All Out didn't hold anything back en route to winning the Men's Major division championship Sunday at the 37th Busch Softball Classic.
The All Out/Powerhouse Sportz/Izzy Sports softball team of Dallas hit eight home runs in a 29-14 victory over Vivid/Worth/Klutch of Houston at the Sherwood Sports Complex.
It was All Out's first tournament championship of the year.
"We're trying to still gel and find each other," All Out Coach Curtis Day said. "We want them to understand what the game is about and how to play it the right way. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished this weekend.
"But it's not done. We've got a lot of work ahead of us and we'll keep fighting."
All Out went 4-0 in the winners' bracket, including a 41-40 victory over Vivid on Saturday, to advance to Sunday's championship game.
Ethan Dillon and Tyler Green hit six of All Out's eight home runs, with three apiece, in the deciding game.
Vivid, relegated to the losers' bracket after its loss to All Out, forced a winner-take-all game with a 33-28 victory over All Out earlier Sunday.
But All Out was not going to be denied in the second game between the two teams Sunday.
All Out took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Green's two-run home run.
Vivid scored six runs in the bottom of the first to take a 6-2 lead, but All Out responded in the top of the second inning with a six-run outburst for an 8-6 lead. Dillon hit a grand slam to tie the game at 6-6. James Bergeron scored on Landon Wilkerson's groundout to give All Out a 7-6 lead and Green followed with a ground-rule RBI double.
The game was tied at 8-8 going into the top of the fourth after Vivid scored single runs in the second and third innings.
All Out took over in the final four innings.
Dillon hit a one-out home run to make it 9-8 All Out. Three batters later, Casey Brown, the tournament's MVP, hit an RBI single for a 10-8 lead.
All Out scored 11 runs in the top of the fifth inning to extend its lead to 21-8.
David Del Hierro, Dave Prahm, Dillon and Ethan Maresh each hit RBI singles to make it 14-8. Three batters later, Wilkerson lined a bases-clearing double to left field for a 17-8 lead. Green and Pat Rubio each had two-run home runs later in the inning to stretch All Out's advantage to 21-8.
Dillon hit his third home run, a two-run shot in the sixth inning, to extend All Out's lead to 23-8. Green also had three home runs Sunday and his two-run shot made it 26-8 after Wilkinson had a RBI single.
All Out added three runs in the top of the seventh on Prahm's three-run home run.
All Out scored 98 runs in three games against Vivid in a 20-hour span.
"I told them to focus on the little things of the game," Day said. "I didn't want them to get caught up too much in doing things that's not ordinary in their swing. We focused on one out, one inning, one at-bat at a time. For the most part, we did that."
Vivid Coach Jon Kilburn said he hopes his team can get better from the Busch Softball Classic experience.
"It was a good weekend, but it wasn't a great weekend," Kilburn said. "We made errors on things we shouldn't have done. But hey, it's the middle of the season. Things are getting into a rhythm here."
Sports on 07/04/2016