2023 Columbus Day Bash Tournament

2023 Hotel Policy

ALL TRAVELING TEAM MANAGERS/CLUB ADMINISTRATORS MUST REVIEW OUR HOTEL POLICY & RULES PRESENTED BELOW. FAILURE TO KNOW OUR POLICY COULD SUBJECT YOUR TEAM TO NON-ACCEPTANCE OR REMOVAL FROM THE TOURNAMENT

Book Hotels Now!

To insure the quality of service provided during a Firecracker Sports event this organization has put in place a Hotel Obligation Policy.

WHAT IS A “HOTEL OBLIGATION” TOURNAMENT?

Simply stated, if your team requires hotel accommodations (team traveling 75 miles or more to the event’s destination city) your team MUST stay at one of the approved participating tournament partner hotels. These participating hotels are reviewable by clicking on the “hotel” links on the Tournament Website or on the home page of Firecracker Sports. Reservations can be made prior to being accepted and should be made ASAP as the hotels fill up quick.

WHY DOES THIS TOURNAMENT HAVE A “HOTEL OBLIGATION?”

We work very hard to keep our costs down and also balance the economic impact a tournament like ours can have towards the communities and programs we serve. The approved hotels on this website assist with both concerns and the following are the benefits to our programs:

• To make it manageable we have room nights “blocked” for our out-of-town teams from our participating Partner Tournament Hotels.
• Because we do not use a Third Party Housing Group and we negotiate large blocks of rooms with the hotels directly, you’ll find a wide variety of best pricing and amenities from our hotels.
• Care in selecting location and proximity to our playing fields (see our field age group/field location chart to find out where your team most likely will be playing so you can lock down hotels near your fields).
• All of our tournament hotels have been approved due to their quality and desire to give our guests the best tournament experience.
• Room inventory which is shared with the tournament to ensure that room demands can be met from year to year.
• By using participating tournament partner hotels Firecracker Sports can offer our “Act of God” Clause. This state’s “Should this event be cancelled for reasons beyond the Event Organizer’s control (including weather), all outstanding reservations will be released at no charge to the participants”

WHY ARE THERE PENALTIES FOR NOT ABIDING BY OUR HOTEL “HOTEL OBLIGATION” POLICY?

In order to best serve our out-of-town teams we need this to be a win-win for our guest teams and our hotel partners…If the rules are not followed then we jeopardize our relationships with these hotels and this could potentially add more costs to the teams.

WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES FOR NOT FOLLOWING OUR POLICY?

• Any accepted team to a tournament(s) who requires overnight accommodations and does not stay in one of our approved partner hotels will not be accepted to the tournament.

• An accepted team to a tournament(s) who requires overnight accommodations and double books their team at more than one hotel will not be accepted to the tournament or will be removed from the tournament.

• Teams who do not stay in our partner hotels will risk forfeiting their games and not be allowed to return to the tournament next year.

WHAT IF OUR TEAM DOES NOT GET ACCEPTED AND WE HAVE A HOTEL RESERVATION?

Teams will be able to cancel their hotel reservation if they are not accepted to the tournament.

2023 Fields & Facilities

2023 Tournament Rules

Thank you for your interest in Firecracker Sports and support for our baseball events. We have updated several rules so there is more clarity to lineups, tie-breakers and other dynamics like home vs. away. We answer all of your biggest questions regarding rules by checking out our “Team Information” section which includes event rules such as age requirements, tie-breakers, lineups and much more like insurance, rosters and payments. Please click on the button below for more advanced details.

If you have any questions or concerns please hit the chat button at the bottom of your screen or email operations@firecrackersports.com for more details.

Official Tournament Rules

2023 Team Roster Forms

Thank you for your interest and support of our Firecracker Sports events. In order to provide you the best experience possible, we request the entry of your team’s roster via the link below. The deadline for all fall tournaments is September 1st. This will allow us to promote your student athletes to the attending college coaches ahead of time along with promote the players who have committed to play in college, giving an extra boast not only to the student athletes but your programs as well!

Players are to be listed per team with all information entered correctly. Players can NOT be listed on 2 different rosters in the same age group. They can play on 2 different teams in the tournament, for example 15U and 17U, provided they are in different divisions. 

