There is an age-old proverb that states that defense wins championships. As it turns out, so do bases-loaded walks in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Scottsdale Dirtbags are 2024 11U Futures Invitational champions, winning the club’s first medal at the tournament with a 5-3 win over ZT National Prospects on Sunday afternoon. The Dirtbags ended the tournament on a tear, conceding three or fewer runs in their final five games as they rolled to the gold at Thomas Brooks Park.
The Dirtbags’ finished the tournament tied for the best defense in the tournament, having allowed just 11 runs. Though for three innings on Sunday, it looked like ZT National and its number one ranked offense had found a way through.
ZT National struck first in the top of the first inning, thanks to a pair of doubles ripped into left field from James Gordillo and Ruben Elias. The opening run was swiftly answered by the Dirtbags, thanks to an RBI groundout from Noah Henderson. A scoreless second inning seemed to signal that both pitchers were settling down.
But a pair of singles to lead off the third put two ZT National runners aboard, and a rare defensive error from Scottsdale allowed a runner to score and make it 2-1. Khaleb Royster cranked a triple into center that put ZT National up 3-1, and suddenly there was a real chance for ZT National to pull away.
Elias was doing his best on the mound to keep ZT National ahead, retiring six batters as he worked the first five innings of the game and held Scottsdale to a run. But his pitch count was climbing, and Elias was pulled after the fifth after 84 pitches. For Dirtbags head coach Paul Chavez, that was when the pieces fell into place.
“We got away from our game plan early, but we got back into it late. We started getting deep in counts. We got him out of the game, and we thought once we could get him out of the game, we had a pretty good chance,” Chavez said about Elias postgame. “He's tough.”
While the Dirtbags wore Elias down, Henderson found his swagger on the mound. Scottsdale’s starter bounced back from allowing three runs in the opening three innings to hurling three shutout ones before exiting after the sixth inning, finishing with five strikeouts of his own. His play gave the Dirtbags the chance they needed to take control of the game late.
“Brett Hamlin was ready in the fourth. We were going to bring him in,” Chavez admitted after the title game. “Noah said, let me get one more. Let me get one more. I'm going to trust him, as long as he looks me in the face and says he can get the guy. I might keep going with him. That's what we did. He did a fantastic job against a really good hitting team that put up runs all week. Couldn't be more proud of him.”
The theme for the Dirtbags this week has been to keep working, ‘keep chopping wood,’ as Chavez has put it. Staying focused in games, not panicking, and staying the course when it comes to the game plan. Despite all the pressure in the title game and a 3-1 deficit late, the message was the same as it has been.
“We gave them two runs. We told the guys, we’ve just got to keep working. Just keep chopping wood. If Noah can keep us in this, we’ve got a chance,” Chavez said. “We've been down three of the five games. Nobody here is easy. I think the pool really prepared us for this bracket play. In every game we faced pressure situations, and our guys did a great job hanging in there. Just don't panic, keep chopping. That's what we did today.”
Henderson was doing everything he could at the plate to keep Scottsdale in the game as well. After three scoreless innings for the Dirtbags at the plate, He drove an RBI double into left in the fifth inning to cut the ZT National lead to 3-2. Suddenly, the momentum began to shift.
Just like it has all week at Thomas Brooks Park, the Dirtbags’ methods and mentality fully paid off as the team grew into the game. In the bottom of the sixth inning, with Elias no longer on the mound for ZT National, Rocco LaMotte walked. Then Bradley Belangeri singled. After a groundout for the first out of the inning, ZT Nationals head coach Rick Martinez made the decision to intentionally walk Liam Chavarin in the hope of forcing a double play.
With the pressure on, Talin Gray came in to pinch-hit and worked to a 3-2 count. Keeping cool, he drew ball four and walked in the game-tying run. Daylon McCants drew four straight balls after taking an early strike to give the Dirtbags a 4-3 lead, and Henderson earned Scottsdale’s third bases-loaded walk of the inning to make it 5-3. All of a sudden, three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning had Scottsdale three outs away.
All that was left was for the best defense at Thomas Brooks Park this past week to close out the seventh inning, with Brett Hamlin taking the mound to protect the lead. After forcing a pop out, ground out, and fielder’s choice, he and the defense behind him had achieved just that. The Dirtbags were 11U Futures champions for the first time.
“We had a plan, stuck with it the whole time. We didn't deviate from it the whole time. We thought we were the better team, and usually in a seven inning game, the better team would prevail. We just kept chipping away, chipping away, chipping away,” Chavez said. “I told the guys, we're going to have one big inning. We had it. And then Brett came in and did a great job to close it. Noah did a great job keeping us in the whole time. He kept us in that game.”
The Dirtbags’ comeback win in the championship game perfectly encapsulated the squad’s week in Cary, North Carolina. Chavez had high praise for everyone involved with the team as he processed the win after the initial series of post game celebrations.
“There's highs and lows, right? Believe in yourself, stick together as a team. The energy in the dugout was great on both sides. It should be in a gold medal game, it's been like that all week. Every game felt like a gold medal game, because we knew from being here before, if you lose one game, that might be it,” Chavez said. “I’m proud of the way they stayed in it, proud of the way they believed in themselves and believed in our coaches. The coaching staff was great. Everybody worked together as a team, and that's baseball. I think that's why we came on top.”
Earlier in the morning, Premier Banditos earned bronze with an 8-2 win over the San Diego Show. For the Banditos, the win marks the squad’s first 11U Futures medal since a silver finish in 2019. Falling behind 1-0 at the top of the first inning, Banditos plated four runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. Cade Chapman, Dylan French, and Luke Wells each raked RBI singles, with two runs coming in thanks to Wells’ line drive into left. The Show looked to mount a comeback in the second inning, able to load the bases with just one out. While the reigning champs would score a run to pull to within 4-2, it came on a groundout and the comeback would fall two runs short. Banditos added a run of its own on a groundout in the third inning to take a 5-2 lead, then got two more in the fourth when Case Miller launched an RBI single into right. An RBI groundout from Chapman capped off the win, giving Banditos an 8-2 lead in the fifth inning. Early Doucet-Makasini earned the win on the mound as he closed out the win, hurling the final 3.0 innings and striking out a pair of San Diego hitters as he allowed just two hits.
