EMERSON, Ga. – The Evoshield Seminoles entered Sunday’s game against Team Elite Steel with a 2-0 record thus far in the 14u WWBA National Championship. The Seminoles had blown out their last two opponents scoring 23 runs and allowing only two in their previous two games.
The Seminoles have hit their stride this summer. They’ve been growing and maturing as a team all in preparation for the 14u WWBA National Championship. During their preparation, the team has played against older age groups for increased competition. The early returns on this strategy have been fruitful as their pitching, hitting and defense have all excelled in the tournament.
“Coming in we were playing really well as a team,” said Harrison Clifton. “I think playing in the older division groups has prepared us for this tournament.”
“We had a lot of guys on their varsity high school teams, a couple eighth graders on their high school varsity team who actually played too,” said manager Lee Everett. “So they’ve had that competitive nature for a while now. They’ve gotten to the point where teams in the area just aren’t cutting it, they need to be pushed and they want that and they know that. We have played in a lot of tournaments against 15, 16, 17 year old kids consistently because they need that push and that competition. That’s the reason we came down here is because they want to be the best in the country.”
Based out of Virginia, the Seminoles have struggled to find age-appropriate competition in their area. The WWBA tournaments allow teams to square off against some of the most talented players and teams in the country. By exposing his players to older and elite competition, Everett has his team prepared for the rigors of the WWBA National Championship.
“After the first game or two they are confident in what they can do,” said Everett. “There’s never been any pressure on them, they know what they can handle and what they can’t. They believe in themselves; playing against older kids they’ve seen 90 (miles per hour fastballs) and they’ve also seen 65. They have a very wide range so it (nerves) hasn’t been a huge issue for us.”
The EvoShield name has been synonymous with Perfect Game tournaments for quite some time. The EvoShield Canes always places near or at the top of numerous tournaments at the 17u age level, including current three consecutive WWBA World Championship titles. In addition to doing well, the EvoShield name carries a reputation with it and Everett knows that his players will represent the program well.
“It’s really cool, we’ll go places and people will see us and go, ‘Okay there’s the EvoShield team,’” said Everett. “So it draws attention to us just from our name, that and the fact that we’re bigger than most 14 year olds. Our guys handle it well, they don’t get arrogant or cocky they just come out here and play hard.”
As the summer progresses, teams look to hit their stride and find their peak. Everett has been preparing his players for this specific tournament for the entirety of the early summer and expects his team to not only do well in the tournament but to capture the championship trophy.
“For this tournament our goal was to come down here and win it,” said Everett. “If we don’t win then it’s a failure. Most of our tournaments we try to improve and get better, but this tournament was the one that we knew we had to win. That was our No. 1 goal getting down here and taking the tournament.”
Everett credits his team’s defensive improvements as a big reason for their success. Defensive miscues and mistakes can lead to mayhem on the base paths and can lose games deep in tournaments.
“Our defense has picked up drastically the past couple of weeks,” said Everett. “That’s been the biggest help for playing against older teams, those teams don’t let you get away with playing sloppy defense. When we play teams our age we could make three or four errors a game but we would just outhit everyone, it was good to see teams that capitalize on mistakes. We haven’t made an error yet and hopefully it stays that way.”
In a game mired by pitching ineffectiveness and opportune hits, the Seminoles came back against Team Elite to win 15-8. Team Elite scored early as they put one run up in each of the first four innings. The Seminoles broke through to score four runs in the third and fourth innings and the score would be tied after four innings.
In the top of the fifth, Noah Berringer brought in a run on an RBI single. Liam Deegan, the No. 2 overall player in the state of Virginia for the class of 2019, brought home a run on a groundout. Tanner Schobel, who started the game and worked the first three innings, added a two-run single to cap the scoring off and give the Seminoles an 8-4 lead. The back-and-forth affair continued as Team Elite scored four runs in the bottom of the inning to even the score at eight apiece.
The Seminoles finally put the game away in the top of the seventh and they put up seven runs to increase the lead. Team Elite went down 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the inning to close out the game.
The Seminoles are averaging 12.3 runs per game in the tournament and they have hit some hard baseballs. Devin Flowers rocketed a 360-foot ground-rule double that came off the bat at 90 mph. Schobel also had a loud triple earlier in the game and totaled five RBI on the day. Deegan credited his team’s offensive success to their approach at the plate.
“Wait back and try to drive everything to the opposite field,” said Deegan. “Just try to get on base for the guys behind you.”
The Seminoles have displayed excellence through three games in this tournament. They’re preparation and exposure to top talent ensures that they are poised to make a deep run in this year’s WWBA National Championship. Three games does not make a tournament but if they are indicative of future success, look to see the EvoShield Seminoles’ name near the top.