The 9u Super 25 National Championship wrapped up in Nashville, Tennessee Sunday afternoon. The Midland Aces faced off against the Midland Blackhawks in a rematch from a day earlier where the Aces won 3-2.
The Aces won both their playoffs games Saturday to advance them to the finals, while the Blackhawks finished 2-1 on the day and had to beat a good SC Bulldogs team after their loss to the Aces to advance to the finals. The Blackhawks head coach, Roger Strunk, talked about how great it was for his team to fight the way they did to make it to the championship game.
“We battled all day yesterday in the hot weather,” Strunk said. “It was in the 90s and we had three games. We went through the whole pitching staff yesterday, so to get here was a tough road. But, we got here and we were able to piece it together and get to the championship game.”
The scene was a great one for amateur baseball as the game was live streamed on the Perfect Game website. Daron Sutton, a former play-by-play broadcaster in Major League Baseball, was the voice for the game.
The Aces jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the top of the second inning thanks to a double by Garrett De La Garza and a single by Parker Pruitt. The Blackhawks responded in the bottom half of the inning with two of their own.
In the bottom of the third inning is where the Blackhawks started to pull away. They scored five runs in the inning to take a 7-2 lead. Nolan Krekeler hit a two-run double, and Luke Metzger singled him in. They tacked on one more in the fifth on another single by Metzger to lead 8-2.
The Aces tried to rally in the top of the sixth inning. De La Garza picked up an RBI single for his second RBI on the day. But, Krekeler shut the door on the mound with a strike out to end the game. Midland won the National Championship 8-3.
Andrew Edrington had a 2-3 day at the plate for the Blackhawks to lead the team. Krekeler picked up MVP honors for the entire tournament for his steady play. He finished the tournament with an outstanding .611 AVG (11-18) with 10 RBI and 12 runs scored.
Robert Shores of the Aces picked up MV-Pitcher honors for his impressive 10 innings of work in the tournament. He finished with a 1-0 record in two appearances and a 2.40 ERA.