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Tournaments  | Story  | 6/26/2018

Big hit powers Team Elite South

Bryan Cooney     
Photo: Team Elite South (Perfect Game)



FORT MYERS, Fla. – Just minutes after surrendering a three-run lead with just one out to go to secure the championship of the 2018 12u BCS National Championship, Team Elite South dug in deep when it mattered the most.

It was the catcher and cleanup man Sevyn Williams (2023, Naples, Fla.) who came up with the big hit at the right time as his single to right field with the bases loaded brought home the winning run as Team Elite defeated the Naples Cyclones 4-3 at Centurylink Sports Complex on Tuesday.

Down to their final three outs, the Cyclones went to work with one out in the sixth as Daniel Mayor (2024, Naples, Fla.) worked a walk and Kyle Klaric (2025, Sanibel, Fla.) singled into left to bring the tying run to the plate. With two outs, Jason Bello (2023, Lehigh Acres, Fla.) single to left set up Justin Breitenstein (2023, Estero, Fla.) with an opportunity to put a dent into the Team Elite lead. On the first pitch he saw, Breitenstein blasted a double all the way to the fence in right-center to clear the bases and make it a brand new ballgame.

However, it didn’t take long for Team Elite to put themselves in position to walk off with the victory as Jaden Gordon-Somers lined a triple to the wall in right. The Cyclones elected to issue two intentional passes to load the bases and create a force play opportunity, but Williams made sure that wasn’t going to happen as his liner to right safely dropped in to bring across Gordon-Somers for the winning run.

“Before they went out for that inning, I told them to stay focused out there, the game’s not over,” Team Elite head coach Keith Goodwin said. “Their big guy got the bases-loaded double there, but the kids did as good job of locking it down to keep it there. Jaden had two strikes on him and he got a mistake to hit. He’s been lights out this entire tournament and Sevyn comes up with the hit at the end to cap a great week for him as well.

“These kids had a lot of fun this week, and it was a great championship game between two teams that knew each other very well.”

With both teams featuring kids from Southwest Florida going up against one another, it was Gordon-Somers on the mound for Team Elite who set the tone from the start as he picked up four strikeouts in the first two innings. His teammates got him a run in the bottom of the second as Team Elite took advantage of an errant throw on a third strike in the dirt with two outs, and Kevin Gonzalez trotted home to put his team ahead 1-0.

Gordon-Somers was able to create another run for Team Elite in the third after he was hit by a pitch with one out, and he was able to advance to second on a wild pitch and stole third before coming into score after a line drive to left field was caught, but the throw towards third base skittered into the Cyclones’ dugout.

As Gordon-Somers continued to put up zeroes, Team Elite stretched the lead to 3-0 as Alan Polomino reached after being hit by a pitch with one out and got into scoring position with a stolen base before Gonzalez drove him in with a single to center in the fourth.

With Gordon-Somers getting to the sixth inning and nearing his daily pitch limit, the Cyclones mounted their rally and forced on Julian Cazanas onto the mound to try and get the final two outs for Team Elite. With Breitenstein’s heroics creating a brand new ballgame, it was fitting that Gordon-Somers sparked the winning rally after the effort he put forth on the mound to give Team Elite a chance at victory from the onset.

Williams was named the MV-Player of the tournament, not only for his clutch hit in the championship game, but for an outstanding week at the plate in which he hit .533 (8-for-15) with five extra-base hits including a home run and he finished with 11 RBI in seven games.

For the runner-up Cyclones, Bello was selected as the MV-Pitcher primarily for his efforts in the semifinal contest on Monday that saw the Cyclones knock off top-seed Diamond Jacks Super 12s behind Bello’s 5 1/3 innings of work in which he allowed five hits and one run. For the tournament, he finished with a 1.90 ERA over 7 1/3 innings with five strikeouts.


2018 12u BCS National Championship runner-up: Naples Cyclones



2018 12u BCS National Championship MVP: Sevyn Williams



2018 12u BCS National Championship MV-Pitcher: Jason Bello
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