CARY, N.C. – ZT Prospects National and the Premier Nationals won both their quarter and semifinal games at Middle Creek Park in Apex, North Carolina, on Saturday to advance to Sunday’s 2021 11U Futures Invitational gold medal game.
The quarterfinal matchups got started early Saturday morning, starting with ZT Prospects National winning 5-0 over Stars National. This would be the highest margin of victory in the quarterfinal games, as the others were decided by two runs or less. The Lamorinda Titans earned an 11-10 come-from-behind win over Canes West Futures to find themselves opposite the ZT Prospects National in the semifinals.
On the other side of the bracket, the Premier Nationals edged out a 2-1 victory over the TG Dbacks to reach the semifinals. They then played the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Dream Chasers, who handled business to earn a 2-1 win against the SBA Futures to finalize the semifinal matchups.
SEMIFINAL GAME 1: ZT Prospects National 14, Lamorinda Titans 1
Lamorinda kicked off the scoring in the first semifinal game of the day when it found its first and only run in the bottom of the first inning on a Chase Cotton single into left that scored Mason Harris. But the lead didn’t last long.
ZT Prospects National responded in a big way just a half inning later, scoring six runs and never looking back. Zion Avinda got the offensive explosion started, coming around on a Zain Valdivia single. But the big highlight of the inning would come two batters later when Aaron Garcia cleared the bases on a three-run double to put his team up 5-1.
Garcia went 5.1 innings on the mound, scattering just four hits and allowing the single Lamorinda run. He also struck out four during his outing and earned the win.
After adding two more runs in the third to make it 8-1, ZT Prospects National put a stamp on the game with another six-run inning in the sixth. The frame was highlighted by two inside the park home runs off the bats of Angel Gonzalez and Hudson Brown.
Garcia went out for the sixth and picked up one out before Valdivia came on in relief to collect the last two outs and seal the victory for the ZT Prospects National.
At the plate, six ZT Prospect Nationals batters had multi-hit games, led by starting pitcher Garcia, who had four RBIs and went 2-for-4. For Lamorinda, Harris led the way at the plate, going 1-for-2 with a walk and scoring his team’s only run.
SEMIFINAL GAME 2: Premier Nationals 5, Dream Chasers 4
In a back-and-forth game, the Dream Chasers started things off when they jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the game with a Coin Raymond two-out, bases loaded walk. But Easton Brunson came back with a strikeout for the Premier Nationals against the next batter to limit the damage and keep his team within striking distance.
And the Premier Nationals didn’t stay down long, scoring three runs in their half of the first. After a single, walk, and a bunt loaded the bases with no outs, Brunson sent one into left that scored Colt Sampson. Just three pitches later, still with the bases loaded and no outs, Lucas Smith sent a hard grounder through the left side to bring in two more.
From there, the Dream Chasers’ pitchers were able to settle in, allowing no runs in the second, third, or fourth while the offense repaid them by getting a run back in the third. Jael Santos hit a sacrifice fly into right, scoring Jaiden Lopez to cut the deficit to one and make it a 3-2 game.
The Dream Chasers then took a 4-3 lead with some help from the Premier Nationals in the fifth when they scored on consecutive passed balls.
Resilient as always, the Premier Nationals came right back to the plate and reclaimed the lead. Tony Ciurca singled on the first pitch of the inning and came around to score on a triple by Brunson. Smith then brought in Brunson with a double into the left field gap and put the Premier Nationals back on top, 5-4.
In the seventh, the Dream Chasers almost made a comeback of their own, putting a runner on with no outs. That’s when Premier made the play of the game, turning a double play off a bunt to negate the Dream Chasers chance. Tristin Gaines then sat the next batter down on three straight pitches to end the game and send his team into the championship game.
Ciurca was credited with the win while Julian Martinez took the loss for the Dream Chasers. Martinez did lead his team at the plate though, going 3-for-3 and scoring a run. Brunson also went 3-for-3 for the Premier Nationals while Smith collected 3 RBIs in a 2-for-3 performance.
ZT Prospects National and the Premier Nationals will play for the gold medal tomorrow morning at 11:15 a.m. ET, while the Dream Chasers will take on the Lamorinda Titans at 8:00 a.m. in the bronze medal game. Both games will be at Thomas Brooks Park in Cary, North Carolina, and will be broadcast live on USABaseball.com and Facebook.com/USABaseball, while live stats can be followed along with on GameChanger.
