7-Under:
Through Pool Play, the 7-Under Chino Hills Thunder continued in the footsteps of the countless Thunder teams before them, and took on some of the top 7-Under teams with ease. Giving up just five total runs in Pool Play, they entered the Playoffs undefeated and outscoring opponents 30-5.
Playoffs proved to be not quite as easy. The four teams in Championship Bracket were products of some of the longest standing and most reputable travel baseball organizations in Southern California. Aside from the Thunder, the Championship Bracket included the San Diego Stars (one of the longest running travel baseball clubs in the state), and the SGV Hustle and Tomateros (both of which have produced national championship teams)
Now facing opponent's ace pitching, the Thunder would have to play perfect offense and defense to move on. The first game was a test of just that. Facing the always tough Tomateros, the Thunder defense did their job, holding the Tomateros to no runs. The offense didn't do much for the Thunder, but it was just enough, plating two runs, and giving the Thunder the ever important first win in playoffs.
In the semifinal game against the SGV Hustle, both teams swung the bats like you would expect. Jumping on top and not letting go, the Thunder took an 8-4 win to the Championship game. This win proved most crucial, giving the Thunder Saturday off to rest their team and their pitching before the Championship game on Sunday.
In the Championship game against the SGV Hustle, the Thunder started chipping away. Scoring a run here and there, the Thunder took a 3-0 lead heading into the 5th Inning. Thunder pitcher Seth Hernandez looked unhittable up until that point. Finally with 1 out in the 5th Inning, the Hustle began to get his number. Hernandez came out and made way for Chase Davidson. Davidson got the Thunder out of the inning, but not until the Hustle took a 4-3 lead.
The Thunder quickly evened it up at 4-4 in the bottom of the inning. Out for the 6th Inning, Davidson shut down the Hustle, giving his offense a chance to win the game in the bottom of the inning. Now with two outs in the Bottom of the 6th, the Thunder had the bases loaded. At this point in the tournament, a win is a win no matter how you get it, so when the pitch sailed inside to force the winning run home by a hit batter, the Thunder batter would wear the bruise for a few days to give his team a hard fought 1st Place finish in their undefeated week of baseball.
8-Under:
The SGV Hustle started off the World Series on the right foot. Going undefeated in Pool Play, they scored 30 runs while just giving up 1. A performance like that rightfully earned them the 1st Seed heading into playoffs. Now facing the Top 6 Seeds in the tournament, the Hustle found themselves up against some stiff competition. In the first game of playoffs, they gave up 9 more runs than they had given up in the entire tournament up until that point. However, the Hustle showed why they were the 1st Seed by scoring 12 to give them a 12-10 victory and move them to the Semifinal game.
Now facing a team they would see a few more times in the tournament, the Hustle took a 10-2 victory against the Diamond Dawgs to head to the finals.
The Diamond Dawgs weren't going to give up that easily though. Winning their Loser's Bracket game, they came back to face the Hustle yet again in the Championship game. The Diamond Dawgs threw their ace Ethan Moran in hopes to advance to the "If Needed" game. Moran did his job, and shut down the potent Hustle offense for the first time in the tournament with 5 shut out Innings. Jesse Hernandez came in in the 6th Inning to hold the Hustle scoreless, and send the two teams to the If Needed game with a 6-0 victory.
Now in the elimination game for both teams, it could go either way. The Hustle, unhappy with their performance at the plate in the first game, found their bats, and swung like they had the entire tournament up until that point. Jumping on pitches early, the Hustle rebounded from their first loss by putting up 13 runs in 5 innings to win 13-4 and take the If Needed game.
9-Under:
The OC Hawks may have entered the Playoffs as the 3rd Seed, but they quickly showed why they were a force to be reckoned with. Winning their first game 9-1, they advanced to the quarterfinal game against the 2nd Seed Pomona Titans. The Titans had bested the Hawks in Pool Play, but the Hawks came out swinging, and upset the 2nd Seed with a convincing 12-4 victory. In the Semifinal game, they took on the 1st Seed OC Premier. Not slowing down, they put up 14 runs, and took yet another upset into the Championship game.The AZ Sting fought their way through the Loser's Bracket after losing to the 1st Seed OC Premier. They won three extra games, including upsetting both the 1st and 2nd Seeds to make it to the Championship game. Despite those extra games and having to face a hot OC Hawks, they came ready to play.
