Category: 1942

1942 ASA Women’s Major Fast Pitch Nationals

1942 held at Detroit, Michigan.

Champion – Jax Brewer Maids, New Orleans, Louisiana (92-6)
Runner Up – Garden City Maids, Chicago, Illinois

In 1942, ASA changed the way teams qualified for national tournaments. Instead of having every state and metro champ come to the national tournament. Wartime restrictions on travel and gas, etc, made things different. ASA divided the country into regions. States and Metros would still have their own championship tournaments and the winners of these would travel to a location within their region and play a regional championship tournament. The winners of the regional championships would be invited to the national championship tournament along with the host team and the defending champ. This would drastically cut down on the number of teams at the Nationals. Because of the reduced number of teams, the nationals would be run in a double elimination format, instead of the single elimination format that was used from 1933-1941.   The number was reduced from upwards of 70 State and Metro Champions that were eligible for National play down to manageable 16 teams.

Garden City Maids scored in the 7th to break a string of 57.2 scoreless IP by Nina Korgan. She started her streak in 1941 with the Higgins Midgets of Tulsa, OK. She pitched a 1-0 shutout against the Arizona Ramblers in the semi-finals. That was her 7th straight shutout in National Championship play. She went into the 7th inning of the championship game leading 1-0, recorded 2 outs and then a late Chicago rally pushed a run across to make the final score 4-1.

Jax Maids, scored all their runs in the first inning of the championship. Blanche Soniat laid down a perfect bunt, Olympia Savona reached base safely, Lillian Thread bunted and reached safely on an errant throw. Freda Savona got a base hit to score Olympia Savona, then base hits by Lottie Jackson and Dottie Pitts scored Soniat, Thread and Freda Savona.

Lottie Jackson, Jax Maids (1-0, beat Chicago in winners bracket final, pitched 5 innings of shutout ball, before Nina Korgan came in to finish out the game.)

Chicago Maids Pitchers – Sonny Berger (2-1) and Shirley Dressander (1-1).

Terri Davis, Sunday Morning Class, Toronto went 4-9, .444.

Nina Korgan, Jax Maids went 4-0, 1 save, 3 shutouts, gave up 1 run in 30.2 IP, 36 Ks, 3 one-hitters, won 4-1 final with 9 K.

Marge Wood of Erin Brews was 2-1 pitching.

  • MVP – N/A
  • HR Leader – N/A
  • Batting Leader – Jo Leonard, Garden City Maids (6-12) – .500

FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICANS

N/A

FINAL STANDINGS

1. Jax Brewer Maids, New Orleans, LA (5-0) (Southwestern)
2. Garden City Maids, Chicago, IL (3-2) (West Central)
3. Erin Brews, Cleveland, OH (2-2) (East Central)
4. Arizona Ramblers, Phoenix, AZ (2-2) (Pacific Coast)
5t. Local #400 Coeds, Detroit, MI (1-2) (Host)
5t. American Yarn, Mount Holly, NC (1-2) (South Atlantic)
7t. Denver Industrial Bank, Denver, CO (1-2) (Rocky Mountain)
7t. Greenwood Electric, Des Moines, IA (0-2) (Western)
9. Sunday Morning Class, Toronto, ON (1-2) (Canada)

NOTES

Higgins Midgets, Tulsa, OK – (Defending Champs) – Disbanded. North Atlantic Champ – Haywood-Schuster Company, East Douglass, MA (could not attend). Mid-Atlantic Champ – Linden Arians, Linden, NJ (could not attend). Central Atlantic Champ – Westport Girls, Baltimore, MD (could not attend due to financial reasons). Northern Region did not send a team or did not hold a tournament. Southern Region did not send a team or did not hold a tournament. Northwestern Champ – Copperettes, Garfield, UT (Entered Pacific Coast Regional, lost to Arizona Ramblers in the final, and did not attend).

1942 ASA Men’s Major Fast Pitch Nationals

1942 held at Detroit, Michigan.

Champion – Deep Rock Oilers, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Runner Up – Briggs Bombers, Detroit, Michigan

The tournament had a different twist to it as it was the first national to use the double elimination format, but it differed then the norm.

In prior national tournaments, state associations were sending their champions on to nationals. This was the first year that teams would play in regional tournaments with the regional tournament champion advancing to the national championship. The tournament totaled 16 teams, 14 regional teams, 1 defending champion, and 1 host team.

