EC
Yankees win championship in thriller
EMERSON,
Ga. – This Sunday’s 2015 Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational
championship was an all-East Cobb Baseball affair, as the EC Yankees
and EC Astros duked it out for the No. 1 spot. The Yankees prevailed
on this scorching afternoon in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel. The Yankees
put the ball in the hands of South Carolina-Upstate commit, Eli
Willingham, who was almost as hot as the beaming sun on this
particular day.
The
matchup between the Yankees' Willingham and the Astros’ Lance
Johnson was an intriguing one, as Johnson displayed a running mid-80s
fastball from the low three-quarters arm slot and Willingham pounded
the strike zone and let his defense work behind him. In such a close
game with such high stakes, it is easy to let the pressure get to
you, but these pitchers kept their poise throughout the whole game.
Willingham’s
complete game shutout performance earned him the honors of
MV-Pitcher, and rightfully so. Willingham’s stuff was not
overwhelmingly powerful, but his ability to command his fastball put
him in a position to do very well. Willingham did give up nine hits,
but his defense behind him refused to let the Astros cross the plate,
as they left double digit runners on base. Willingham had to deal
with the pressure of knowing that the game could be tied up on one
swing of the bat for his entire outing, but with ice in his veins,
the pressure was no match. The one run that the Yankees put up in the
first was all they needed on this championship Sunday, and Willingham
is just fine with that.
“My
slider was biting real hard today, and I was getting on the backdoor
with righthanded hitters and it was working for me,” exclaimed
Willingham. “I was just going out there and throwing it, and just
trying to let my defense work. This team is one of the best teams
that I’ve played on, and this tournament had a lot of talent, so
it’s pretty special that we got to win this one.
“It’s
a Perfect Game tournament. Everyone is watching and everyone is
talking about it, posting on twitter and what not. It’s just an
awesome feeling to win with these guys on this stage.”
The
Yankees didn’t have much of a rocky road on the way to the
championship game. Their semifinal game provided a good warmup for
these guys, as they easily handled East Cobb Team Wilson by a score
of 5-2. The offense for the Yankees in the semifinal game was much
more apparent than in the championship, considering their lineup
raked inning after inning.
Not
much raking was needed for the Yankees this weekend as their pitching
staff combined to allow under five runs total for the whole
tournament. Their pitching was absolutely sensational, and Coach
James Beevers felt that was the key factor in their tournament
performance overall.
“Our
pitching was phenomenal this weekend. We only gave up about two runs
the entire weekend,” said Coach Beevers. “Our pitching was great,
but you can’t have pitching without great defense. The runs were
there, and that allowed us the opportunity to get here, but you can’t
say enough about the pitching and defense from these guys. Especially
Willingham, who was spot on today.”
The
EC Astros did not go unrecognized this championship Sunday, having
their own Rankin Woley win the MVP of the tournament. Rankin, an LSU
commit, won the MVP by a unanimous decision with his .529 batting
average performance that included seven RBI and a .765 slugging
percentage. Although the Astros were not able to pull out the
championship, Woley shined brighter than anyone on the field this
weekend.
“I
just wanted to focus on barreling everything up,” said Woley. “I
didn’t wanna get jammed, because I got jammed earlier in the
weekend. I really wanted start off games with good at bats and move
on from there. I think my approach on deck and at the plate was big
for me this weekend. I wanted to keep my hands inside and just drive
it down the middle of the field. It doesn’t feel good to lose this
one, but I think we have great defense, so as long as the bats come
alive, we'll continue to be successful this summer.”
The
ECB program partly put on this Invitational, so it is only fitting
that the champion belongs to their own program, but to have an all
ECB championship was pretty cool for the players. A lot of them
compete against each other in high school, so the game was extra
meaningful for some of these players.
The
Yankees and Coach James Beevers are proud to have claimed this year’s
18u Perfect Game-East Cobb invitational, and can’t wait to add
another one to the trophy case.
“It’s
early in the year, and we try not to get too excited about
tournaments too early in the year, but its fun to win,” said
Beevers. “It’s just a matter of us grinding, and facing good
competition to get better. I think this tournament win will give us
the confidence to be successful for the rest of the summer.”
