CARY, N.C. - A back-and-forth battle for the 2017 14U National Team Identification Series (NTIS) gold medal ended with Southern California on top, beating their in-state competitor Northern California 9-6 on Coleman Field at the USA Baseball National Training Complex on Sunday.
The 14U NTIS Southern California team followed its 11U counterpart, which was awarded the 2017 11U NTIS gold medal earlier in the day, to a championship. The victory marked three gold medals for the Southern California region in 2017, after the 16U squad defeated Northwest 6-2 in the championship match last weekend.

Northern California got the scoring started in the second inning with Trevor Haskins crossing the plate on a fielding error, but Southern California answered with a RBI triple from David Shackelford and did not look back, scoring in every inning following its scoreless first.

Southern California surged ahead to a four-run lead in the third with a pair of runs knocked in by Noah Rodriquez's grounder up the middle to make it a 5-1 ballgame.

Northern California did not back down though. The team capitalized on fielding errors and closed the gap in the fifth to make it a 2-run game. But Rodriquez was at it again for Southern California, hitting a double to bring in another run and setting the stage for three unearned runs in the final innings to put the game away for good.

Shackelford and Rodriquez led Southern California offensively both going 2-for-3 on the day. Zachary Torres led at the plate as well with 2 RBIs for the team. Izeah Muniz took the mound to start for Southern California and put in three innings of work to lead his team to the gold medal victory.