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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/12/2021

3n2 Sticks Finish Off Flawless Pool Play

Matthew Welsh     
Photo: Perfect Game
MARIETTA, Ga. -- 3n2 Sticks Baseball 17u Brewster entered this weekend’s WWBA National Championship on the heels of a title-claiming performance in their latest tournament appearance, the MidSouth Championship. It’s safe to say that the momentum from that contest has carried into the summer’s largest bout, as the Sticks have advanced to bracket play in Atlanta in undefeated fashion. 
 
The nationally-ranked team from Texarkana, Ark. was not only the favorite to win their pool, but also to make a substantial run for the National Championship crown. Through six games, the Sticks are averaging just over seven runs per game, and have only allowed eight in the same span. 
 
Their final game of the opening set, a 6-5 win over the Atlantic Burn, solidified the Sticks’ route to the playoffs, and give the team a chance to prove their ability on a truly national scale. 
 
“It feels great that this is one of the biggest tournaments of the summer, and that we made the bracket," said first baseman Reese Robinett. “We’re all here to just work hard, and if we all stay on the same page, we should be able to play well.”
 
Still, Sunday afternoon’s victory proved that even good teams experience games where a win is grinded through seven innings, rather than assumed within the first few innings. 
 
3n2 began the day with a run in the top of the first courtesy of a sacrifice fly from Ty Waid, which scored Justin Best from third, who reached earlier in the inning after drawing an eight-pitch walk to lead off the game. Both teams remained rather silent for the next two innings, but in the top of the fourth, 3n2 again sprang to life. 
 
Nolan Souza led off and welcomed the inning by taking a curveball over the right field wall for a solo shot. Robinett registered an RBI double two batters later, as did Eli Ramsey with two outs in the inning. Tripp Landers capped the inning with a single that scored Ramsey, and the Sticks established a 6-0 lead exiting the top of the fourth. 
 
“In my first at-bat, I kind of got under [the ball] a little bit and didn't get all of it, so second at-bat, I just knew which adjustments I needed to make,” said Souza. ‘And I went up there knowing I was confident in my swing, and when I saw the pitch I just went after it.”
 
But the Burn did not go quietly. Two immediate runs in the bottom of the fourth and then again in the bottom of the fifth reduced the Sticks’ advantage to only two runs with two innings to play. Another Burn RBI, courtesy this time of Tyson Greene who singled home Tyler Bernstein, made it a 6-5 game with only one to play. 
 
Crowder College commit Josh Barnhouse was tasked with pitching the seventh inning to close out what at one point seemed a runaway victory for 3n2. Armed with an 84 mph fastball and 78 mph breaking ball, Barnhouse stepped to the mound, and made quick work of the final three batters of the game. 
 
In only seven pitches, he saved the game and preserved an unbeaten WWBA run for the Sticks, propelling them into this year’s bracket stage as one of the tournament’s most prolific seeds. 
 
“I just wanted to let my fielders play,” said Barnhouse of his thoughts during the outing. “They’re there for a reason, and you don’t have to strike everyone out. I wanted to let them make contact and have them make outs.”
 
Still, perhaps the comparative competitiveness of this game is not all bad for a team with a proven track record of soundly beating their opponents. Bracket play may prove different to have challenges than those experienced in the first six games. 
 
“We haven’t really been in many close games this year, so having a close one like that gets us ready for the tough games that we’re going to have later on in the tournament,” Barnhouse said. 
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