Vipers Baseball Club Red led by Coach Aaron Beard separated themselves from the pack in the PG Super25 13u Ohio Valley Regional Championship this past weekend in Lexington, Kentucky. “Dominant” is how Rick Bale, the PG Super25 Ohio Valley Regional Director, described the Vipers’ performance, and their 19-4 championship game victory certainly exemplified dominance.
No team could put up more than four runs against the Vipers. The pitching was excellent throughout as #10 Jack Alemi and #32 Austin Reed had some very impressive outings, but Coach Beard believes the Vipers’ biggest strength lies in their bats. “We can hit with anybody,” said Coach Beard. “I love their approach, and they’re aggressive with pitches in the zone.”
By scoring no less than seven runs in each of their five contests, it’s hard to argue against him. Though he describes his team as “aggressive” against pitches in the strike zone, his team has proven themselves to be just as effective with pitches outside of it.
In their semi-final game against Bluegrass Xpress Baseball, they faced a left handed pitcher who was attempting to bait Vipers’ hitters into swinging by throwing just outside the strike zone. Vipers Baseball Club made an in-game adjustment to crowd the plate, and from there, the Vipers’ bats exploded.
However, the in-game adjustment was not implemented by the coach, but by the players themselves. What Beard admires most about his team is their “high baseball IQ”, and in that 7-3 victory, their intelligence proved to be the deciding factor.
While quick thinking was the difference in their semi-final game, they rode their bats to victory in the championship against Kentucky Baseball Club. Solid outings by by #26 JT Benson and #2 Logan Beard kept the opposing offense at bay, while the Vipers teed off for a whopping 19 runs.
Four players ended the game with three RBIs in what Coach Beard described as “a full team effort”, but no hit was more monumental than that of #5 Matthew Reaves. The Catcher’s two run home run was the icing on the cake in their 19-4 win.
What makes Coach Beard’s Vipers so unique is the fact that their success is not confined to just 13u tournaments. Believe it or not, the 2015 PG Super25 13u Ohio Valley Regional was the Vipers’ first tournament this Spring in which they played against teams of their same age group.
“Every other tournament has been 14u. We won one, and we were the runner up in another. Those tournaments prepared us to compete against teams our own age.” Said Coach Beard.
After their impressive tournament run, Vipers Baseball Club Red carved a spot for themselves in the PG Super25 13u National Championship scheduled for June 19-25 in Fort Myers, Florida.