FORT MYERS, Fla. – The East Cobb Astros program is one of the most storied in all the land with travel ball titles won at just about every age group. East Cobb Astros 14u, 15u, 16u and 17u squads have won a myriad of Perfect Game tournament championships through the years and many of the game’s brightest stars brandished ECB Astros jerseys early in their playing careers.
Not to be outdone, a solid group of 13-year-olds added to the program’s respected name yet another PG national championship when the East Cobb Astros took home the title at the 13u PG BCS Finals, earning a group of EC Astros players their first set of PG championship rings at the 13-and-under level.
The fourth-seeded Astros (7-0-1), who call Kennesaw, Ga., home, broke loose for six runs in the top of the first inning and added four more in the top of the seventh in their 10-3 win over the No. 2 Banditos Black (7-1-0) in the championship game played Thursday morning at jetBlue Park.
The Banditos Black, who call Tomball, Texas, home, but feature a roster with 10 players from Miami, Fla., and six from the state of Texas, scored a single run in the bottom of the first and added two more in the bottom of the third.
“We came down here with our ‘team,’” East Cobb Astros head coach Dave Roberts said after watching his young charges get fitted for their rings. “Most of these teams that come down here, they pick up players … and we don’t believe in that. We believe in team baseball; we came here with 11 guys and the ‘team’ prevailed.”
Burke Berry, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound 2021 left-hander/first baseman/outfielder from Peachtree, Ga., was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Pitcher after working 8 2/3 innings in two appearances without allowing an earned run, surrendering only three hits and striking out 13 without issuing a walk. His comments were in total unison with those of his coach.
“It’s been a grind,” Berry said. “We came down here with our 11 guys – we didn’t pick up anybody – and we came down here 11 strong and we were going to fight until we came out with the title. Coach told us before the tournament that if you win this, you’ll remember it forever.”
All six of the Astros’ first inning runs in the championship game came across after two were out. The onslaught didn’t get started until Jayden Melendez ripped a two-run triple that sailed over the head of the Black’s centerfielder and bounced to the wall in dead center on one hop.
That blast was followed in succession by an RBI single from James Tibbs and back-to-back run-scoring doubles off the bats of Gunner Stockton and Bradley Frye. The Astros scored their sixth run of the frame on a Banditos’ fielding error.
Many of the same cast of characters played starring roles for the Astros in the seventh. Melendez hit his second two-run triple of the game – this one bouncing off jetBlue Park’s Green Monster in left field – followed by back-to-back RBI doubles from Tibbs and Stockton. Melendez, Tibbs and Stockton combined for six hits – including two triples and three doubles – eight RBI and five runs scored.
2021 right-hander Michael Taylor was effective for the Astros from the hill, scattering six hits over six innings of work while giving up three runs, striking out five and walking one. Drake Varnado collected two of the Banditos Black’s six hits and Nicholas Regalado singled and was credited with the Black’s only RBI.
Regalado, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound 2021 from Miami, had a tournament for the ages from the plate. He finished 10-for-14 (.714) with six doubles, a triple, a home run, nine RBI, five runs scored and an OPS (on-base-plus-slugging) percentage of 2.300.
The 36-team 13u PG BCS Finals, which began its seven-day run last Friday, was set-up so that each team played one pool-play game a day for the first five days with the playoffs beginning day six and the semifinal and championship games played on day seven. It makes for a lot of down-time with games being played in hot and humid conditions in the morning and early afternoon, and demands a level of maturity and discipline not always on display among 13-year-olds. The Astros persevered.
“I think the format is great and I think this is the top tournament for 13 year olds in the country,” Roberts said. “These guys fought through it, they did what they had to do in pool-play and they fought through it in bracket-play and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
In semifinal action Thursday morning, the Banditos Black shutout the No. 6 Scorpions South 2021 Prime (6-1-1) from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., 8-0 in five innings, and the East Cobb Astros escaped the No. 1 South Texas Banditos (6-1-0) from Alamo, Texas, 2-1 in eight innings.
2021 right-hander Bennett Hanks threw five innings of shutout ball, allowing just two hits and walking two while striking out six to lead the Banditos Black. Tyler Richman doubled, drove in two runs and scored two, and Regalado doubled and drove in a run.
Frye slapped a one-out, RBI single in the top of the eighth that pushed across what proved to be the winning run in the Astros’ victory over the South Texas Banditos. Frye singled earlier in the game and Stockton was also 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Berry was terrific for the Astros, throwing 7 2/3 innings of three-hit ball without allowing an earned run, striking out 10 without walking a batter. Banditos 2021 left-hander Roque Salinas was almost as sharp, allowing one run on five hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk in seven innings of work.
“I just wanted to give my team a chance to go to the championship (game) because you can’t win a championship if you don’t get there,” Berry said. “I was just trying to do everything I could to get them there.”
The championship was bittersweet for Jordan, who plans on retiring from his East Cobb Baseball coaching duties this year. He said this was the 18th national championship (PG and non-PG) he has been involved with in his 11 years with the organization, with all the rest coming at the 14u level.
“This is our first Perfect Game 13u national championship and it feels great,” he said. “It’s a great way to go out.”
2016 13u BCS Finals runner-up: Banditos Black
2016 13u BCS Finals MVP: Nicholas Regalado
2016 13u BCS Finals MV-Pitcher: Burke Berry
