GOODYEAR, Ariz. – The 20-team playoff field at this weekend’s 7th annual Perfect Game/EvoShield National Championship (Underclass) tournament fell neatly into place late Saturday night after all 78 teams completed their three-game pool-play schedules.
Many of the usual suspects filled the 20 slots – Phenom Signature from Moreno Valley, Calif., earned the No. 1 seed – but as is always the case, there were plenty of surprises. And the biggest surprise may have come from two squads with somewhat unwieldly names that call Seattle their base of operations.
Pacific Northwest Regional Team 2017 Royal and its sibling Pacific Northwest Regional Team 2017 Navy both earned playoff berths after capturing pool championships. A third Pac Northwest Regional Team – 2018 Royal – just missed a spot in bracket-play after finishing as runner-up in its pool with a 2-1 record.
Pac NW Regional Team 2017 Royal earned the playoffs’ No. 6 seed after outscoring its three pool-play opponents by a combined 18-2. 2017 Navy earned the No. 13 seed after winning its pool with a 3-0 mark and outscoring its foes 21-9; 2018 Royal’s only loss was an 8-0 setback to the San Diego Show Black, the playoffs’ No. 2 seed.
This is the first year the Pacific Northwest Regional Team organization has been in existence and this is the group’s first foray into Perfect Game tournament play. Group founder and coach Rhett Parker and his associates – Rob Tomlinson, Arlo Evasick and Billy Boyer – had worked in the past with Mike Brooks and Team Northwest, and Brooks, in fact, still helps with this group to a certain extent.
Parker, who runs a business called GSL Tournaments that organizes events for 9u through 18u age-group teams, is also in charge of the Pacific Northwest Regional Games which bring in prospects from all across the Northwest, as well as Hawaii, Alaska and Colorado.
“Coming to a couple of Perfect Game events with the guys that are playing in the Pac Northwest Regional Games is kind of what we’re all about,” Parker said. “We’re trying to reduce the costs and at the same time get the best kids we can to represent the Northwest. I think we did a pretty good job of doing that (at the PG/EvoShield Underclass) especially for our first time out.”
The players that are on the three teams here this weekend were selected by Pac NW Regional Team officials after being observed playing for their respective high school teams and through their participation in a youth program Parker runs called Northwest Elite. He also finds most of the kids from outside of the Seattle area – like 2017 Colorado prospect Casey Opitz and Morgan McIntosh – through their participation in GSL Tournaments events.
“I have some events up there and these Colorado guys show up and they can play. It’s pretty simple to get them down here at this event,” Parker said. “We’ve got a good thing going. We want to represent the Northwest and we want to do it the right way.”
2017 Royal managed only 17 hits in their three pool-play wins – won by scores of 14-0, 1-0 and 3-2 – and a pair of triples from 2017 infielder Kolby Force were the only extra-base hits. Outstanding performances from five pitchers made up for the lack of offensive punch, with the quintet combining to allow just two earned runs on six hits over 18 innings (0.78 ERA) while striking out 24 and walking 13.
2017 right-hander Nick Hull threw a complete-game, three-hit shutout in 2017 Royal’s 1-0 win over All-Star Baseball Academy on Saturday to highlight the pitching performances. Other top prospects on the 2017 Royal roster include 2017 left-hander/first baseman Kolby Somers, a University of Oregon recruit, and 2017 middle-infielder Michael Spellacy, a Gonzaga commit.
The 2017 Navy roster consists of nice mix of 2017s, 2018s and 2019s, and Parker called their advancement to the playoffs a “good surprise.” He wasn’t surprised with the success of 2017 Royal, and the fact that it was a loss to the San Diego Show Black that ultimately kept 2018 Royal out of the playoffs could only be seen as encouraging.
“I’ve coached against the San Diego Show a lot, and they’re really good,” Parker said. “We’ve got some of those 2018s that have committed (shortstop Tim Borden from Sellersburg, Ind., has committed to the University of Louisville) and others that are getting some good looks, but it’s a different level when you’re facing an older team like the Show.”
The PG/EvoShield Underclass National Championship’s top 13 seeds all finished with 3-0-0 pool-play records, including the 12 that earned first-round byes into the second-round (PNWRT 2017 Navy was the only 3-0 team that played a first-round game). BPA DeMarini Elite from San Juan Capistrano, Calif., earned the No. 3 seed and Sandlot Baseball Arizona from Chandler is No. 4, coming in behind No. Phenom Signature and No. 2 San Diego Show Black.
The success Mike Brooks’ old Team Northwest squads enjoyed at both the upperclass and underclass PG/EvoShield National Championships has been well-documented, so it really shouldn’t come as any surprise that these kids from the Great Northwest know how to play the game. Yet it seems they have to come out and prove themselves year-after-year, just like the Pac NW Regional Teams did this weekend.
“We’ve got good players; we have a lot of the better ones in the Northwest and we’re going to continue to do that,” Parker said. “We’re going to go the Perfect Game MLK Championship in four months and go out and compete again.”
Parker sees a lot of players from all over the country and he feels like the health of high school baseball in the Northwest is as robust as ever. He is able to find some hidden gems in the more isolated areas of the region, like in Idaho. He has also found standout players by working camps in Hawaii and Alaska, and plans on bringing some of those kids to the PG MLK Championships in January.
“From a talent perspective, there has always been a lot (in the Northwest),” Parker said. “It’s cyclical – some classes are stronger than others. … Every year is a little bit different and we’re really working hard to identify the best players and not just invite anybody. I think the future is very bright; these kids go out and compete.”