Jumping to an early 6-3 lead, the Hawks were finally able to get to the Sting starting pitcher in the 4th Inning, tying the game up at 7-7. After a perfect 5th Inning by both pitchers, the game moved on to the 6th still tied. OC Hawks pitcher James Hollis came out and shut down the Sting, giving the Hawks a chance to win it in the bottom of the 6th.
Getting back to basics, the Hawks got back to what they were doing the entire playoffs. Able to hop on the new pitcher, a sharp base hit brought in the game winning run, solidifying an impressive Playoff run by the Hawks in which they outscored opponents 43-16.
10-Under:
The Santa Ana Savage played like a 1st Seed the entire tournament. Outscoring opponents 24-5 in Pool Play, they carried that momentum into the Playoffs.
The only misstep of the tournament was in the Semifinal game. Winning 7-6, that matched the run total that they had given up in their first four games up until that point.
Moving on the Championship game however, Josh Harrison and Nic Landeros combined for 5 innings of 1 run baseball while their offense did what they had done the entire tournament. Scoring 9 runs, the Savage to a 9-1 victory to a 1st Place Finish.
11-Under:
The OC Smash is not a power team. They don't put up a ton of runs, and they don't shut down their opponents at the plate. What they do do however, is find a way to win. With their biggest margin of victory at 7 runs in Pool Play, they advanced as the 1st Seed into playoffs.
A 5-2 victory followed by a 10-7 victory against the Hustle lead them to the Championship game. They faced the Hustle yet again for a chance to take home the Championship. Going down 7-0 early, the Smash got their chance when Hustle's starting pitcher hit his pitching limit. That's when the Smash went to work, scoring five runs in the bottom of the 5th Inning, they cut their deficit to just 2 runs.
In the Bottom of the 6th, they tied it up 7-7 with no outs and runner on 3rd. A flyball brought home the game winning run, capping off a scrappy comeback and exciting tournament for the OC Smash.
12-Under:
The 12-Under playoffs was the only division that had a semifinal game on Sunday in addition to their Championship game. The So Cal Forces and the Pico Boys were battling for a spot in the Championship game against the SGV Dorados.
Neither the Force or the Pico Boys were going to go down without a fight. Swinging the bats the entire game, the game was tied 8-8 after five innings. The game wouldn't end for quite some time however. The Force brought in Niccolo Chuidian in the Top of the 5th, and after giving up one run in the 5th, he threw 6 innings of relief, taking the game into the 10th Inning despite taking a line drive off the body midway through his relief appearance. Ryan King came in for the Force in the 11th and held the Pico Boys again. The Force were finally able to plate the game winning run in the 11th to send them to the Championship Game.
Unfortunately, playing a double header after an emotional and exhausting 11 Inning game did not bode for the Force. The SGV Dorados were well rested, and had the pitching they needed to battle the beat up Force. Gilbert Casas gave up 3 runs in the top of the first for the Dorados, but held them into the 4th until Gustavo Gutierrez finished the game off for the Dorados. It wasn't a particularly dominant pitching performance from the 1st Seed Dorados, but they swung the bats like they had all weekend, putting up 15 runs no problem against the depleted Force pitching staff, giving the Dorados the 15-7 Championship victory.
13-Under:
Kennedy Baseball LA, a Los Angeles off shoot of the Kennedy Baseball Program run by former Major League Player Adam Kennedy, showed up to play for the entire week. They were perfect through Pool Play, outscoring opponents 35-10 to be the 1st Seed headed into Playoffs.
Their hot offense and defense continued into the Playoffs, scoring less than 10 runs only once. They outscored opponents 46-6 in four playoff games to take the 1st Place finish. In the Championship game, Trent Packard through 5 innings of 2 run baseball, giving their offense more than enough breathing room to do what they had been doing all week long.
Thank you to all the teams that played in the 7-Under, 8-Under, and 9-13 AA World Series. We will see you in the 2015 Season.
See you on the fields
-AC
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