After earning a bronze medal in last year’s National Team Championships in Arizona, the FS21 Stars finally earned their stripes at Champs Arizona.

The Stars shined just as brightly as their medals did at the end of their 16U championship victory. The team finally completed their mission and donned gold after their 8-3 victory over Stacked Baseball in the final bout of the tournament.

“This feels great, and it's all for the boys,” said head coach Freddie Sanchez. “They've worked so hard. We prepared the best we could, we've done everything we could to get to this point, and I'm just so excited for them.”

After starting pitcher Noah Weiss led his team to the championship round against a formidable Baum Bat NW team, he passed the baton to the next talented Stars ace, Justice Yanke.

With Yanke at the helm, the Stars held Stacked, another impressive team, scoreless through the first four innings of play.

“They're a great team and they battled,” Sanchez said. “And our pitcher Justice Yanke — man, what a warrior and a bulldog. He just kept them off balance, and that was the key. Good-hitting teams like this, you got to try to keep off balance.”

Yanke tossed a complete game against Stacked Baseball, throwing a full seven innings while only allowing five hits and one earned run. Yanke also hurled six strikeouts while letting his defense do the rest. Just like Weiss the day before, the Stars’ pitcher did whatever he needed to do to get his team a win.

“Those guys are two guys that don't really get enough credit because their velocity is not high, but they can pitch,” Sanchez said. “And that's what matters when you get on the mound — your ability to pitch and high baseball IQ, and both of them have that.”

At the end of it all, Yanke and his squad were rewarded for their efforts and anointed with gold.

“I felt good,” Yanke said. “All my pitches were feeling good… My defense played absolutely great. We deserve this, we played really good.”

While Yanke captained the mound, FS21’s offense ambushed Stacked Baseball right from the first at-bat. A leadoff triple from right fielder Brock Jackson kickstarted the Stars, and from there, they were off.

FS21 soon plated two thanks to an RBI-double and added one more by the end of the first inning. Up 3-0, the Stars’ offense wasn’t planning on stopping anytime soon. Sanchez said his team felt it during warm-ups, and simply carried it into the championship game.

“We felt it early during batting practice,” Sanchez said. “We felt it early — everybody was taking good swings. It felt good, and we felt good, and we felt confident about our offense coming out and swinging the bat today.”

FS21 quickly doubled its lead with another three-run frame in the second. This time, a series of singles, including one from Jackson, juiced the bases and started its second round of scoring. Soon enough, it was 6-0 and thanks to performances like Jackson’s and left fielder Ryan Harwood’s 2-for-4, three-RBI day, FS21 held an 8-0 lead by the end of the fourth frame.

While Stacked Baseball held off a run-rule in the fifth by scoring two, Yanke held off his opponents the majority of the game. Eventually he and his team finished off Stacked in an 8-3 decision, and were granted the gold medals they had been aspiring for since last year’s tournament.

At the end of it all, Sanchez only had one feeling towards his team — pride.

“I'm so proud of these boys and happy for them,” Sanchez said. “It just feels great to be able to put this medal on.”