2015
18u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational runnerup: East Cobb Astros
2015
18u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational MVP: Rankin Woley, East Cobb
Astros
2015
18u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational MV-Pitcher: Eli Willingham,
East Cobb Yankees
GBSA
Rays making a name for themselves
EMERSON,
Ga. – The GBSA Rays are all about taking care of business, but that
doesn’t mean that they can’t have a little fun with it along the
way. One can tell by watching the way that they go about the game
that these kids are having a blast playing the game that they’ve
played since t-ball; nothing seemed to be able to wipe a smile off of
these kids’ faces this weekend.
They
played with the kind of looseness that teams envy, and it certainly
worked for them in today’s championship against the Triton Rays.
The Rays vs. Rays championship was a defensive showdown for a few
innings until GBSA ripped the game wide open with two big hits to
left-center field that lead to five runs scored in the third inning.
The Triton Rays got to the championship with the help of their superb
defense, but that defense seemed to dissipate as the game went on.
The third inning was when all the momentum shifted to the GBSA side
due to sloppy throwing errors by Triton. Once the momentum was given
to GBSA, they took it and ran with it and won by a score of 7-0.
GBSA
not only won the championship, but they did it in convincing fashion,
winning all of their games this weekend. Charvez Carter, an Indian
River State College commit, was absolutely dominant on the mound this
weekend and was named as the MV-Pitcher of the tournament. Carter had
a 10 strikeout, two-hit complete game shutout in the championship,
which was more than enough in their seven-run desolation of the
Triton Rays. Carter was beaming with happiness upon being presented
with his prestigious award.
“My
curveball was my go-to pitch this weekend”, said Carter. “It was
really working against righthanded hitters, and that’s the pitch
that I relied on to get me strikeouts this weekend. I have a lot of
clowns on my team, so I had to make sure I stayed focused. Along with
being clowns, they’re also extremely talented. I didn’t feel any
pressure when I was pitching, I was just having fun and letting my
defense work behind me.”
The
GBSA Rays keep it light in the dugout, yelling and laughing all game
no matter how intense the situation. They were going wild after they
were crowned champions, so you can see why Carter had to try his
hardest to separate play time from game time.
Carter
was not the only shining star on the GBSA Rays; catcher Christian
Griffin earned the honors of MVP. Griffin is one of the top 250
players in the state of Georgia, and he showed why this weekend.
Griffin had two clutch hits in the championship game and had a .444
batting average, with a home run, two RBI, seven runs scored and two
stolen bases on the weekend.
Griffin
truly got it done in every offensive aspect and felt that his team
played with a chip on their shoulder this weekend, and he used that
chip to push him to an extraordinary performance.
“We
came in and a lot of people doubted us,” said Griffin. “We always
knew we could do it and we think we're one of the better teams in the
state. Going into this weekend, I was working on letting the ball get
deep and driving it down the middle of the field and I think that the
preparation paid off.
“We
always have a positive mindset, and were going to look at this
tournament win as a milestone that we can branch off of in hopes of
winning more tournaments in the future and making a name for GBSA.”
Before
all of the excitement and thrill of the championship game, the GBSA
Rays had to complete the tall order of beating the BigStix Gamers to
get there. That game had a slow start, as the Rays got out to a
two-run lead with a couple of one-run innings in the middle of the
game. The BigStix added a run of their own, but then the Rays came
back with an onslaught of base hits which proved to be just too much
for the BigStix.
The
game did get quite dramatic in the final inning though, as the
BigStix loaded the bases with two outs with the tying run at the
plate. It was the final test that the Rays had to pass in order to
get to the championship, and they passed with flying colors as the
bases loaded jam was put to a halt just as quickly as it began. From
then on out, the GBSA had a sense of swagger about them and they used
that attitude to run away with the championship.
Coach
Jerome Wooley was ecstatic about winning the 2015 17u Perfect
Game-East Cobb Invitational. With GBSA being such a new program, and
this summer being the first time that Wooley is coaching a travel
baseball team, he could not have asked for a better performance.
“The
key factor this weekend was cohesion,” said Wooley. “All these
guys are from different parts of the state and they all came together
this weekend and put out a great product. They worked together to put
out some timely hitting, great defense, and good base running.