We have created a brand new and innovative website that is user-friendly for our parents, players and coaches. With this exciting new addition, we have created a one-stop shop for all your showcase baseball needs. You can create a user account, setup your teams, register for any event, make payments plus enter your roster one time and being done for the entire calendar year! This platform also will be where you see hotels, shopping, schedules, scores, standings and playoff implications right from your mobile device. We hope you enjoy this special benefit and make your life easier.

Enter Team Roster Information right here

2023 Tournament Schedule

We work on releasing our schedules 2 MONTHS prior to any event we host and run throughout the calendar year. Once our event becomes full we begin to put the teams, fields and pool play together so you can plan your trip better to Hartford, Connecticut area. This allows everyone to plan in advance their hotels, social events but also let the college programs you are interested in, know your playing times if they are interested in attending.

We will release schedules directly to the coaches when they have submitted all paperwork and payments, as early as August 15th. Public release for this event in 2023 will be September 29th, listed right here. We try to maintain first class customer service from the point of registration, all the way through our final Championship game of our events, so your experience always remains first class!

2023 Schedules

2022 Playoffs/Tie-Breaker System

17U/18U Division

• Teams will be seeded after the conclusion of pool play with the (8) pool winners advancing only. 
• Playoffs for the (8) pool winners begin on Monday, October 10th.
• Teams will play a quarterfinal round in the morning at 2 sites, Trinity College and Dodd Stadium. Winners will advance to the semifinals at the same site for a "regional" playoff bracket.
• Championship will be held at Dodd Stadium at 6PM on Monday, October 10th. 
• There will be a short trophy presentation after the game is complete, allowing for team photos on the field. 

15U/16U Division

• Teams will be seeded after the conclusion of pool play with the (5) pool winners advancing only. 
• Playoffs for the (5) pool winners begin on Monday, October 10th.
• Teams will play a quarterfinal round in the morning at Eastern Connecticut State University, #4 seed vs #5 seed at 9am.
• Winners will advance to the semifinals at the same site for a "regional" playoff bracket.
• Championship will be held at Eastern Connecticut State University on Monday, October 10th at 3:45PM. 
• There will be a short trophy presentation after the game is complete, allowing for team photos on the field. 

13U/14U Division

• All teams will play 2 games on Saturday, October 8th and then be seeded #1-#12.
• Top 4 teams will advance to the playoffs and the bottom 8 teams will play a consolation game on Sunday, October 9th.
• Top 4 teams will be seeded #1-#4, according to the tie-breaker system and will play the semifinal games on Sunday at 1115am and 130PM.
• Championship game will be held on Monday, October 10th at Dodd Stadium at 9AM.
• There will be a short award and trophy presentation at the end of the championship game.

12U Division

• All teams will play 2 games on Saturday, October 8th and then be seeded #1-#8.
• Top 4 teams will advance to the playoffs and the bottom 4 teams will play a consolation game on Sunday, October 9th.
• Top 4 teams will be seeded #1-#4, according to the tie-breaker system and will play the semifinal games on Sunday at 130PM and 345PM.
• Championship game will be held on Monday, October 10th at Preston Little League Complex at 10AM.
• There will be a short award and trophy presentation at the end of the championship game.

TIE-BREAKER SYSTEM (for advancing from pool play to playoffs):

1. Pool Play – Overall Record/Winning Percentage
   • Overall record in our tournaments will be used first to determine playoff seedings.
   • In the event a tournament is impacted by the weather or other unforeseen issues, resulting in all teams in the same division not having played an equal amount of games, winning percentage will be used instead of overall record to determine playoff seedings.
2. Head to Head – (Two and Three Teams)
   • If two teams are tied – The head to head winner in that matchup advances.
   • If three teams are tied – If one team has defeated the other two teams, that team advances. If not, then we go to tie-breaker #3.
3. Pool play runs allowed
4. Pool play run differential
5. Pool play runs scored
6. Coin flip

Columbus Day Bash Scores & Standings

We have partnered with another valued member in the baseball industry, Playbook to make your experience even better. Now you can see scores, schedules and standings right from your mobile device as soon as the games are concluded. No more calls, emails to find out where, when and who you are playing. Through our mobile app, Firecracker Sports, you can find the GPS location of fields, get notified of time changes, incase of inclement weather but more importantly know where your team is placed for standings after your wins or unfortunately, losses.

Please check out the latest scores and standings of our events, past and present, held in Hartford and Norwich, Connecticut communities.

2023 Results

Area Attractions and Visitor’s Guide

Coming soon from our friends at the Connecticut Visitor’s and Sports Bureau