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Why should you choose to play USSSA?

  • We have a professional and experienced full time staff available year round (24/7/365) to assist the needs of our teams. 
  • We provide a full range of tournament services.  Consider that:
    • Our site directors have the experience and support necessary to ensure game day activities flow smoothly. The weekend staff is made up of former high level players and coaches, school administrators, athletic directors and other highly competent professionals who have a passion for the game.
    • Each tournament site has a highly experienced Umpire-In-Chief (UIC) on site to resolve rule and in-game issues.
    • We put extraordinary care into every schedule in order to convenience teams as much as possible, factoring in travel distance, location of a team's hotel, schedule requests, minimizing repeated opponents in pool play and balancing the tournament field.
    • We provide up to the minute scheduling, score reporting and standings for our events.
    • We regularly schedule early end times for championship games so that families can travel home at a reasonable hour.
    • We schedule 2 umpires on all championship games.
    • Rarely do we cancel an event due to lack of participation. On the oft occasion where we are faced with low registration, we communicate proactively with teams and work on their behalf to find them somewhere else to play on that weekend…even recommending another association if need be.
    • We offer split bracket championship play when applicable and feasible.
    • We use a consistent, standardized system to seed pool play into bracket play.
    • We work to develop and execute a complete tournament schedule, giving teams of all classes many opportunities to play comparable competition every weekend.
    • We provide high quality and often custom awards while maintaining a wide variety of different awards to avoid duplication as much as possible.
    • We offer teams high quality tournament t-shirts with original artwork and other merchandise for purchase to commemorate our events.
  • Our national website, www.usssa.com is the most state of the art, comprehensive and transparent of its kind of any association and any sport featuring:
    • Incomparable roster and tournament management tools for managers.
    • Historic tournament results that don't disappear after the season is over.
    • A points and ratings system that provides local, regional and national team rankings.
    • Individual tracking of player performance and statistics through the player locker system.
    • A dedicated national IT team that is continually growing and improving this system, its tools and performance.
  • Our local website, www.usssa1.com has been totally revamped using today's latest technology.  It features:
    • Comprehensive team and tournament information.
    • Up to the minute news stories with videos and social media connectivity.
    • The region's most widely read message board.
    • Coming soon will be an online store to pre-order event merchandise, practice balls and more!
  • Our tournament schedule goes far beyond the normal weekend offerings by including such specialty events as:
    • We offer State Championships to all ages with a high volume of teams competing for the title of State Champion.
    • the USSSA East Cares softball tournament series include a series of events to support military causes, fight breast cancer and raise autism awareness with many more similar type events on the horizon.  In just recent years, USSSA East Cares has donated over $40,000 to these causes.
    • We offer highly selective showcase events to spotlight players in our program who are working to transition to the college game.
    • We host large national events within driving distance of all of our teams to increase the opportunity for every team to compete for a National Championship.
  • We spend the time and effort necessary to provide a balanced and rewarding tournament experience for all teams.  We accomplish this by:
    • Carefully managing team classifications so that participants compete on a level playing field.
    • Lobbying parks officials on our teams' behalf to promote a safe and enjoyable playing experience. Examples include temporary fences 200', park improvements, etc.
    • Implementing policies that promote integrity in areas like:
      • Team rostering
      • Classification review
      • Team participation / avoiding forfeits
      • Comprehensive and fair refund policy
      • Protest and appeal procedures
    • Partnering with housing services for our national and local events to provide teams with affordable hotel options, and working to schedule those teams' games at a park as close to their hotel as possible.
    • Employing a national bat testing policy that requires manufacturers adhere to rigid player safety protocols.
    • Selling new and used balls to our teams at prices that they can't get online or through retail dealers.

  

ALL team classifications are based on power ratings, tournament results and by overall team performance on the field.

Any team that is reforming from the 2017 season must start the 2018 season in the same classification (or higher) that they finished the 2017 season unless otherwise noted in 2018 team classification.

For purpose of classifications, if four (4) or more players from a 2017 team are on a 2018 team, they are considered the same team regardless of the TEAM NAME, MANAGER, COACHING STAFF or SPONSOR.

The State Office will make final classification adjustments by the 1st of June of each season.  This should give teams ample time to prepare for State and World Series plans.

Major Classification

Top teams in the state. 

Best teams in the state

Can Compete with Major teams in region.

 

AAA Classification

Upper middle 20% - 30% of the teams in the state.

Traveling teams

Tryout teams

 

AA Classification

Lower middle 30% - 45% of the teams in the state.

Limited travel schedule

Players from same local area.

 

A Classification

Remaining 10% - 20% of the teams in the state.

School teams

Limited playing schedule

Local tournaments

 

Undoubtedly, not everyone will agree with classifications.  Any team wishing to appeal a reclassification may do so after playing a minimum of six USSSA tournament games after January 1, 2018 against teams in their new classification.  Once the results for these games have been posted to the USSSA system, a review will be completed to determine if the team is competitive at the new level.

The term "competitive" is and always will be subjective.  A team that plays a little below or above .500 in any classification is competitive. A team that loses every game by one run is also competitive.

IMPORTANT !!

Do your part to help the accountability of the USSSA system.  View the rosters of the teams in your age division before you play them to make sure that they are compliant with roster rules.  Tournament Directors are also being told this is a requirement of them hosting USSSA events now.  The class system of play works if you are part of the accountability mechanism.  USSSA is the only organization in the country that can make class play work as it should and monitor it.