Steel Gold Win ASA Men's Sixteen Inch Class A Nationals

Nineteen Teams Participate At Aberdeen South Dakota

2005 ASA Men's Class A 16" Nationals Champions - Steel Gold From Chicago

ABERDEEN SD: Steel Gold from Chicago went a perfect 6-0 to win the ASA Men's Class A Sixteen Inch National title at Aberdeen South Dakota by shutting out the Lugnuts (6-2) from Indiana 5-0 in the championship game. The Newcomers (3-2) from Chicago took home third place with Menace (3-2) from Chicago finishing in fourth place. Tying for fifth place were Nemesis (2-2) from Cicero and the Dogg Pound (3-2) from Chicago with a seventh places tie going to the Fighting 5th (2-2) from Chicago and Out There (2-2) from Berwyn.
Steel gold was led by the play of Gary Johns who was named as the MVP of the 2005 ASA Men's Sixteen Inch Class A National Tournament for his efforts during this event. Joining Johns on the 'First Team All-Americans' were his teammates Teddy Lowery (LF), Jermaine Butler (RF), Johnny Collier (3B), Renard Johnson (2B), and Donald Toney (P) and manager.
Steel Gold opened play in this nineteen team tournament with a pig tail game from the blind draw against Huff Construction from South Dakota and beat them 6-0 to advance into the normal bracket.
In the first round of tournament action it was Steel Gold slipping past the Grasshoppers from Chicago 9-7 to move into the second round with a perfect 3-0 record.
In the third round of play in the winner's bracket it was league rivals Steel Gold and the Dogg Pound tangling with each other with Steel Gold coming out on top in this one by a final score of 6-4. This win moved Steel Gold into the semifinal of the winner's bracket.
Nemesis and Steel Gold lock horn with one another in a semifinal contest of this tournament with Steel Gold getting the better of it as they won 4-1 to put them into the undefeated game of the winner's bracket.
Steel Gold at 4 win and the Newcomers with a perfect 3-0 record were the last two remaining unbeaten teams at the 2005 ASA A Men's Class A Sixteen Inch National Tournament and these two teams were familiar with one another as they took the field to play a game that would determine which of them would advance into the tournament's championship game and which of them would be dropped into the loser's bracket needing to win their way back into the championship game. The winning team between these two ball clubs on this day was Steel Gold as they posted a 2-0 win onto the bracket board to win the winner's bracket and assure the of a spot in the 2005 ASA Men's Class A Sixteen Inch National Championship game.
Now Steel Gold had to sit and wait before they would find out which of the remaining team would emerge from the loser's bracket to challenge them in the title contest. When the last out had been recorded into the official scorekeeper's book the Lugnuts became the team that was still standing.
Steel Gold and the Lugnuts took the field to play one another for the 2005 ASA Class A National Title with Steel Gold doing what they did best all weekend long, play defense as they shut out the Lugnuts 5-0 to win the title.
Steel Gold did not supply Illinois Softball Report with any team information, stats, highlights or quotes as to how they were able to win this 2005 ASA Men's Class A National Tournament.
Tournament runner-up the Lugnuts did thing the hard way by losing their second game before running off five straight wins with their back against the wall to earn their way into the 2005 ASA Men's Class A National Championship Game. The Lugnuts were led by the play of Roach Asaves (SS), Tim Lindeman (3B) and Paul Martins (RF) who were all named as First Team All-Americans for their outstanding play during this national tournament.
The Lugnuts opened play with a first round contest against Jigga Bombers from South Dakota and came away with an easy 13-0 win to move into the second round of play.
It was here that the Lugnuts stubbed their toe as they dropped a 5-3 decision to the Newcomers to fall into the loser's bracket where they needed to regroup quickly and ball some good softball in order to make it back into the trophy round of this national tournament.
The Lugnuts went to work in the loser's bracket as they started to send team home starting with the Grasshoppers from Blue Island who were excused from this tournament after being beaten by the Lugnuts 6-3.
The Fighting 5th was show the door next by the Lugnuts as they sent home the Chicago based ball club after beating them 6-1 to continue their advancement in the loser's bracket.
In a close game the Lugnuts found a way to win as they eliminated Nemesis from further tournament play with a 3-2 win as they kept moving forward towards the championship game.
Menace was the next victim as they were sent home with fourth place from this tournament after losing to the Lugnuts 6-3.
Sweet revenge was next as the Lugnuts were able to eliminated the team that had put them into the loser's bracket earlier in the tournament as the beat the Newcomers 7-5 to win the loser's bracket and earn them the right to play unbeaten Steel Gold for the national title.
This was as close as the Lugnuts would come as they were beaten by Steel Gold 5-0 the championship game and were forced to accept second place from the 2005 ASA Men's Class A Sixteen Inch National Tournament.
The Lugnuts did not provide Illinois Softball Report with any team information, highlights, stats, or quote's on how they were able to achieve their second place finish a this national tournament.

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