Sandlot AZ battles to 18u PG WWBA WMDC championship
GLENDALE, Ariz. – The players that took the field for Wilson Sandlot AZ on Monday at the 18u Perfect Game WWBA West Memorial Day Classic could be excused for feeling a little battle weary by the end of the day. No team in any of three age-group divisions at this year’s WMDCs had to work as hard or as long as Sandlot had to on the events’ final day.
About three hours after needing 10 innings to win its semifinal game, No. 1-seeded Sandlot AZ rallied from a one-run deficit by scoring twice in the bottom of the seventh inning and topped the No. 2 Warriors Baseball Academy 2018, 6-5, in the championship game played on the White Sox side of the Camelback Ranch spring training complex.
“I told the boys after the game, I said that was just the epitome of the entire weekend,” Sandlot head coach Kurt Vesecky said after watching his players celebrate the championship game victory at home plate. “This entire day was an absolute battle – an absolute war all day long – and they just never quit and continued to fight and fight and fight. It was super impressive and I told them this is a character-builder, for sure.”
The Glendale, Ariz.-based Warriors BA 2018 (4-1-0) scored single runs in the top of the first and second innings and added three in the top of the fourth to account for their five rums. Chandler, Ariz.-based Sandlot AZ (5-0-0) countered with two in the first and two in the fourth to move to within one at 5-4 heading into the seventh.
Batting with one out and runners on second and third, Jake Plecas hit a deep drive to right field which was caught for the second out, but those runners not only both tagged but both managed to score to give the Sandlotters the win.
Sandlot totaled nine hits in the victory. Camden Vasquez tripled and singled, drove in a run and scored another; Brady Bulger doubled and singled and also drove in one and scored one; Cherokee LeBeau singled twice and had an RBI and a run scored, and Bobby Mesa Jr. also singled twice and drove in a run.
“All these guys are local guys and they’ve been playing together for a long time,” Vesecky said “This team kind of came together this year and we expect big things from this group this year.”
Warriors BA 2018 rapped-out 12 hits with 10 players collecting at least one apiece; Damien McElroy (2 singles, 2 runs scored) and Dominik Zubia (2 singles) were the only Warriors with more than one hit. Antonio Brito and Brady Welch both singled and drove in a pair of runs.
A pair of semifinal games were played Monday morning, with the Warriors Baseball Academy blanking No. 3 Team Majestic 18u, 2-0, and Sandlot outlasting No. 5 Phenom Elite, 4-3 in 10 innings.
2018 left-hander Sasha Sneider, an Arizona State commit, was lights-out for the Warriors in their win, pitching a complete-game, four-hit shutout with six strikeouts and two walks; Jack Silverman provided the game’s only runs when he delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth.
2018 right-hander Jack Kannon and 2021 righty Cade Westerlund combined on a six-inning three-hitter for Team Majestic (3-1-0), striking out three and walking four.
Jacob Vesecky hit a line-drive, run-scoring single to leftfield with no one out in the bottom of the 10th inning to break a 3-3 tie and lift Sandlot to its victory. Colton Cassinelli doubled, walked twice, drove in two runs and scored one – the game winner – to lead Sandlot at the plate.
2018 right-hander Ty Pohlman allowed an earned run on only one hit while striking out seven and walking three in five innings of work. 2017 righty Dawson McCarville worked five innings of relief, allowing one earned run on three hits with five strikeouts and a walk.
Jeremy Knutzen singled and delivered a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth inning that gave Phenom Elite (3-2-0) a short-lived 3-2 lead. Sandlot tied it in the bottom of the sixth, and the two teams played four more innings.
Sandlot’s Cassinelli was named the 18u PG WWBA West Memorial Day Most Valuable Player while McCarville was named the Most Valuable Pitcher.
“These guys have been here before; this isn’t new to them,” Vesecky said of the championship group. “They’ve all played together or against one another since they were 10 years old. They’ve played at the highest levels competing all over the country, whether it be Cooperstown, N.Y., or California, or going out to Florida and Georgia and playing; these guys know what this is all about.
“For them to come together and play as a team like they did and win two games late like they did, it’s absolutely awesome.”
2017 WWBA 18u Memorial Day West runner-up: Warriors Baseball Academy
2017 WWBA 18u Memorial Day West MVP: Colton Cassinelli
2017 WWBA 18u Memorial Day West MV-Pitcher: Dawson McCarville
Phenom Signature captures 2nd straight 16u PG WWBA WMDC title
GLENDALE, Ariz. – It’s almost becoming routine, except to write that seems to somehow diminish what this Moreno Valley, Calif.-based Phenom Signature team manages to accomplish on the Perfect Game tournament circuit year-in and year-out.
The team still enters whichever complex it’s playing in on that particular morning in single-file fashion, the players still neatly place their gloves side-by-side one of the outfield foul lines while they do their pregame stretching and they still – almost routinely – find themselves hoisting a championship trophy on the event’s final day.
No. 2-seeded Phenom Signature received a dazzling six innings of no-hit, no-run pitching from 2019 right-hander Zachary Martinez, and out-paced the No. 1 Las Vegas Recruits (LVR), 5-0, in Monday’s championship game at the 16u PG WWBA West Memorial Day Classic, played on the White Sox side of the Camelback Ranch spring training complex
It was Phenom Signature’s second straight title at the 16u PG WWBA WMDC and it was won with many of the same players in uniform as a year ago.
“It’s one of those things where I think the chemistry is the most important thing,” Phenom founder/owner and head coach Joe Keller said of this Signature team that finished 6-0-0 at the tournament. “These guys love playing with each other and the chemistry is just great. And, they’re just a bunch of talented guys.”
