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Tournaments  | Championship | 10/8/2025

Spects National Stands Tall, Wins Underclass

Spects National Outlasts for Championship in Extras

Spects National 2027 Gominsky took the 2025 PG WWBA Underclass World Championship title against Midwest Ghost 17U National - going nine innings and ending with a final score of 13-12. 



Head coach for this Spects team, Justin Gominsky, called this particular game a “war of attrition,” and was up front to his players about what it would take to come away with the title.

“It’s the ninth game of the weekend and we’re running low on bodies. I actually had one of our ‘pitcher-only’s playing the middle infield for the last couple of games because we had a guy go down,” Gominsky explained. “[We told the kids that] the teams that stayed even-keeled and really wanted it the most were going to be the teams that won.”

That philosophy was tested through the back-and-forth game - an “emotional rollercoaster” as Brody Simily called it. Simly was the player Gominsky was referring to as a pitcher-only who stepped up when his team needed him. He had only planned to be at the tournament for one day before things took a turn. 

“It all worked out and I’m super happy that I stayed.”

The Spects were the first to strike in JetBlue Park’s stadium, putting 3 runs on the board in the top of the second - the first coming off the bat of Michael Wolff on a run-scoring single, the other two coming in on errors by Midwest Ghost 17U National. 

Colin Jones responded for Midwest Ghost with a line drive to center for their first run scored - making the score 3-1 at the end of the second. 

By the top of the third, the bats had gotten hot for Spects National. The first two batters reached on singles, and a line drive from Matthew Gorman brought both runners home and extended the lead. 

Midwest Ghost punched back, with Colin Axel-Adams scoring as Gio Ardizzone grounded into a double play.  

At the end of the third, the score was 5-2. Things stood still in the fourth inning - but that was the calm before the storm. 

With the bases loaded, a walk plated one run for the Spects, Omar Avalos Jr. scored on a fielder’s choice and a ground ball from Jamison Saathoff plated 2 more to make the score 9-2. 

But Midwest Ghost had a lot more fight in them.

In the bottom of the fifth, Ardizzone reached on error and Carsten Bland scored. Then, a line-drive double from Carson Kail brought in 2 more runs, another run came in off a wild pitch, another on a walk and another on a sacrifice fly.

Just like that, the score stood at 9-8 - and after the Spects didn’t get anyone across home plate in the sixth, DJ Clymore singled to center to bring home the tying run for Midwest Ghost. 

At the start of the seventh, the score was 9-9 - and that didn’t change for two full innings, as they had entered the extras. 

Finally, in the top of the ninth, one run came in for the Spects on a walk.

Then, with tensions high, the sun roasting, energy declining and the bases loaded, Cole Ryherd stepped up to the plate. He only had one thing on his mind.

“‘I’m winning this game right here, right now.’ That’s what my motto was: ‘I’m winning this game right here.’

I’m always confident. I’ve always been confident in my game. I know I may be smaller, but I can get the job done anytime, anywhere.”

Getting the job done is exactly what Ryherd did. 

The second pitch of the at-bat, Ryherd shot a line drive to centerfield to get 3 runners across home plate. That put 4 runs between the Spects and Midwest Ghost as they rolled to the bottom of the ninth.

“The whole dugout was going nuts,” Ryherd said. “It was something like I’ve never seen before.”

But Midwest Ghost showed that they were not going out without a fight. 

Axel-Adams scored on a fielder’s choice - making the score 13-10. 

At that point, the Spects, depleted of pitchers, asked Charlie Sarsfield, who hadn’t pitched in years, to take the mound for the final few outs. 

Ethan Cougill popped a run-scoring single to right field, Ardizzone scored on a ground ball hit to Sarsfield - and with the score at 13-12, with two outs, with the count at 2-2, Sarsfield struck out Midwest Ghost’s final batter to seal the championship victory. 

“We just won the biggest tournament of the year,” Ryherd said of his thoughts after the final out. 

This Spects National 2027 team has known one another and played together for years - chemistry that Gominsky said greatly benefited them - along with the mindset they had set in place of the “blue collar boys.”

“That game was a perfect example of ‘blue collar,’” Gominsky said. “Midwest baseball never giving up, being in tough spots multiple times, and coming through and knowing tat they were going to win the game.

Midwest kids are tough kids. We’re used to playing in snow and cold weather. When you get them on a roster and they’re willing to take feedback and play a brand of baseball that just surpasses the eye test from a showcase level - I think there’s gonna be some schools that are gonna get some really good baseball players.”

“Everybody out there was leaders and we never had a doubt on our mind for the Blue Collar Boys,” Simily said. 

The Tournament MVPitcher went to Simily. In 6 innings of work through the tournament, he struck out 10 batters, and recorded 0 earned runs. His fastball topped out at 88 mph. 

“I’m just trying to build endurance and stay consistent,” Simily said of what’s been helping him improve. “You’re going to have days where your velocity is not as good…you’re not going to have your best every day. I feel like I try to make the most of what I have that day. Some days I might be 85-88, some days I might be upper-80s, topping 90 or 91. That’s just how things are going to work. I just try to adjust to that and stay consistent with my workouts.”

This award, too, comes to Simly after being willing to step up and play positions that he normally doesn’t, being willing to stay in town longer than originally intended - all to contribute to this tournament win. 

As for Tournament MVP went to Sarsfield - who, through the weekend, had 18 runs, 10 hits, 9 stolen bases and 12 runners batted in. This all, of course comes in addition to striking out the final batter in the championship game after not having pitched in years. 

Gominsky wants his team to have one main thought when they think back to this tournament in particular:

“One of the things that I want them to take with them is when you put your mind to something and you commit and you work through it and you overcome adversity, you can accomplish anything.”


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