FORT MYERS, Fla. – There is a touch of irony in the fact that one of the teams that advanced out of pool-play and into bracket-play at the 17u Perfect Game BCS National Championship on Friday proudly displays the word “NATION” in capital letters across the front of its uniform while also having a very distinctive, local community sort of feel to it.
But even though the Nation Elite Goodrich roster includes only players from in and around the New Smyrna Beach, Fla.-area, it is a team that has spent the last two weeks enjoying decent success and gaining a level of respect while performing at a pair of PG national championship tournaments.
There is no doubt about it. Posting strong showings at both the 17u PG WWBA National Championship in North Georgia and the 17u PG BCS National Championship here in Southwest Florida during back-to-back weeks in July can go a long way toward what is essentially a local ballclub garnering some much-needed and much-appreciated national attention.
The Nation Elite players come primarily from communities like Melbourne, Debary and Port Orange in Southeast Florida, and attend high schools like New Smyrna Beach, Eau Gallie and Spruce Creek.
“We don’t all come out of one high school, but we’re definitely a local community type of thing,” Nation Elite head coach Johnny Goodrich told PG Friday morning before his team took the field for its sixth and final pool-play game of the tournament at the historic Terry Park four-plex.
“We’re able to get together and play an execution style-based offense and defense, and it allows us to practice and prepare a little bit more than some of the other clubs, I think,” he said.
The Nation Elite went 3-1-0 during pool-play and didn’t advance to the playoffs at the 17u PG WWBA, but won a consolation game and finished 4-1-0. They assured themselves a playoff berth at the 17u BCS by finishing 3-0-0 in their first three pool-play games, and took a 5-1-0 record into the playoffs (first-round games were scheduled for late Friday afternoon).
They outscored their six opponents by a combined 35-14, and during the Nation Elite won two one-run games and one two-run game; their only loss was a three-run setback. Having the ability to win those close games tells Goodrich a lot about this group.
“It lets you know that it’s a resilient bunch; there’s a little bend but there’s not a whole lot of break,” he said. “I’ll take toughness over talent any day of the week.”
Goodrich feels like his team has played very well here this week, and has done so even though it lacks the depth in its pitching staff many of the more established programs can enjoy. The Nation Elite will just have to make up for that in other areas.
“I think there’s a piece of togetherness – an esprit de corps, or whatever you want to call it – and they play with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder,” he said. “When you look at it, they all have something to play for; they truly have a desire to play college baseball.”
The players wearing the Nation Elite jerseys would certainly love to head back to Florida’s Atlantic Coast carrying a PG national championship tournament trophy after being fitted for PG national championship rings on Sunday, but the way Goodrich looks at it, that’s not really the reason they’re playing they’ve been playing at this event all week.
They’re here to present themselves and showcase themselves in the best possible light, which means they’ll go out and play hard, they’ll play to win and they’ll play with pride. And that also means playing with unrelenting energy from the first to last pitch of every game, something they’ve been able to do all summer.
Eight Nation Elite players were named to the 17u PG WWBA all-tournament team last week, including top middle-infielder prospect Hunter Fornari, a College of Charleston commit who attends Spruce Creek HS. The only other prospect on the roster that has made his college commitment is right-hander Seth Lovel (New Smyrna Beach HS), a Bethune-Cookman recruit.
PG ranks six of the 2018s listed as “high-follows” or better, including Fornari, Lovell, Logan Clayton, Trejen Fox-Birdwell and Adam Smith; Clayton and Smith joined Fornari on the 17u WWBA all-tournament team.
“We’ve played some pretty good competition down here, and we played some really good teams up in Atlanta,” Fornari told PG Friday morning. “We’re down here just competing. We’re all having fun out there just doing what we do, and things are working out for us.”
When Fornari speaks about this team he can barely utter a sentence with using the words “having fun.” Like every 17u team that played at both the WWBA and BCS PG national championships, the Nation Elite have been forced to deal with rain and lightning delays, but those delays often seem to be more upsetting to tournament officials, coaches and parents then they are to the players.
Seventeen-year-olds still possess the very enviable quality of resiliency, and it’s going to take more than a few raindrops or scattered lightning bolts to shut down their party.
“We’re a pretty relaxed group; we’re just out here having fun,” Fornari said “If we get to play, we’re going to go out and play hard; if we don’t get to play, we’re going to wait for the next day. We’re going to be bummed-out that we didn’t get to play, but once we do we’re going to go out there and try to win.”
The Nation Elite program didn’t begin operation until the fall of 2016, but the program obviously hit the ground running. A real strength the organization is its coaching staff, which includes:
Goodrich, the head coach at Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange (he led the Hawks to the FHSAA Class 8A state championship in 2012); Nick Regilio, the head coach at New Smyrna Beach HS (he pitched in 24 games for the Texas Rangers in 2004-05); Matt Burgess, the head coach at Deltona HS, and Tony Morgan and Frank Corr, both private instructors (Corr played two years of minor league baseball).
“This is relatively new for us, and for us to be where we are (today), I’m just really proud of the work that we’ve done,” Goodrich said. “If you really want to get down to the nuts-and-bolts of it, we have those three high schools that we basically pull from, and then we’ve surrounded those kids with a little salt-and-pepper from here and there.”
Count Fornari among the believers: “It’s the best summer-ball team that I’ve played for,” he said. “Coach Goodrich, Coach Nick (Regilio) and the (entire) coaching staff, they all get it done, man. They’re here working for us, not themselves.”
When Goodrich considers this Nation Elite team, the aspect of its makeup that most stands out to him is how well the players get along with one another. He told PG that when the team finished its business on the baseball field Thursday, the players found a beach nearby and all did a little fishing as a group.
“They’re together, they’re having fun and they want to be here,” he said. “There is not one guy (on the roster) that puts the emphasis on himself, and that’s what makes this group special. There aren’t any big-time recruits out there, they’re just guys who want to play baseball – who want to have fun – and we’ve told them if you play the game the right way, you’ll get noticed.”
Getting noticed – that powerful lure called exposure – is a big reason the Nation Elite requested invitations to the PG WWBA and PG BCS 17u PG national championships. Advancing to the playoffs this weekend at the 17u PG BCS is a bonus, because now the Elite will be facing only the winningest teams from the event, meaning even more eyes will be directed their way.
Those teams will have names like “Scorpions”; “Squad”; “Burn”; “Stealth”; “Elite” or “TE” announced across the front of their jerseys, each of which is much more recognizable than “NATION”. But it doesn’t matter. Goodrich knows his guys won’t roll over in front of anyone.
The way they look at it, as long as they’re here, why not win the whole doggone thing. “That gets right back to where we say toughness beats talent every day, so let’s be tougher and let’s be more resilient,” he said.
That’s a great attitude for a “community” team to have at a PG national championship tournament. And maybe the players can use the sense of community they possess to their advantage and do something real special here this weekend.
This is, after all, a group of high school seniors who are fast-friends, perhaps a little more tough than talented and intent on having as much fun as they can for as long as this ride decides to last.
“We all know each other pretty well, which is better because a lot of these teams at these (tournaments), they don’t really know each other,” Fornari concluded. “Around here, we know each other, we’re having fun together and we’ve played with each other before, so it just helps everything out; it makes it a better group to play with.”