Two impressive teams, two near-shutouts, and two dominant starting pitchers. Cali National Baseball Academy and Truth had an eerily similar semifinal at the 14U National Team Championships in Arizona.

Now, they’ll square off in the 14U championship game on Sunday with a set of gold medals on the line.

Both Cali and Truth captured convincing wins in their respective semifinal games at Champs Arizona. While Cali National beat Stacked Baseball 8-1 and Truth downed MBA Navy 7-1, both put up persistent offensive efforts while riding their dominant pitcher’s performances all the way to the final round.

Cali National Baseball Academy 8, Stacked Baseball 1

Cali National Baseball Academy’s strong 8-1 win over a formidable Stacked Baseball team started and ended with its starting pitcher and ace, Jax Janeski.

Janeski hurled a complete game against Stacked. With just one earned run and two walks to his name, Janeski averaged a strikeout per inning, ending his day with seven punchouts and six hits allowed.

“That was an excellent performance, just mixing up all his pitches, spotting up,” said head coach Pat Gutierrez. “He wanted the ball. He's been one of our aces all year long, and he was the guy we trusted, and he got the job done.”

While Janeski gave up six hits, he let his trusted defense behind him work to nearly shut out their opponents — Janeski and Cali held Stacked to four innings of scoreless ball with their opponents plating its lone run in the fifth frame.

“It just takes good teammates, because that's what helps me the most — having a good group of guys,” Janeski said.” And then I'm always confident out there, because they always make plays and have good attitudes.”

Combined with a steady offensive effort, Janeski’s confidence, ability to keep his opponents off-balance, and entire arsenal of pitches helped his team punch its ticket to the next round.

“He was keeping them off-balance, executing his pitches every single pitch — fastball, curveball, change up. And then also trusting his boys that he's been playing with for years.”

Cali National is no stranger to gold medal matches, either. In fact, Janeski, Gutierrez and the rest of their team won it all in 2023. Now, all they want to do is go back-to-back.

“We did this turning because we knew that we're going to be in the spot,” Gutierrez said. “We won it last year. We're ready to defend our crown. We're coming back to another championship game, and we're ready to win gold. We're set up to do it.”

Defending that crown will not be easy, especially against a talented Truth team. However, Cali has been there and done that. Gutierrez and company know what it takes to win it all, and they know what they need to do in order to accomplish their mission.

“We need to trust each other,” Gutierrez said. “We need to come out with a good start on the bump. We need to have fundamental at-bats, make sure we get the job done, and I think we could win gold tomorrow.”

Truth 7, MBA Navy 1

As Janeski and Cali National were shutting down their opponent, Truth and its ace, Jesse Mendoza, were putting on an equally entertaining show against MBA Navy.

Mendoza was equally impressive on the mound for Truth. After tearing through opponent after opponent throughout the tournament, Truth’s reached the final round thanks to six stingy innings from its ace.

Mendoza pitched six shutout frames of two-hit ball in his time on the mound. Aside from no earned runs, he hurled five strikeouts in the semifinal matchup. Mendoza’s mindset on the mound with his team on his back was a simple one.

“Just taking deep breaths and trusting your defense and your coach was really my biggest thing, and just throwing strikes,” Mendoza said.

While Mendoza was doing his thing on the mound, his offense was working to run up the score against MBA Navy. Truth put on a shutout all the way until the seventh and final frame and only allowed four hits in its 7-1 victory.

Truth head coach Vic Buttler instilled an inspiring message to his team throughout and after the game, one that helped Mendoza and the rest of his team reach the gold medal game.

“[He instills] brotherhood, Mendoza said. “Not pounding on each other, because we had some ups and downs — we just helped each other come up and [he told me] to just trust in your defense and your team throughout.”

Trust in teammates and yourself was of the utmost importance for Buttler. Additionally, he preached dedication, hard work, and consistency in execution to his team.

“They're starting to realize what it takes,” said Buttler. “It takes blood, sweat and tears. It's coming out here, banding together, playing as a family, as a brotherhood, and getting the job done. We got to execute. We got to be consistent.”

Buttler and his team’s mindset has earned them success throughout the tournament. Now, Truth is hoping that it can pull off one more win in the gold medal match on Sunday against Cali National.

“It's all about attitude, effort, and energy,” Buttler said. “Going out there with a good mindset, a great attitude, controlling your energy, your effort on the field, playing 100% until the umpire says game over. And hopefully we’re on the winning side of things.”