CARY, N.C. – The Southeast Stars held on to beat the South Stars, 3-2, in the title game of the 15U National Team Identification Series (NTIS) Champions Cup on Sunday at the National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.
The win gives the Southeast region its second 15U NTIS title in the past three years.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Two consecutive walks began the Southeast half of the first, opening the door for the Alejandro Cabral to scamper home on a throwing error to open the scoring and give the Southeast a 1-0 lead.
- The Southeast drew three walks to open the bottom of the third, but only mustered one run across when States Farr was plated on a wild pitch to extend the Southeast advantage to two.
- Michael Chin started the top of the fourth with a double to left and eventually scored on a throwing error, putting the South on the scoreboard and trimming its deficit to 2-1.
- Chris Brown smoked a one-out triple to right center field in the bottom of the fourth and came around to score on an RBI groundout by Chance Blackmon, growing the Southeast lead to 3-1.
- The South got back within a run in the top of the fifth when Austin Smith drew a walk and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jordan Albarado as the Southeast lead shrunk to one.
- Nomar Torres led off the top of the seventh with a walk and eventually advanced to third to put the tying run 90 feet away with two outs, but Caleb Lear induced and caught a game-ending pop out to clinch the gold medal victory.
NOTABLE STATS
- Brown and Farr had the only two hits on the day for the gold medalists, who capitalized on wild pitching and a few errant throws to pick up the win.
- Albarado, Chin, and Cole Dunlap registered a hit each for the South. Chin and Smith scored the only two runs of the day for the squad.
- After Junior Lopez tossed 4.1 solid innings on the mound for the Southeast, Lear took over and turned in 2.2 hitless frames to earn the win.
- Ethan Armbruster was solid in relief for the South despite suffering the loss, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing one run.
- The gold medal is the second in the past three years for the Southeast, who also earned a gold medal in 2021.