Sig Lawson hurled 3 shutouts, and a 3-2 no hitter. He beat Phoenix 1-0 on a 15-inning shutout, then threw the 3-2 no hit game against Bendix in the winners bracket final. He later came back to shutout Zollner 2-0 in semis. The powerful Zollner squad (62-11 on the season) could only manage 4 hits off Lawson. He then threw a 2-0, 1 hit shutout against Briggs with 12 K in the championship game. The leadoff man for Briggs beat out a bunt, Lawson retired the next 21 men in a row.

Al Linde, Deep Rock (Played OF in the 4 games Lawson pitched and went 2-1 himself, hurling shutouts in both victories)

Leo Luken, Zollner Pistons (3-0, 23 IP, gave up only 1 run and 4 hits and struck out 33 batters). Stan Lipa was 1-2 for the Zollner squad.

Walter Blumke of Briggs was 3-1 hurling Briggs from an early defeat all the way to the finals. Ed Figelski (2-1) pitched the other Briggs victory.

Ed “Tyranski” Tyson of Briggs (9-21, .328)

Stan Corgan pitched every game for Bendix but could not duplicate his magic of the 1941 tournament and finished 3-2.

The last four teams were entered into a semifinal format. Deep Rock was undefeated, while Bendix, Zollner and Briggs all had 1 loss. Leo Luken pitched a 2-0 no hitter with 11 K to eliminate defending champ, Bendix Brakes in the one semifinal. Briggs, behind the pitching of Walter Blumke gave Deep Rock their first loss, pinning a rare defeat on pitcher Al Linde 3-2. Bendix now had 2 losses and was eliminated and finished 4th. The other three teams still had only 1 loss, so with Stan Lipa taking the mound for Zollner, they were eliminated by pitcher Sig Lawson’s shutout pitching in a 2-0 loss to Deep Rock. With Briggs and Deep Rock both having one loss, the Championship game was another Sig Lawson masterpiece, as he hurled the Deep Rock Oilers to the title with a 2-0, 1-hit shutout and struck out 12 Briggs Batters.

The Pistons were led by the bats of Doehrman, Jim Ramage (5-17, .294, 5 RBI), Porky Slater (5-18, .278) and Zollner Pistons Basketball star, Curley Armstrong (5-19, .263). Armstrong, who in 1943, would go onto win the MVP of the World Basketball Tournament, held in Chicago. Oskkosh edged out Zollner for the title, but Armstrong was good enough to be named MVP.

  • MVP – Curley Armstrong, Zollner Pistons
  • Batting Leader – Lloyd “Lefty” Doehrman, Zollner (5-11, HR, 2 3B, 2 BB, 2 SF, 3 RBI) – .455
  • HR Leader – Bill Robeson, Deep Rock Oilers – 4

FINAL STANDINGS

1. Deep Rock Oilers, Tulsa, OK (6-1) (Southwestern)
2. Briggs Bombers, Detroit, MI (5-2) (Host)
3. Zollner Pistons, Fort Wayne, IN (4-2) (East Central)
4. Bendix Brakes, South Bend, IN (3-2) (Defending Champ)
5t. Chicago Match Corp., Chicago, IL (3-2) (West Central)
5t. Goetz Brewery, St. Joseph, MO (2-2) (Western)
7t. Phalanx Fraternity, Phoenix, AZ (2-2) (Pacific Coast)
7t. Kodak Park, Rochester, NY (2-2) (Mid-Atlantic)
9t. Denver Public Service, Denver, CO (1-2) (Rocky Mountain)
9t. Romancos, Roanoke, NC (1-2) (South Atlantic)
9t. Homewood Dairy, Birmingham, AL (1-2) (Southern)
9t. Metz Brewing Company, Omaha, NE (1-2) (Northern)
13t. Cummins Construction, Baltimore, MD (0-2) (Central Atlantic)
13t. Merrill & Usher, Worcester, MA (0-2) (North Atlantic)
13t. Magna Firemen, Salt Lake City, UT (0-2) (Northwestern)
13t. HMCS York, Toronto, ON (0-2) (Canada)

NOTES

Puerto Rico (Atlantic Ocean) and Mexico did not attend due to World War II transportation restrictions.