GOODYEAR, Ariz. – AZ Athletics 2016 head coach Matt Palmer gathered his players to briefly deliver a few words after the AZ A’s had rallied to win their playoff quarterfinal-round contest at the Perfect Game/EvoShield Upperclass National Championship.
Palmer reminded his players that the win in the quarters meant they would play at least one game – and maybe two – on Monday morning. That would require them to miss a day of school, but it would be an excused absence and all missed class work would have to be made up.
And then Palmer made another assertion: “Now that we’ve made it this far,” he said, “we might as keep going and play in the big stadium.”
The AZ Athletics 2016, based just north of here on Loop 101 in Peoria – which also hosted games at this tournament over the past three days – proved to be the long-shot entry in Monday’s semifinal round at the PG/Evo Upper, although not really that much of a long shot at all.
The AZ A’s (5-0-0) entered the playoffs as the No. 7 seed and will face No. 3 GBG Marucci Navy (5-0-0) in a semifinal game at 9 a.m. at Field 3 on the Cleveland Indians’ side of the Goodyear BallPark Recreational Complex. The other semifinal pits No. 4 BPA DeMarini Elite (5-0-0) against No. 1 CBA Marucci (5-0-0).
The PG national championship game is slated for 11:30 a.m. at Goodyear Ballpark, the Cactus League home of the Indians and the Cincinnati Reds – the “big stadium.” It's worth noting that a different GBG Marucci Navy team won last weekend's PG/EvoShield Underclass National Championship, so the AZ Athletics' semifinal opponent will be stout, of that there is no doubt.
The AZ A’s 2016 roster consists of 17 class of 2016 prospects all from the Phoenix metropolitan area, with most from Chandler and Glendale; five attend Sandra Day O’Connor High School Phoenix, a school with a highly respected baseball program.
They outscored their three pool-play opponents by a combined 24-7 and their two Sunday playoff opponents 14-5. That’s a per-game average winning score of 7.6 to 2.4.
The Athletics didn’t overpower anyone offensively on their way to the semis – only nine of their 43 hits went for extra bases and they were all doubles – but they did hit .326 as a team (43-for-132). Daniel Abiles (Chandler), Nicholas Burgarello (Glendale) and Trevor Horwath (Chandler) all hit .417 or better in five games with on-base percentages of .467 or better.
The go-to guy on the mound en route to the semifinals is right-hander Jacob Lagos from Chandler, who in two appearances worked 10 innings, allowed one earned run on seven hits (0.70 ERA), struck out five, walked three and hit three batters.
The AZ Athletics 2016’s top prospects include – all in the class of 2016 and all from Glendale – No. 423-ranked left-hander/first baseman Chaz Montoya, and corner-infielder Nick Brauns, shortstop/right-hander Keegan MCarville and right-hander/outfielder Colby Wyatt, all ranked in the top-600 nationally.
The AZ Athletics 2016 beat the No. 18-seed Marlins Scout Team out of Los Angeles by a 9-3 count in Sunday’s quarterfinals, and an observer could have showed up for the first inning and would have seen all the scoring. The MST scored three runs in the top of the first only to see the AZ A’s rally for nine in the bottom of the frame.
In a second-round game earlier in the day, No. 10 Iowa Select Black – which did not allow a run in its three pool-play games and would have earned the No. 1 seed if it had scored one run instead of settling for 0-0 tie in its first game of pool-play – jumped to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first but couldn’t hold on in a 5-2 AZ Athletics 2016 victory.
“These guys are ready to compete, you know,” Palmer said. “Nobody (in this dugout) panics; we put one at-bat together at a time and then just keep putting AB’s together.”
A lot of crazy stuff happened on “playoff day” at the PG/EvoShield Upper Nationals but maybe not quite as much as in the past, at least according to the seedings. There were three upsets in the first round – No. 20 over No. 13; No. 18 over No. 15; No. 19 over No. 14.
The only notable upset of the second round came when the No. 18 Marlins Scout Team upended the No. 2 Crabfest All-Americans, 7-6, which made the Marlins the only one of the 10 teams that had to play a first-round (re: play-in) game to make it to the quarters.
Everything considered, it could be said that No. 1 CBA Marucci, No. 3 GBG Marucci Navy and No. 4 BPA DeMarini Elite fully expected to be missing school and playing Monday morning when this event started on Friday. At No. 7, the AZ Athletics 2016 are the highest seeded-team to advance to the semifinals and just might be considered a dark horse. But at this point, is anyone really a dark horse?
“This has been a lot of fun; guys are getting after it, guys are playing hard,” Palmer said. “They’re competing on every pitch and that’s all you can ask for. We knew we had a chance to compete and if we played hard and played the right way, who knows what’s going to happen – and here we are.”
Teachers can rest assured that all missed schoolwork will be made up in due time.