“These
tournament wins means a lot for us moving forward. Not just for this
team, but it means a lot to the GBSA organization as a whole. These
kids got an opportunity to experience what it’s like to win a
championship, and that is something that a lot of ball players on
every level can’t say they have done before.”
2015
17u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational champions: GBSA Rays 17u
2015
17u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational runnerup: Triton Rays 17u
2015
17u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational MVP: Christian Griffin, GBSA
Rays 17u
2015
17u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational MV-Pitcher: Charvez Carter,
GBSA Rays 17u
eXposure
Baseball jumps on the scene
It
is not often that a first-year program wins a championship at Perfect
Game events, but eXposure baseball decided to be the aberration to
that norm this weekend at the 2015 16u Perfect Game-East Cobb
Invitational. Many of the teams that enter into these tournaments are
from big-name travel ball programs that put D-I talent on the field
every single game.
These
are teams that have a history, background and reputation for winning
and attracting all the attention, which means there is little room
for first-year programs to go out and win these types of events. The
eXposure baseball club made themselves known this weekend with their
win over Team Elite in the championship by the score of 6-2.
Team
Elite felt confident that they could capture the championship early
in the game when they got out to a one-run lead in the third inning.
They chipped away at the eXposure starter, Brock Nelson, with
multiple base hits, but eXposure answered the next inning with some
runs of their own.
Team
Elite's starter, Lane Harris, got a little wild in that inning and
ended up walking a run home, which seemed to ignite the offense of
eXposure. Once the offense was sparked, they let off for five runs in
that fourth inning. After that, Brock Nelson was untouchable and Team
Elite was unable to fight their way back into the game.
Team
Elite put forth a valiant effort, which was highlighted by their
catcher, Austin Holloway, who was named MVP. Austin Holloway caught a
great game and posted a .667 batting average, with two RBI and a .750
slugging percentage. Holloway was disappointed that his team couldn’t
finish the job and claim the championship, but he is happy to see
that his team is making progress as the summer comes into full swing.
“This
team practiced really hard coming into this tournament. It’s really
competitive in practice so that really helps people out,” said
Holloway. “My teammates really helped me to play well this weekend.
When my teammates play good, I play good. This tournament really
gives us an idea of the kind of team we are going to be moving
forward this summer.”
The
MV-Pitcher award was handed to eXposure Baseball’s Ethan Clark, who
threw 10 innings this weekend with a 0.00 ERA and 10 strikeouts.
Clark was especially important for the eXposure Baseball club, as
they called on him not once, but twice this weekend. Clark felt that
his fastball and slider combination was the key to his success. In
fact, their road to the championship was paved by Clark, as he shut
out the Georgia Jackets in the semifinal.
“I
was keeping the fastball low and mixing in the slider when
necessary,” said Clark. “I threw three innings yesterday and then
came out and threw a complete game today so I’m glad I was able to
do as well as I did. Lately, I’ve been working on my slider so I’m
glad I was able to get that working. I was really just trying to let
my team work behind me.”
Brandon
Turner put together eXposure Baseball only a short time ago and the
success that they have already experienced is definitely something to
write home about. Head Coach Mark Bounds felt that his pitching staff
should be the all-stars from this weekend. Many of his guys threw
more than one game, and their style of pitching was based around
letting the opposing offense get themselves out. eXposure Baseball
doesn’t plan to slow down any time soon, and there is a good
possibility that we could be seeing them hold up another championship
banner very soon.
“First
year for eXposure Baseball … that’s crazy. These kids have a
chance to be very special, and we have a great group of kids and
great group of parents. (Our) situational hitting and base-running
was phenomenal this weekend. These kids really play hard, and I
couldn’t be more happy for them. I’m excited to see what the
future holds for eXposure Baseball.”
2015
16u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational champions: eXposure Baseball
2015
16u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational runnerup: Team Elite
Louisville Slugger 16u
2015
16u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational MVP: Austin Holloway, Team Elite Louisville Slugger 16u
2015
16u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational MV-Pitcher: Ethan Clark,
eXposure Baseball
