The Quarterfinal round of the 16U National Team Championships in Arizona is finished, and four teams punched their tickets to the semifinals after the exciting round of action in Suprise, Arizona this morning.
Click here to view score and schedule updates from bracket play throughout the 16U tournament and click here to view live scores from each and every game.
Baum Bat NW kicked off the quarterfinals with a lopsided, 10-run win over Prime Red to move on to the semis. Surprisingly, Baum fell out to a 1-0 deficit after the first frame and didn’t even get on the board until the fourth inning. However, when it did score, Baum did it in bunches. Scoring all eleven runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, Baum Bat NW run-ruled Prime Red in six frames, also taking advantage of its opponents four errors along the way. To keep Prime off the board, Baum pitcher Sam Courtney tossed four innings of no-hit ball to finish off his opponents in his team’s 11-1 win.
One field over, CCB Prime survived a late-game, GBG Vegas comeback in an epic quarterfinal bout. Entering the seventh locked in a 2-2 tie, CCB Prime’s bats woke up at the right time — the team plated four in the top of the seventh, three of which came from an RBI-triple courtesy of centerfielder DJ Delaney. However, GBG Vegas almost put on a four-run seventh of its own, but CCB Prime stopped them just in time, limiting the damage to three as it survived for a close, 6-5 victory.
Stacked also won in a tight, one-run game at the Texas Rangers’ spring training facilities during the quarterfinal round. Locked in a pitcher’s duel with Ghost National, both teams scored their only runs of the game in the second inning. While Ghost scored one, Stacked plated two, which was all the team needed to punch its ticket to the semifinals. Stacked’s hero of the day was starting pitcher Jared Marchbank, who hurled a complete game against Ghost National. In his seven innings of work, Marchbank only allowed four hits, one earned run, two walks, and most impressively, tossed nine punchouts in his team’s 2-1 win.
FS21 Stars was the final team to make its way to the semifinals thanks to its 7-3, extra-innings win over TB Socal Evoshield. Like other teams in the quarterfinal round, FS21 didn’t manage to break out of its deadlock until late. After five scoreless innings, the Stars finally broke through in extras, scoring four in the top of the eighth thanks to two extra base hits that sparked the team’s offense into the semifinals.
