EMERSON, Ga. – Clutch came into Tuesday’s final pool play game in the 2016 16u WWBA National Championship Qualifier against the West Cobb A’s with a playoff spot already secured, but they looked as locked in as ever as they run-ruled the A’s by a score of 8-0 in the fifth inning. After squeezing out a nail-biter on Monday night against BigStix Gamers, Clutch looked talented and motivated to win the entire 16u WWBA National Championship Qualifier tournament.
The scoring started in the first inning as Clutch put up four runs to take the early lead. Matthew Maldonado knocked in two runs with a single and Brittan Howeth also added an RBI single to push the lead run across.
That was all the run support that starting pitcher Jacob Trantham needed as he was lights-out for Clutch. Trantham was remarkably efficient on the mound, as he needed only 58 pitches to get through five innings. Thanks to a 72 percent strike rate he was able to strike out six, walk zero, and only allowed a single hit the entire game.
Clutch finished off the game by scoring two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings. Howeth added another RBI single in the fourth inning, and in the fifth Jacob Navejas added an RBI double. Heads up baserunning by Justin Dunlap allowed him to cross the plate on a fielder’s choice to clinch the eight-run victory.
The approach for the hitters today was simple, stay back and drive the ball to all parts of the field. Clutch wanted to make sure they weren’t getting too far ahead on pitches and to ensure hard contact.
“We wanted to try to stay middle,” said Dunlap. “(The opposing pitcher) was throwing kind of slow, so stay back and try to hit it to right field.”
Clutch came into this tournament wanting to leave a lasting impression on the Perfect Game Park South fields at LakePoint. They’re proud of their undefeated record in pool play, but after coming up short in last year’s tournament they are hungrier than ever for a title.
“It feels pretty good because we beat everyone in our pool,” said Dunlap. “We’re the best in our pool, but I feel like we can still do better and this is just the beginning.”
“Last year we came to this tournament and we didn’t finish how we wanted to,” added Navejas. “So we came here wanting to compete and show people who we are.”
They’re preparedness for tournaments like this start at the top with their manager Rob Johnson. He preaches not only aggressiveness and speed on the baseball field but he also ingrains focus onto the players so they always come out ready to compete.
“Our boys are confident when they take the field that they’re going to win,” said Johnson. “That’s half the battle going into it; we have a lot of players who can pitch and we have a small team, only carrying eleven players, because we want kids to play. This team loves competition. You can pretty much guarantee that they’re going to be ready to go. Staying focused, staying prepared, trying not to give at-bats away, making defensive plays, and playing smart baseball combine for success.”
Clutch is based out of Dripping Spring, Texas, a small town on the outskirts of Austin. They carry a small team compared to some of the competition, only 11 players, but that is by design. Johnson has built this program for the players to have an opportunity not only to win tournaments, but to grow as individuals and to showcase their individual talents.
“This team has been together for a very long time,” said Johnson. “But Clutch officially started a year and a half ago out of Austin, Texas. I’m retired out of professional baseball, so we put a program together to help as many kids as we possibly could. Our philosophy is to go fast, play hard, and play ready for any situation. Our goal is to get a bunch of good kids and good families together and support the boys to help the boys as much as we possibly can.”
Traveling all the way from Texas can have an impact on players and coaches alike. Johnson and his staff work extremely hard to make sure that the players are not affected by off-field difficulties such as the rigors of travel. By instilling a competitive fire in his team, the players don’t care how far they have to travel so long as there’s top quality competition waiting for them there.
“This team has traveled a lot,” said Johnson. “And when you start traveling out of state into these bigger tournaments you start to face better competition. We look for places where we can lose. We look for the best competition that we can and we try to put our kids in front of the best colleges and scouts that we possibly can. We go to tournaments that allow us to do that, they continue to put out wins and compete so if it’s necessary for us to travel then it’s necessary for us to travel.”
Bracket play begins Tuesday night for Clutch and the approach remains the same. By taking the tournament one game at a time, it allows the players to focus their attention on the game at hand and to not be caught looking ahead. The players and coaches remain confident that as long as the team sticks to their brand of baseball, they will walk out of Georgia as champions.
“We’re not going to change anything,” said Johnson. “We’re going to send our guys out there and we’re going to war. We understand that if we win we continue, and if we lose we go home. The boys know that, this is where you want to get. As with any professional or college sport you want to give yourself an opportunity to move on. To me, this game is no bigger than the game we played before.
“These guys are trying to win something way bigger: respecting the game, respecting their opponents, the pride when you put your uniform on, and playing with energy. To me it’s the way you play the game, even when you’re winning 10-0 compared to when you’re tied 0-0 in a championship game, nothing should change.”
Johnson’s approach to the game of baseball is something his players embrace, as they now have their focus set on the playoffs.
“When we play our brand of baseball it’s hard to beat us,” said Reed Beverly, the No. 4 outfielder in the state of Texas for the class of 2018. “As long as we play our A game, have quality at-bats, and throw strikes it will be hard to beat us. This is no different than any other game, any game could be your last, you have to go out there and give 100 percent effort.”