We are quite disappointed with the overall organization of this tournament especially for the second session 65 and above players. We had a very good 65 Major bracket with all very good teams and we feel we were all on the short end making this single elimination. These are our other concerns and unless things change several teams discussed not coming back.

1. Organization allowed too many teams in the second session for only two fields, causing each game to be limited to 60 minute games. Because of this 3 out of four games were shortened to 5-6 innings. There should have been four fields available.
2. Umpires used for tournament were not consistent with the 6-12 foot strike zone.
3. For the amount we payed for a two day tournament, it should not have been single elimination, teams did not stay for consolation games if you lost.
4. The fields we played on had no concessions or water and one bathroom was a 10 minute distant walk from Field 1. There was one Porto John not very clean and over used.
5. Parking was quite a distance from the fields.
6. When asking Director about Single elimination format for second session that we found out one week prior to tournament. He said our team did not have to come because of this. Teams already had hotel and travel arrangements. He allowed too many teams in our session for two fields

This is the second SSUSA tournament that we played where there was no concessions or no water at the complex. I know we are all adults and we should come prepared but the lack of hydration for older players in 90 degree days is dangerous. I hope some of the other teams that had similar issues respond to this so that future tournaments can be corrected.

The Conn Tourney was sanctioned but not run by SSUSA. Whoever received the paid entries for this tournament dropped the ball. A good tournament director knows how many game slots their # of fields can handle in the determined # of days the tournament runs. Once the number of paid entries reaches that capacity the director should put any new entries on a waiting list only unless they can add more fields to carry the additional teams. This wasn't done. Instead the directors did 2 things: they cut game time to 60 minutes for all games and they changed the normal double elimination to single elimination with a token meaningless consolation game that few teams wanted to play. This is unheard if in normal SSUSA tournaments. After all, the 65,70 and 75 teams at this site paid the same $ as all the other teams at the other site who got a full, double elimination bracket with all meaningful games. And cutting the game time limits back to 60 minutes, which happened in a few games, took away even more opportunities from these teams. "When questioned on the schedule the only reply from the director was: We put out the schedule a week ago. You didn't have to come." Well h one thing, many teams are used to well run brackets made by SSUSA directors and honestly never even thought to check or notice the odd brackets. Plus these teams and players had already made travel arrangements, hotel reservations and set aside time for the tournament.
In addition, the playing fields were subpar. The infields were cinder and stone. The fields were never dragged or raked during the day. The fields were a long walk from the parking lot. The one bathroom was a hike from the fields. There were no amenities.
Our team has decided not to attend this tournament in the future. We did not get the full tournament experience we paid for.

What does "sanctioned by" even mean? Is there not a framework and guidelines to follow (minimum requirements)? Why would someone/anyone put their name to anything that tarnishes a good product?

All-

I think a little understanding of what the Connecticut Masters Games is / does would be helpful here. They are a non-profit group that hosts MULTIPLE sports promoting an active senior lifestyle. A scaled down version of the Huntsman Games, they offer a mix of team (softball, basketball, volleyball) and individual (archery, pickleball, bowling, cycling, swimming, table tennis, etc) sports. They are run primarily by volunteers and college interns. The goal of keeping seniors active is consistent, but the organizers change quite frequently- All of these folks have some knowldege each sport, but they are not experts in all of them.

That said, I'll address a few other points that have been raised-

FORMAT- The tournament was advertised as a 4 game guarantee. Traditionally, that means 2 pool into DE. In this case, it didn't mean that (for reasons that I'll explain below), but all teams were given the opportunity to play 4.... some chose not to play their 4th game.

OVER-BOOKING- In the 7 years that I've been scheduling the CT Masters, S2 has never had this many entries. Two fields have always been sufficient. The management team didn't fully understand how scheduling worked and took too many teams. Agreed.
When the over-booking was brought to their attention, we looked for additional fields in the area and learned that they were not available. (I explained this to dwniel on the phone on Sun)

DOUBLE ELIMINATION / SINGLE ELIMINATION- 13 teams participated in S2 of this tournament. Giving all teams the traditional 2 seed / double elimination format would have required 13 seed games and 25 bracket games. That's a total of 38. We had 26....

The format you're requesting would have resulted in:
MON- first games at 8:00am / last games at 9:30pm
TUE- first games at 8:00am / last games at 6:30pm
I've been doing this long enough to know that most 65, 70 and 75 yr old teams would frown upon this- I guess you're the exception.

SHORTENED GAMES- See paragraph above to understand why this was required.

WE DIDN'T GET WHAT THE OTHER TEAMS GOT- You're 100% correct. Your games were played at 60 minutes, plus the open inning, which is 5 minutes less than the rulebook calls for.
Due to heavy rains on Friday, and Saturday, and again on Sunday the teams from S1 played games with 45 minute time limits, with the 5th inning being open. Exceptions were made in the championship games on Sunday at Moody School but your team got MORE than the others did.

CONCESSIONS / WATER- CT Masters / CSMG is heavily dependent on donations to keep afloat. In the past, local grocery stores would donate burgers & dogs for the staff to cook. Sounds like that may have stopped. Water in dugouts hasn't been a thing since COVID. It's not a "new" thing, nor was it unique to this tournament.


QUICK OBSERVATION- Sports Complexes in the south / sunbelt were built in a master-planned manner. In the Northeast / New England region, they have neighborhood fields. Two totally different concepts. As regional residents, this shouldn't be new information to you guys.


I'm sorry that you guys feel like you drew the short straw. My experience with the staff at CT Masters is that they are good people who look to do right by the senior community. I assure you that they weren't looking to create an unhappy customer base.

My is there so much bitching in senior softball now a days? You would complain if the hung you with a new rope. people complain about the batters box, time limits, commitment line, game times, umpires, etc etc it never ends. I use google earth pro to eyeball the park or parks from above especially if I have never been to the park or parks and pack according whether its a rental car or my personal car. Google gives you birds eye view of what your getting into to.

Yankeesfan12, dont forget posting of scores, new bat rules, lack of concessions, bathroom conditions, field conditions, 3 digit numbers, jack ass coaches that wont release players, bad award packages, tentative field assignments, the new ball, the old ball and too big of outfields.

There is a really good reason why kids put their parents in old folks homes. We bitch too much.

Jimperry19, Yes you are correct with all the other wineing points you wrote about. Why can't we just play the game the way it was designed Sure there will be problems but changing all the things that people want changed will just ruin the game and you will lose more and more teams. One thing that I have noticed is that the 60 and over team managers have rule books in there back pockets and it just delays the game more and more every time they wanna complain. Umpires have a hard job dealing with calling the games fair but then have to listen to managers complain about a lot of things. Senior softball is starting to look like the NBA where the players wine and complain about every call.