2015
WWBA World Championship: Canes pitch way to Jupiter 3-peat
| Matt Manning feature
It's
good to go out on top. That's exactly what six 2015 Perfect Game
All-Americans did a little over a week ago when as members of the
EvoShield Canes they won the WWBA World Championship. That
championship marks the third straight in Jupiter, Fla. for the Canes,
a program that appears to be building a dynasty on the travel
baseball circuit.
And
while the Canes entered the event as one of, if not the favorite to
win it all, they still managed to do so in impressive fashion.
They
finished the tournament with a perfect 8-0 record. Seven of those
games were shutouts as they outscored their opponents 51 to 1.
Sixteen of the players on the 25-man roster were named to the
All-Tournament Team, which
includes Brandon Martarano, named the event's Most
Valuable Player, and Most Valuable Pitcher Matt Manning.
The
roster was about as star-studded as they come, with 23 players
committed to a major Division I university and one more committed to
one of the best junior colleges in the nation.
As
noted above, six of those players – Grant Bodison, Khalil Lee,
Nicholas Quintana, Joe Rizzo, Avery Tuck and Manning – participated
in the Perfect Game All-American Classic at Petco Park in mid-August.
That group, along with several others, also took part in numerous
high-level tournament and showcase events during the course of the
summer, including the PG National Showcase held in Fort Myers, Fla.
in mid-June.
“This
is definitely my favorite baseball (memory),” Joe Rizzo, a native
of Oak Hill, Va. and the 11th ranked player overall in the
high school class of 2016 player rankings, told Perfect Game after
winning the 2015 WWBA World Championship. “Especially given the
summer that we had. We didn't play (as strong as) we could have in our
past tournaments. Now coming out on top in the fall has been huge for
us and this is probably my favorite moment in my baseball career so
far.”
Rizzo
had a particularly busy summer, playing at almost every major notable
showcase event, including the PG National Showcase and the East Coast
Professional Showcase. He also participated
in the 17u PG WWBA National Championship in Emerson, Ga., and the 17u PG
World Series in Goodyear, Ariz., prior to his performance in the PG
All-American Classic.
In
Jupiter, Rizzo was named to the all-tournament team for the second
year in a row – the sixth all-tournament team he was named to out of the 10 PG tournaments he has attended – by hitting .364 (8-for-22)
with five RBI and seven runs scored.
“Playing
with the EvoShield Canes you're playing with some of the best players
in the country,” he said. “I feel that's made me a better
ballplayer because I know that everyone around me is just as strong
as I could potentially be, and that I should play to my full
potential because I know those guys will as well.”
Last
year, Rizzo played for the EvoShield Canes younger team, Team
EvoShield, which is effectively the junior varsity version of the
Canes. Bodison, Martorano, Michael Bielien, Matthew Cronin and Austin
Langworthy were among Rizzo's teammates both years and represent a
program that points to many more years of future success.
Joe Rizzo went 1-for-1 with two walks in the 2015 Perfect Game All-American Classic
While
Rizzo and his Team EvoShield teammates didn't make the playoffs in
2014, the next wave of talent appears to be bright, not only making
the playoffs this past year but advancing to the championship game to
face their older brethren. They did so in impressive fashion, as well,
beating the Dallas Tigers in the playoff play-in game prior to
taking out other notable national programs including Marucci Eite,
the Dirtbags and the Dallas Patriots Stout.
Three
of those wins were shutouts with a roster comprised mostly of players
from the 2017 class. It's a group of players that will represent the
Canes' varsity squad during the summer of 2016 and likely a handful of spots on next year's PG All-American roster.
“It
just shows the future of the EvoShield (Canes) program and how bright
it is,” Rizzo said, "because
that team mostly consists of the 2017's that were on the National
team this past year.
"And the fact that they were able to make it to
the championship and compete in a 2016 tournament shows how much
they've done in this past year and how bright their future is going
to be next year.”
In
a feature conducted with Rizzo from the 17u PG
World Series in July, he spoke to PG's Jeff Dahn about how proud he was to
hold the title of "dirtbag," a player who rarely leaves the field
with a clean uniform and one that seemingly wills his teams to
victories. Although he trimmed his long-flowing locks and facial hair
for the Classic and his time spent in Jupiter, he still personified
what a dirtbag is all about.
“I
do love to hear it because that means I'm getting after it,” Rizzo
said of his all-out personality on the baseball field. “I'm not
just going to roll over and give you an at-bat. That I'm going to
grind everything out and make sure that I'm going to do my best to
beat you. That's really my mentality when I play baseball.”
After
the 17u PG World Series, Rizzo traveled to San Diego, Calif. to participate in the Classic. He continued to perform at a high level ,
putting on a show during batting practice and the event's Home Run Challenge while also going 1-for-1 in the game with a pair of walks
for the winning East Squad.
For
as great as the exposure was playing in a big league
ballpark in front of a nationally televised audience on the MLB Network,
it was the philanthropic cause of the event that stuck with Rizzo the
most.
“That
trip is going to stay with me forever,” Rizzo said of his time in
San Diego. “Playing on TV at Petco was definitely the best
experience in my life, especially going to the children's hospital. The
hospital (visit) is definitely the one thing that I remember the
most. Because really we were playing for a cause, and that cause was
tied into the kids that were at the hospital. It was so cool that we
were able to go and talk to the children, meet them, and you could
see their faces lighten up when we were there.”
Rizzo
and his PG All-American teammates were put to the task to help raise
money for Rady Children's Hospital in an effort to find a cure pediatric
cancer. This year's All-Americans did just that, collectively raising
nearly $48,000 and pushing the 13-year total of the event over
$900,000.
And
despite the pressures of being one of the top players in the nation
and the responsibilities that are included with that both on and off
the field, Rizzo keeps himself well-grounded when looking to what the
future might hold for him.
“I've
been playing the same game since I was seven," he said. "It's three outs in an
inning; three strikes, four balls. So there's really nothing
different except the fields you're playing on and the teams that you
play. I try to take the mentality that it's just another game and
you're going to have more at-bats later in life.”