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One of the top travel ball events of the Fall season takes place this weekend as the Clearwater Fall Classic will see 73 top teams from every region of the country compete in what is expected to be ideal weather conditions in the Sunshine State.
Bringing together teams in the PGF and Alliance networks that often don’t face each other, it’s no wonder that upwards of 200 college coaches—including those at major Power 5 programs like Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma and dozens of others—are expected to attend.
And why not?
The weather is projected to be in the mid-70’s all weekend and the Clearwater, Florida facilities hosting the games—nine fields at the Eddie C. Moore Complex and five more fields at the Sid Lickton Sports Complex—are only 10 minutes apart.
No wonder, then, that the event director, Jim Barsalona of Team NJ Events, is excited for the three days of games.
“Everybody is sending their top teams with their top talent coming in to play games in front of so many college coaches,” the long-time event producer explains. “This is the end of the Fall for these elite teams, this finishes up their year, so they want to set the record straight for the year on how good they are and get their squads ready for 2022.”
“Teams want to show they are legit and should be considered among the best teams regardless of what organization they’re with,” Barsalona adds. “This weekend is going to be crazy and a lot of fun! It will be ‘loud and proud’ with a lot of college coaches here and teams wanting to show them that they’re the real deal.”
This is the second year for the Clearwater Fall Classic in club play; the site has also hosted the popular college spring series that has been aired on ESPN and many feel this club tourney has already become one of the most prestigious in the Fall.
“It’s going to be very well attended,” the Team NJ head man expects, “and we met yesterday with the city staff to figure out how to handle what should be great crowds all weekend. There will be great games and the teams and their fans are excited. I’m excited too!”
For each of the age divisions of 18U and 16U, there is a six-game format with two games each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Importantly, each contest will be an hour and forty minutes within a two hour time slots so the event format should flow smoothly.
Coaches are excited as the loaded field of talented teams means there will be some marquee matchups (click HERE to access the game schedules for the weekend).
One that will be fun to watch takes place Sunday at 2 pm EST and will be a 16U battle of Virginia Unity – Johnson/Ross, winners of PGF 14U Nationals this summer versus Corona Angels – Tyson, which finished 1st in the Alliance Fastpitch Championship Series.
“We’re excited to be playing ball in nice weather against some quality teams,” explains Coach Josh Johnson of Virginity Unity.
“We are looking forward to competing against the entire field—especially the Corona Angels’ teams since we don’t get to play against them much. We should have a lot of college coaches’ attention too!”
Another top organization bringing in a lot of talent spread among its two 18U teams is the Lady Dukes led by James Lamar.
He reiterates that there are several reasons why he’s brought his players down from higher up the East Coast for the three days of action.
“I love the fields and, most importantly, the competition!” Coach Lamar says. “I will always support Team NJ events and the great weather and great atmosphere are perfect to prepare our teams for am extremely competitive summer next year!”
For more information on the event, go to the official home page…
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2021 Clearwater Fall Classic’s Attending Teams:
18U
- AL Alabama Elite
- AZ Arizona Storm Mathis
- AZ Arizona Storm Telesco/Stankiewicz
- CA OC Batbusters Stith
- CA Corona Angels Tyson
- CA Corona Angels Slye
- CA West Bay Warriors McDonald
- CA Cal Nuggets Woods
- CA OC Batbusters Stith Maroon
- CO Colorado Stars Sakamoto
- CT Seahawks Elite Gold
- FL Tampa Mustangs T.J.
- FL Clearwater Bullets Klinefelter
- FL Miami Stingrays Gold Gator
- GA Georgia Impact Lewis
- GA East Cobb Bullets Schnute
- IL Illinois Nationals Softball
- MA Polar Crush Gold
- NC Lady Dukes Lamar
- NC Lady Dukes Lamar/Lynch
- NJ Gators Premier Biasi/Coroneos
- NJ Gators Gold Reed
- NJ Batbusters Fry
- NJ Jersey Inferno Jacobus
- NJ Pride Stern
- NJ Jersey Flames Schaffer
- NJ Nightmare Gold
- NJ Nightmare Elite
- NJ Venom Benish
- NY Honeychucks Galati
- NM New Mexico Suncats Gandert
- NV Team TFS National Bastian
- NY Team Long Island DeMarini Angel
- NY Conklin Raiders Gold Bates
- PA Chaos Gold Spina
- PA Team Pennsylvania Hall/Sroka
- PA Newtown Rock Hutchins
- PA Philadelphia Spirit Gold
- RI Rhode Island Thunder Lotti
- SC Carolina Elite Genevese
- TN Tennessee Mojo ‘23 Danley
- VA Virginia Unity Parker
- VA Legends Premier Johnston
- VA Virginia Glory National Wimmer/Myers
- WA Washington Ladyhawks Miller
16U
- CA Corona Angels Tyson
- CA Corona Angels Howard
- CA Cal Cruisers Sievers-Caouette
- FL Jacksonville Storm Harris
- GA East Cobb Bullets Legere
- GA Mojo 2024 Bridger
- IL Illinois National Softball
- MA Polar Crush Capello
- NJ Gators Ponto
- NJ Pride Stern National
- NJ SJ Mystics National Machinski
- NJ Venom Coladonato
- NY Team Long Island Select Rancano
- NY Empire State Huskies National Porcelli
- NY Empire State Huskies Select Rowan
- OH Ohio Lasers Orange
- OH Ohio Outlaws Accord National
- PA Chaos National Fricker
- PA Chaos McGarvey
- PA Team Pennsylvania Wilson
- PA Team Pennsylvania Hall
- RI Rhode Island Thunder National Lotti
- SC Carolina Elite Gleason
- TN Tennessee Mojo ‘24 Abernathy
- TX Texas Dirt Divas
- VA Virginia Unity Johnson/Ross
- VA Glory National Mertz
- VA Legends Premier Freitager
- WA Washington Ladyhawks Miller