Here are your Champions and Runner Ups in the Skills Competitions.
9-Under:
The South Bay Surf program is one of the most active programs in Southern California USSSA Baseball. With multiple teams across all ages, you'll be sure to find a South Bay Surf team playing somewhere almost every week. Two of those teams made their way into the AA World Series. While the Gray team struggle over the course of the week, the Navy team came ready to play.
Going undefeated in Pool Play, they entered the Championship Bracket as the 1st Seed. Winning their first two playoff games, they entered the finals searching for a perfect weekend. With the score 4-3 after two innings in favor of the Surf, they turned to Cameron O'Neil to take the hill. The Sand Dawgs tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the 4th Inning, however the Surf found their stride in the bottom of the inning. Scoring three runs and not looking back, that was all Cameron needed. Two more shut out innings gave the Surf the victory, and O'Neil the All Tournament MVP honors
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| 1st Place South Bay Surf Navy |
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| 2nd Place Cal Sand Dawgs |
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| Left to Right - Cameron O'Neil - Keaton Basso - Luc Iten |
10-Under:
The key to a week long tournament is pitching. The teams with the most pitchers tend to do the best. The Jurupa Lugnuts were prepared for the Championship game. Already undefeated, and having played two less games than their opponents the Brea Stars, Quinn Stewart took the hill looking for a win.
What the Lugnuts got instead was a stellar shutout performance by Stewart, and their bats did the rest. Scoring 8 runs over 5 innings, the Lugnuts took Stewart's MVP pitching performance to a First Place finish
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| 1st Place Jurupa Lugnuts |
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| 2nd Place Break Stars |
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| Left to Right - Quinn Stewart - Tristan Chavira - Jacob McCombs |
The Express and La Puente Heat developed quite a rivalry in the week long tournament. They faced off on the first day of the tournament with the Heat coming out on top 11-5. They wouldn't meet again however until four days later in the Semifinal game of the Winner's Bracket. The Express got their revenge with a 3-1 victory, sending the heat to the Loser's Bracket.
The Heat won their first game in the Loser's Bracket to send them right back to the finals on Sunday where they would face Express yet again. The Express jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but La Puente quickly tied the game in the Top of the 2nd Inning. They broke the game open in the Top of the 3rd Inning with four runs. Now nursing a 6-3 lead, the Heat pitching just needed to hold the Express to force an If Game.
Express did their best at the plate and in the field, but came up just short, falling 6-5 in the first game. Ryan Palaskis threw a complete game for the Express, and while he was the losing pitcher, he did a great job keeping his team in the game, especially after a four run inning.
Now on to the only If Game of the tournament, the winner would take home the 1st Place Trophy. The Express turned to Cole Forsyth to take the hill. Forsyth not only took the hill, but complete control of the game. Giving up just 1 run in four innings, he paved the way for the Express bats to come alive. Not looking to take any chances, the Express sent 11 men across the plate, and took an 11-1 victory to 1st Place. At the awards ceremony, both coaches couldn't single out a few players for MVP awards after such a hard fought tournament, so they awarded their respective MVPs to the entire team.
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| 1st Place - Express |
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| 2nd Place - La Puente Heat |
Some Championship games feel the strain on a team's bullpen. A weeks worth of games can drain even the deepest bullpens. The Temecula Toreros and Pomona Titans did not have that problem however.
With a scoreless game heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Toreros were able to break the scoreless tie and take a 2-0 lead. The Toreros had faith in their starting pitcher Carter Garate. Having thrown five shutout innings up until that point, he shut down the Titans in the top of the 6th, giving the Toreros the first place finish and Garate deservedly took home the Tournament MVP honors.
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| 1st Place - Temecula Toreros |
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| 2nd Place - Pomona Titans |
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| Tournament MVP - Carter Garate |
In what became the wildest game of the tournament. The South Utah Baseball Club and FCBA Titans had to battle for 7 long innings. With the score 7-4 after the first inning in the Titans favor, no one was sure what to expect. Utah got within 1 run in the top of the 2nd Inning, and the game was even tied 9-9 in the fifth inning. With Titan's pitcher Andrew Zamora finding his rhythm, the Titans broke the game open late with a 5 run sixth inning. That was all that Zamora needed. He threw his sixth inning of the game, a shut out seventh to seal the victory for the Titans.
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| 1st Place - FCBA Titans |
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| 2nd Place - So Utah Baseball Club |
See you on the fields
-AC
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