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Tournaments  | Story | 6/13/2023

Florida Select Crowns Champions

Riley Sheppard
Hannah Jo Groves
Photo: Florida Padres 15u (Perfect Game)
15U FL Select Championship 

It was a hard-fought battle that included a 30-minute lightning delay in what felt like 90-degree heat - but the South Florida Giants won over Top Tier Roos National 10-6. 

Though the Giants' offense managed 10 runs, it was pitching that contributed most to the team's win.



Right-handed pitcher Grady Messner pitched four innings for the Giants. He threw 49 pitches and registered six strikeouts by throwing a fastball that averaged in the low-70's and mixing in curveballs consistently in the low-60's range. 

After the win, Messner won the 15U tournament's Most Valuable Pitcher - which some might find a little funny considering his background...

"It feels pretty good [to be MVP]," Messner said. "I didn't expect it at all. I did not pitch at all in high school. I did a little bit of bullpens in the beginning of the summer."

"He threw strikes," Giants' head coach Jonathan Corbitt said. "Very simple. His strike to ball ratio is very good."

Before the siren wailed its first warning of the day, the Giants put themselves up 5-0 against Top Tier.

Extra hitter Owen Dever kicked off the offense with a line drive to rightfield for a one-run double. 

"I just got up, put the ball in play with a hard hit," Dever said. "It was cool because I was pretty bad the whole tournament. So it was a good way to start the championship."

After the lightning delay, the Giants retired Messer and put up five more runs through the next three innings - but Top Tier refused to give up - putting up a fight in the bottom of the sixth. 

Two-way player for Top Tier, Hayden Rogers, hit a three-run double on the seventh pitch to avoid a run-rule and keep his team in the game. The ground ball to left field made the score 10-6 at the top of the seventh. 

However, the Giants' defense didn't allow any more runs from Top Tier - securing the championship after more than two and a half hours of battle. 

16U FL Select Championship 

With the support of their singing fans, the Florida Padres 15U were strong right out of the gate with consistent hitting and defense - giving them the 9-2 victory over the Florida Panthers 16U. 

While the Padres players stood sweaty in what felt like 91 degrees, the fans sitting beside their dugout sang and clapped along to a pregame song sung in Spanish by the players' family members. The song picked up again before the game finished. 

"The boys love it," Padres head coach Reydel Gonzalez said. "It helps them out, it gets them going and gets them fired up."

Soon after that song, first baseman Jonathan Paniagua hit a one-run triple - a laser to right field that had the Panthers' outfielder sprinting to the fence - to jumpstart his team's offense.

"It was a 1-0 count, his pitch was down the middle and I just stayed inside it and drove it," Paniagua said. "I definitely got the dugout going. It was pretty nice."

For the Panthers, Matthew Midyett stepped in as a two-way player - contributing a line hit to left field for a one-run triple. 

However, the Padres showed their strength and smarts on defense throughout the game - not letting the Panthers exceed two runs on the board.

Right-handed pitcher Cesar Barraza threw well in the strike zone and fed his defense well. He threw for 61 pitches in four innings - sticking to a fastball that averaged in the low-70's.

Adding to the Padres' offense was extra hitter Lucas Argudin - who wracked up three singles and a RBI - and also won MVP. 

"We all played as a team," Argudin said. "We all care for one another and just - to be able to win this and then win the championship as a team - it's great."

"We put this team together in the matter of a month - last minute," Gonzalez said. "So we weren't expecting this, but we knew we could come out and make some noise. And we did it."

17U FL Select Championship 

The 17U championship between National Baseball Academy and 5 Star Tampa Gold was jam-packed with excitement, including an epic comeback and walk-off win. 

Academy notched a trio of runs in the third inning, including extra bases from Yan Cruz and RBIs from Jerry Rosado Ramirez and Gianlucas Rivera. 

But it wasn’t until the fourth inning where Academy really started to extend the lead, driving home seven runs with 11 different batters coming to plate. 

Cruz joined Luis Andres Figueroa Vega with RBI singles to drive in his second run of the game, with Derek Lebron also joining the run party with extra bases. 

However, that would be the final time they’d score - with 5 Star driving in 11 unanswered runs over the next four innings. 

Three outs away from losing in run-rule fashion, Jorge Romero led off the inning with a single before making his way around the bases, with Jonny Sosnowski also driving in a run with an RBI single. 

Future Florida Gator Niko Janssens trimmed the deficit down to six in the fifth with a two-run single, driving in Romero and Cameron Kessell. 

Still down 12-9 entering the final inning, 5 Star drove in two more runs after multiple long at-bats With the bases loaded, two outs, and facing a full count, Michael Greenberg drove in the game-winning run with a single up center field to clinch the championship. 

18U FL Select Championship 

Picking up hardware at a tournament is always a nice catch, but for Siege Scout Team it was preparation for a bigger fish in two weeks.  

“We decided to play this one just to warm up [for the 18U BCS National Championship],” head coach Miguel Marerra said. “Our expectation is to be in the final and try to get a back-to-back championship for our program. We’re gonna come here, prepared and ready with our boys.” 

Siege’s run to the championship game was as dominant as they come - outscoring their three opponents 28-5 over three games. 

And in the championship matchup against Blackjack Baseball 18U, that momentum continued en route to a 8-0 run-rule victory. 

The scoring from Siege came early and often, notching five runs in the opening frame including an RBI single from Jonathan Gonzalez and triple from Fano Cruz-Rivera to drive him in a batter later.

Miami-Dade College commit Johan Hidalgo received the start, tossing a scoreless four innings while striking out four with a mid-80’s fastball and low-70’s curveball. 

Gonzalez added on to his hot start with a leadoff double in the second, making his way home a few batters later following a RBI single from David Urrutia. 

The run-rule limit was met after right-hander and Bethune Cookman commit Andy Hernandez took the mound and retired the side in the fifth inning. 

But despite the flawless start, the team knows that this has the potential to be the first of many championships this summer. 

“It shows we’re ready,” Cruz said. “This tournament was preparation. We got good guys here, if we play as a team we can win it all, we just gotta keep getting ready and stay prepared.”
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