CARY, N.C. - Sunday marked the final day of play at the 2024 12U National Team Identification Series (NTIS) Champions Cup at Thomas Brooks Park, where four teams had the opportunity to punch their ticket to the gold medal game.
The semifinal round matched up the Southwest Stripes and the Southwest Stars, and then paired the Midwest Stars against the South Stars. With the combined record of teams being 10-1-1, the semifinals were primed for great matchups between talented squads.
The Southwest Stripes were the first team to make its way to the championship game. In the semifinal game, Southwest got off to an early start by raking in three runs in the top of the third inning to go up 3-0. Later in the game, its opponent, the Southwest Stars, locked the score at 4-4, which pushed the game into an extra eighth inning. With tensions rising, Hudson Lee came up huge for his squad with a three-run inside-the-park homer to put the Southwest Stripes up 7-4. The Southwest Stars put up two runs in the bottom of the eighth frame, but its comeback came up just short to finalize a 7-6 victory for the Southwest Stripes.
The Midwest Stars followed the Southwest Stripes into the gold medal game shortly after it clinched a 9-6 win over the South Stars. After the Midwest Stars jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth frame, the South Stars fought back and provided offense of its own in the late-game stretch. The game boiled down into the bottom of the sixth with the score locked at six runs each. The Midwest Stars’ offense garnered some last-minute motivation and put up three runs in the top of the seventh frame to give itself a three-run advantage. After holding it down on the defensive side of the dish, the Midwest Stars clinched the win with a 9-6 result.
With both squads possessing some of the highest runs scored totals, a legendary finish at the 12U NTIS Champions Cup was inevitable.
To begin the championship game, the Midwest Stars came out on fire as it notched two runs in the top of the first, sparked by Miles Lockridge scoring the first run of the game on an errant throw.
The Southwest Stripes responded with an offensive punch of its own when Hayden Zachar drove in a run home on a double. Joshua Ng plated two runs with his shallow single to center field to give Southwest a 3-2 lead after one inning.
Joshua Matthews, of the Midwest Stars, evened the score at three in the ensuing inning after scoring thanks to a bobbled catch in the outfield.
As things came to a stand, Enrique Campos uncorked a shot to the left field wall that resulted in an inside-the-park home run in the top of the third inning. After the Midwest Stars held the Southwest Stripes scoreless in the third and fourth innings, Lockridge found his way home on a sacrifice fly after he previously advanced from first base to third thanks to a failed pickoff attempt and an errant throw. Lockridge’s second run pushed the score to 5-3 in favor of the Midwest Stars.
The rest of the way it was all Midwest Stars. The Stars tallied four more runs throughout the last two innings of play to leave an everlasting impression at the NTIS Champions Cup. A bases-loaded wild pitch sparked the offensive effort, soon being followed up by a Nathan Brown RBI triple to left field. A wild pitch in the next at-bat allowed Brown to tack on another run and take the score to 8-3. Caden Busch capped off the affair when he cranked an RBI double, which gave his squad a six-run advantage.
Hank Bates commanded the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning as he tallied a strikeout and forced two lineouts to secure the Midwest Stars the gold.
Head Coach Tony Cappel was ecstatic postgame after his squad clinched the gold medal and noted that the journey to first place has not been an easy one.
“Our guys battled all tournament long. When we got into a tough spot, someone always came through. It was a team effort to get to this point for sure. We proved what kind of team we were today.”
After clinching the win, Cappel expressed the message that he provided to his team throughout the event: put your head down and grind.
“I tried to keep my message to the team consistent. They knew to never give up and never be satisfied. If you want to win, you have to put everything that you have into every single at-bat and pitch. We came out on top at the end of the day, so it proves they gave their all every single time they stepped out on the field. This group deserved it, and I’m super proud of them for representing our region like this.”
While the Midwest Stars collected its third gold medal at the 12U level, the Southwest Stars walked away with the bronze after an 8-3 effort against the South Stars where they commanded an 8-0 lead through six innings of action.
