EMERSON,
Ga. – The SBA Canes Black and East Cobb Colt .45s each battled
through a long day of tournament play to face off for the PG Elite
Underclass Championship. East Cobb earned the Championship crown as
they came back to score four unanswered runs, including two in the
bottom of the seventh, to top the Canes 4-3.
The
SBA Canes jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks in part to a pair of
extra-base hits in the top of the first. Michael Zgoda laced a double
down the left field line and advanced to third on an error. He was
brought home on an RBI triple from Dawson Painter, who later scored
on an error.
Luke
Parks led off for the Canes in the top of the second and delivered a
line drive double to the right-center field fence. East Cobb starter
Davis Sharpe successfully navigated around the rest of the inning to
prevent another run from scoring.
In
the bottom of the second the Colt .45s loaded the bases on a pair of
singles from Noah Ledford and Charlie Ludwick and a walk from Maxwell
Smith. Zgoda was not fazed as he recorded a huge swing-and-miss to
finish out the inning.
After
making two quick outs in the top of the third, the Canes managed to
scratch across another run. Painter delivered a single to left, then
stole second. He raced around to score the third run of the game
after a Ryan Gusto RBI single up the middle.
Not
going down without a fight, East Cobb rallied by loading the bases on
an error, single, and walk. Jett Kern scored on a passed ball by the
catcher, then Caleb Bartolero smacked a hard ground ball single to
left to bring home another run and cut the deficit to one after three
innings of play.
There
was little action through the fourth, fifth, and sixth inning as the
score was still 3-2 in favor of the Canes.
All
of the drama fell to the bottom of the seventh when Nolan Tressler
came up with the bases loaded. He took the first pitch for a strike,
then served a bloop single over the second basemen to plate the tying
and winning runs.
The
rest of his teammates started sprinting from the dugout and showering
him with cups of water as the game winning run slid across home
plate.
“It
takes everything. From pitching, defense to hitting. You have to have
all three rolling at the right time and we happened to come through
and be the ones on top at the end,” Said Colt .45s head coach Matt
Hightower. He added praise for pitcher Nolan Wilson saying, “He was
as big as he could be. He gave them fits on a very talented hitting
team.”
As
Hightower noted, Nolan Wilson was key in East Cobb’s win. He tossed
four one-hit innings of relief striking out three batters. That
performance was good enough to earn him his second win of the
tournament.
MVP
honors for the tournament went to Tressler of the Colt .45s who hit
.538 for the tournament with the championship winning single, a home
run, a double, six RBI and seven runs scored. Brock Rogers of the SBA
Canes Black earned Most Valuable Pitcher honors who tossed 7 1/3
innings allowing no runs, earning one win and striking out 11
batters.
2015
Elite Underclass Championship runner-up: SBA Canes Black
2015
Elite Underclass Championship MVP: Nolan Tressler
2015
Elite Underclass Championship MV-Pitcher: Brock Rodgers