While Martinez was busy shutting down the usually potent LVR lineup, the Signature hitters were able to collect eight hits during the snappy affair. Spencer Jones, a Vanderbilt commit ranked No. 11 in the national high school class of 2019, singled twice, drove in a run and scored two. Garrett Frechette, the No. 100-ranked national prospect in the 2019 class, singled and drove in a run, as did fellow 2019 Seth Spencer.
LVR (4-1-0) – the 2016 14u PG WWBA WMDC champion – had been dominant on its way to securing the event’s No. 1 seed, but it had nothing for Martinez on this day. The Recruits didn’t collect their first hit until he was removed in the game in the seventh inning – a single off the bat of Kade Higgins.
LVR ran past the No. 5 SoCal Tribe, 10-0, and Phenom Signature topped No. 6 Nationals 16u Blue, 4-1, in the two semifinal games played Monday morning.
Bradley Stone smacked a two-run double and Emilio Morales contributed a two-run single to lead LVR. Morales, a 2020 right-hander, pitched 4 1/3 shutout innings allowing four hits while striking out one and walking one.
2019 right-hander Wesley Scott, ranked No. 5 nationally in his class, allowed one run on one hit with 13 strikeouts and three walks in 6 2/3 innings in Phenom Signature’s win. Damone Hale singled twice and drove in a run, the only player in Signature’s lineup with multiple hits.
The Phenom’s Frechette was named the Most Valuable Player and, not surprisingly, Martinez was named the Most Valuable Pitcher.
“We really just wanted to get reps in and prepare (for the summer),” Keller said. “Of course, winning is always the goal, but for these guys we’re just trying to get ready and get prepared for Atlanta, Georgia (16u PG WWBA National Championship); that’s our goal right now.”
2017 WWBA 16u Memorial Day West champions: Phenom Signature
2017 WWBA 16u Memorial Day West runner-up:
LVR
2017 WWBA 16u Memorial Day West MVP: Garrett Frechette
2017 WWBA 16u Memorial Day West MV-Pitcher: Zachary Martinez
It’s 2 straight for LVR at 14u PG WWBA WMDC
GLENDALE, Ariz. – At the same time on Monday the Las Vegas Recruits (LVR) squad that won the 2016 14u PG WWBA West Memorial Day Classic was playing for a championship at this year’s 16u PG WWBA WMDC on the White Sox side of the Camelback Ranch complex, a new LVR squad was playing for a championship at this year’s 14u PG WWBA WMDC on the Dodgers’ side of the complex.
This new 14u team got the job done.
No. 1-seeded LVR (5-0-0) overcame a late 2-0 deficit by scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth and then added two more in the bottom of the sixth, and beat the No. 2 Banditos, 5-2, in the 14u PG WWBA WMDC championship game. The Banditos, based in Norwalk, Calif., finished the tournament 5-1-0.
“Perfect Game tournaments are the best,” LVR head coach Shawn West said. “it’s so much fun to come down here – great fields, great facility, the weather’s great – and (PG) puts a hell of product on the field. Our kids strive to play (these tournaments) and compete and excel in them; that’s what we want so it’s really good.”
The championship game was scoreless through four innings before the Banditos finally got on the board with two in the top of the fifth. LVR’s bats, fairly quiet up to that point, finally got busy and posted their five runs in the next two innings; they were enough to grab the championship.
LVR totaled eight hits, with Samuel Simon collecting a pair of singles and driving in a run; Shane Stafford doubled and scored twice, and Joshua Johnson singled, drove in a run and scored two. 2021 right-hander Thomas Dilandi and the 2021 left-hander Stafford combined on five-hitter, allowing one earned run while striking out nine and walking five.
The Banditos’ Freddie Madera singled twice to account for two of the five hits and Cain Lusic doubled and drove in a run.
In semifinal action Monday morning, LVR rolled past No. 5 Game7 Prime, 10-0 in five innings, and the Banditos out-lasted Hard 90 Baseball, 2-1.
Jonathan Zarate singled twice, walked and scored a run as part of the Banditos’ six-hit attack in their win over No. 3 Hard 90 Baseball (4-1-0). 2020 right-hander Parker Welch and 2021 righty Sebastian Guzman combined on a six-hitter, allowing one run while striking out six and walking two.
Thatcher Hurd singled twice to account for two of Hard 90’s six hits. 2021 right-hander Jonathan Cymrot gave up one earned run while scattering six hits, striking out nine and walking three in six innings of work.
The 2020 right-hander Johnson was a one-man wrecking crew for the Recruits in their win over Game7 Prime (3-1-1), leading the 10-hit attack with a triple, single and three RBI. He also pitched a five-inning, 2-hit shutout, striking out four and walking one. Gavin Mez singled twice, was hit by a pitch, drove in a run and scored two, and Hunter Katsch singled twice and scored a run.
Mez was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and Johnson was named its Most Valuable Pitcher.
This marks the third year the Las Vegas Recruits organization has sent teams to Perfect Game tournaments and they have already become fixtures in championship games. The influx of young talent doesn’t seem to be slowing.
“We have a great coaching staff – we have a pitching/infield guy, catching guy, outfield guy – and we all work together,” West said. “With Brad Maloff and Evan Greusel (at the top), we just work well together. We all delegate our roles and we own it and we love it, and the kids are a reflection of how much we love to be out there for them.”
2017 WWBA 14u Memorial Day West champions: LVR
2017 WWBA 14u Memorial Day West runner-up: Banditos
2017 WWBA 14u Memorial Day West MVP: Gavin Mez
2017 WWBA 14u Memorial Day West MV-Pitcher: Joshua Johnson
