I am writing to voice my displeasure with the move to a 4 game guarantee format for virtually all the SSUSA tournaments in 2023. While I understand that costs are rising and SSUSA has increased tournament entry fees, unless my math is wrong there are going to be many more teams exiting the tournaments after just 2 days. Moving more games to the third day of the tournament creates its own set of issues which could cause championship and “if” games to be played later in the afternoon making late afternoon and evening departures more problematic on day 3.

I am also disappointed on how this change was communicated to the teams / managers. It appears to have been done under the radar with just a small, printed message on the tournament pages and nothing except some negative banter between players on the SSUSA message board. Players and teams spend a sizable amount of money to attend these tournaments and with a greater chance of being done after just 2 days, creates costs for unneeded hotel rooms, rental car days and potentially expensive airline change fees. As the listed manager of our team, I was not sent any type of communication about this subject. I think this change will give many teams pause when choosing the number and which tournaments they enter.

Will there be some type of official announcement, explanation and logistical changes to this huge paradigm shift in tournament dynamics? Thank you!

Yes i agree the new format and the expense of traveling will be tough on everyone including SSUSA . My friends Scrapiron team just disbanded because of the changes and cost of traveling hope it's not a trend. Just have to see how it goes during the year

I Never played in anything but a 4 game guaranteed SSUSA tournament 2 seeding then double elimination. Where were those?

Rob64 ... Historically, the TOC qualifiers have been five-game-guarantee events and the rest (e.g., The Brickyard) typically four-game-guarantee ... Economic realities in a rampant inflationary economy resulted in a change this Season ... The Eastern and Western Nationals, the World Championships and the TOC all have “qualified rosters” and will still be five game guarantee ... Some of the larger other TOC's may revert back to the “5”, but that’s a discussion for a later date here in Sacramento ...

TOC Northern Championships haven't been a 5GG only four... none of ours are 5 GG only ISA in Columbus IN.

In my 8 hour drive shell! LOL

Normally play 5 or more anyway or I find better guys....

Rob64 ... I've written the Master Game Schedules for the Northern Championships every year since it moved to Lansing in 2009 and for the ISA Senior World's in Columbus (IN) every year since 2014 when Jerry Jackson decided he'd had enough of that "stuff" and asked for my help ... I can assure you I wrote a five-game-guarantee schedule in all 14 of those Northern's events and all nine of those ISA's ... I'm only 101% certain on that ...

I've played in all of the Northern Championships in Lansing for the last 4 years and I can guarantee they were 4GG. I'm 102% sure of that so...Look at the Brackets. 2 seeding then double elimination.

Columbus was the only 5GG out of the the 2!

Northern Championship schedules for the past 3 seasons-

2022- https://www.seniorsoftball.com/wc/wc2022/North-22-55.pdf (2 pool games before a 3gg bracket)

2021- https://www.seniorsoftball.com/wc/wc2021/North-21-55.pdf (3 pool games before a 2gg bracket)

2020- https://www.seniorsoftball.com/wc/wc2020/North-20-55.pdf (2 pool games before a 3gg bracket)

Rob64's MEMORY REFRESHER COURSE • Northern Championships 2022

1. Seeding #1 • Team OG (13) - Area 51 (23)
2. Seeding #2 • Team OG (9) - Crawfords (23)
7-Team THREE GAME GUARANTEE BRACKET
3. Bracket #2 • Team OG (19) - ProV (14)
4. Bracket #5 • Team OG (14) - Area 51 (13)
5. Bracket #11 (Winner's bracket final) • Team OG (10) - Crawfords (15)
6. Bracket #13 (3rd Place game) • Team OG (12) - Dayton Legends (10)
7. Bracket #14 (Championship #1) • Team OG (0) - Crawfords (7) FORFEIT

Rob, you played six games and forfeited one in the Five-Game-Guarantee event. This nonsense of you thinking you know more than I do about a schedule I wrote is hilarious! ...

I know what my team played.

Apparently not ... Ha!

wow!!! without going into details, just wanted senior softball know. you have disappointed a lot of us seniors who support this orgainization, how you went about this change from 5 games guarantee, to 4 games guarantee

Thanks Tim for the pdf.s!
Were are the played brackets for 2022 Tournament and the 50AAA bracket for the 2021 Tournament? Maybe I'm missing something more than a few braincells.

Rob, if you look at every single tournament that had the 2 game pool play, there is a section of the losers bracket that is set aside to make sure the every team gets at least 5 games. If a team plays 2 in the seeding and then goes 0-2 in the bracket games, they DO get the fifth game and are actually back in the tournament. They are written in as 'if needed' games. I've been on a couple teams that would have gone home after 4, but got the fifth game and the opportunity to go home gloriously at 0-5. It's always been there.