SURPRISE, Ariz. -- After coming away with victories in both their quarterfinal and semifinal games on Friday afternoon, Prime and TB SoCal advanced to the finals of the 17U National Team Championships Arizona.
The two teams will now square off with the gold medal on the line Saturday morning at Surprise Stadium, with the first pitch being scheduled for 10:30 A.M. MT.
Prime 5, Mash 17U Vocca 4
After finding itself trailing heading into the game's final frame, Prime rallied for a pair of runs in the seventh inning to stun MASH 17U Vocca and secure a come-from-behind 5-4 victory that earned it a spot in the gold-medal game.
Prime came into the semifinal matchup riding a streak of 19 consecutive scoreless innings, but it was MASH that struck first blood and ended this streak right out of the gates. After loading the bases via two walks and an error right away, cleanup hitter Eddie Peters continued his torrid stretch at the plate by lining a ball into right field for a base hit, scoring two runs before an out had even been recorded. Two batters later, Lucas McNellis added another to the tally, bringing home one more run on an RBI groundout to give MASH a 3-0 lead after the first.
Prime was quick to answer back, however, getting its own offense going in the second inning thanks to some excellent discipline at the plate. After a one-out single from David Gibbs got things started, the team's bats managed to draw three consecutive walks against MASH starter Jonathan Dobis, the last of which brought in its first run of the game. With the bases still loaded a batter later, Maximo Martinez poked one into center field to bring home another, cutting Prime's deficit down to just one.
The action bounced back and forth from here, with the two teams matching each other blow for blow in the third. Prime erased its deficit in the top half thanks to a two-out base hit by Isaiah Diaz, but MASH answered back and retook its one-run lead right after via back-to-back doubles by Peters and Dobis.
After the early barrage of runs, the pitchers on both sides started to settle in. Prime summoned Jacob Skelskey out of the bullpen to start the fourth inning, and he proceeded to put up zeroes for the next three frames while striking out five, including all three that he faced in the sixth. On the other side, Dobis worked two perfect innings in the fourth and fifth before handing the ball to Jake Reigert, who tossed a perfect sixth of his own with two punchouts.
This brought the game to its final frame, where Prime needed at least a run to keep its gold-medal dreams alive. A costly error and a walk to lead off the inning gave the team a golden opportunity to turn things back around, and two batters later, Cole Hansen cashed in, lining a ball into left field to bring home two runs and take the lead after Skelskey came all the way around to score following an errant throw to third base.
After being on the brink of elimination, Prime now found itself on the other side of things, needing just three outs of its own to advance to the finals for the second consecutive year. Skelskey took the ball for his fourth inning of work, and after inducing a flyout to lead off the frame, he punched out back-to-back hitters to seal the deal, bringing his teammates rushing on the field in celebration with hammer in hand.
TB SoCal 7, Swarm Red Elite National 2024 1
TB SoCal earned its spot in the gold-medal game in rather convincing fashion, using another excellent showing on the mound and a big third inning at the plate to dispatch of Swarm Red Elite National 2024 by a final score of 7-1.
The tonesetter for TB SoCal in this one was starter Dylan Leoff, who followed up a solid relief outing in the quarterfinals just a few hours earlier with an even better start in the semifinals. Leoff worked the first three innings of the game, holding the Swarm Red Elite National bats scoreless during that time while allowing just a lone hit and striking out two.
This effort on the mound gave the TB SoCal hitters time to figure things out at the plate, and after plating one run thanks to an error in the second, they broke out in the third to the tune of six more. After a quick out to start the frame, the next four runners reached base via two walks and two hit-by-pitches, which put another tally on the board without a pitch even being put into play.
This strange stretch would continue a batter later, as two more runs would come across on yet another hit batsman and an error that kept the line moving. The exclamation point on this unconvential but effective inning came off the bat of Braylon Doughty, who lined a bases-loaded single into right field right after to bring in another pair of runners and put the TB SoCal lead at 7-0.
Now sitting on a comfortable lead, TB SoCal brought in Matthew Krause to guide the game to the finish line. Swarm brought home its first run of the game in the fourth off of the young reliever, but he held firm from there, striking out eight and picking up a rare four-inning save in the process.
Dugout Chatter
- "The whole week we've battled and battled, and I kept telling them, 'Get to the later innings and we'll find a way to win'. It started with a walk, and [Cole] Hansen came through with another clutch hit for us." -- Prime head coach Mike Carpentier _o_n his team's late-inning comeback.
- "It's just the way they are. I knew we were going to be in a pitching battle with what they had, but it's our second straight year going to the championship, so we're battle tested." -- Carpentier on the performance of his pitchers in the late innings of the game.
- "They change speeds and throw strikes, and that's the name of the game, especially as you get deep in these tournaments. There are no more off days, everyone's fatigued, so you get guys on their front foot and they can't hit the way they do if they're balanced." -- TB SoCal head coachĀ Benny Bonilla on his team's stellar performance on the mound throughout the week.
- "I just told them that there are 84 other teams that would love to be in their shoes, so go make the most out of it. Give us 100 percent, have fun, and play baseball, and good things will happen." -- Bonilla on his message to his team before the gold-medal game.
On Deck
- TB SoCal (8-0), the No. 2 seed in the tournament, will take on Prime (7-1), the No. 16 seed, in the gold-medal game at 10:30 A.M. MT at Surprise Stadium. Prime will be looking to take home the top prize after earning the silver medal at the 16U age group last year, while TB SoCal will be trying for its second gold medal of the event after winning at 15U last week.
- MASH 17U Vocca (6-1-1), the No. 5 seed, will square off against Swarm Red Elite National (6-2), the No. 19 seed, in the bronze-medal game at 7:30 A.M. MST at Surprise Stadium.
