-3. Softball Times paraded thirteen hitters to the plate to score nine runs in the bottom of the 2nd. Back-to-back three-run blasts by Danny Snodgrass and Chad Mullins vaulted their club into the lead at 6-3. Corey Alsop doubled in two runs, then scored on a Toby Curtsinger double to cap off the inning. Softball Times closed out the scoring with a six-run 3rd that featured a two-run Chad Hockensmith double.

Ernie Mobley ran his hitting streak 7-for-7 with three hits.

Mullins, Alsop, Curtsinger and Johnny Leep combined for a dozen hits.

That lifted Softball Times into the winners’ bracket finals, where they exploded to a 16-4 lead after two over Dizzy Roosters. But the Louisville team battled back to tie the score 23-23 after seven to force extra innings. There Chad Mullins got on with a leadoff single, went to 3rd on Ernie Mobley’s base hit, then scored the eventual winning run on Lumpy Williams’ sac fly. Pitcher Johnny Leep allowed one single in the bottom of the 8th to preserve the win.

Williams, Mullins and Chad Hockensmith pounded out five hits each for the winners.

Ernie Mobley banted out four hits, Chad Hockensmith added three, and Brassfield chipped in with a home run and a triple for the champions.

Softball Times’ Raymond Moscoe said the title helped redeem his club’s recent 0-2 outing in the NSA State.

“We are the only team who has ever won the USSSA ‘C’ and ASA ‘C’ in Kentucky in the same year,” observed Moscoe, whose team had won the ASA title the previous weekend. “It was nice to go back-to-back.”
Moscoe called the umpiring at Northern Kentucky Sports park “excellent” and said his team was “extremely happy” to win the tournament “because we did not have it penciled in and typically we are not a USSSA team.
“I love USSSA and our kids love it. We just don’t play it enough to be sharp every weekend,” said Moscoe. Moscoe concluded by thanking sponsors Worth and Tanel.

By Mark Linnemann
Courtesy of Cincinnati Softball