The 643 DP Cougars Sterling 13U and the West GA Warriors-Meigs faced off in the Super25 13U Georgia Regional in the midst of surrounding storms. The Cougars entered the playoffs as the #4 seed, while the Warriors came in as the #2.
A quick game dominated by pitching and strong defense led to the Cougars earning the win by a score of 3-1 and the berth in the Super25 National Championship in Ft. Myers, FL on July 4-10th. The runner-up Warriors will also receive a bid as an at-large team.
The first two innings went by with little fanfare. The top of the second concluded on a nice diving stab by Warriors shortstop, Kyle Aldridge. He turned and pumped to first base and caught a Cougars’ baserunner rounding third and threw home to record the out.
The Cougars did jump on the board in the third after a pair of leadoff singles by Cole Deems and Charlie Condon to open the inning. They were bunted into scoring position and then Deems raced around to score on a passed ball. Trey Acklin then singled to center bringing home the second run.
Cougars’ starter, Reid Jones, did what he continued to do all day in the bottom of the third. He generated a groundball double play to escape the runners on 1st and 2nd with one down jam and move on to the fourth. On the day, Jones generated nine outs via the groundball.
After a two base error to open the top of the fourth inning, an RBI groundout from Blake Redman plated the Cougars’ third run of the game. More defensive standouts took place in the bottom half of the inning with right fielder Quinn Kerce throwing home and gunning down what would have been the Warriors first run.
The Warriors did get on the board in the bottom of the 5th inning with a one out single from Mitchell Cole who then came around to score on an RBI single from Blake Mathews to cut deficit to two runs.
As the top of the sixth started, so did the impending storms. Lightning forced the game into a delay and the game was called with a final score of 3-1 after 5 full innings. Reid Jones had a dominant performance on the mound tossing five full frames allowing five hits and only one earned run, while striking out one batter.
The MVP for the event was Grey Taylor who collected seven hits in 12 at-bats with a trio of doubles. He also scored four runs and knocked in an additional two
MVP-Pitcher honors went to Charlie Condon who tossed five innings in their pool play game against the Sandy Springs Storm. He allowed only one hit and struck out four batters in the strong outing.