FORT MYERS, Fla. – It’s all about the ring.
The Scorpions South 2017 Prime came up well short in their quest to capture a set of Perfect Game National Championship rings while playing at last week’s 17u PG WWBA National Championship at PG Park South-LakePoint in Cartersville, Ga., but they’ll get another shot this week in Southwest Florida.
They are one of 102 teams vying for the title at the 17u PG BCS Finals., and this Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-based outfit came into Monday’s opening day with a collective one-track mind.
“We’re not leaving here without a ring,” head coach George Sandel said before he sent his team out onto George Brett Field at Terry Park for its opener against the Bottom of the Ninth from Alvin, Texas. The coach was short and to the point, but at least one of his players was a little more expansive.
“Any time we go out and play we come into a tournament with high expectations,” 2017 middle-infielder Anthony Servideo said. “We want to get into the playoffs and hopefully win a championship; that’s our goal. … I want to leave here knowing we played our best and hopefully come away with a ring and that (first-place) trophy. That’s pretty much it.”
Scorpions South 2017 Prime come into the 17u PG BCS Finals knowing the organization they represent hares a rich history of success with this event: The Orlando Scorpions won 17u PG BCS Finals national championships in 2006 and 2012 and were runners-up in 2010 and 2011.
Although the Scorpions South group is relatively new to the Scorpions Baseball organization – it was a program formerly known as Palm Beach PAL before last year – it is a Scorpions team through-and-through, and one of 10 teams under Scorpions umbrella playing in the 17u PG BCS Finals.
The Scorps South Prime are coming off a week-long stay in the north Atlanta suburbs where they competed at the 17u PG WWBA National Championships. They went 6-1-0 in pool-play, losing their first game of the tournament to the Houston C2 Select by a 3-2 count, a team they ended up in a tie with atop the pool standings; Houston C2 Select earned the playoff berth based on the head-to-head result.
“We played well but we just didn’t get it done to make the playoffs,” Sandel said. “All-in-all it was a good week and hopefully we don’t have any kind of hangover coming into this week, but we’ll be all right. … I think it is tough for them (playing back-to-back weeks), especially at this age, but it’s an eye-opener for them because that’s what the next level is all about; they need to learn that now versus later.”
2017 right-hander/first baseman Donovan Benoit agreed: “I would say (it might affect) some of the pitchers, but on the position players, not really that much,” he said. “Every day you want to come out here and you want to win and (playing every day) just makes us want to play better.
“That’s kind of what we do. If you’re having trouble playing back-to-back days in travel ball at 17 (years old), it kind of opens your eyes and you might say, ‘I don’t think I can do this at the next level.’”
Missing the playoffs at the 17 PG WWBA National Championship makes the Scorps South Prime all the more determined coming into this event: “I feel like after last week losing the first game, it will definitely motivate us to come out and kick everyone’s butt in this tournament,” Benoit said.
They got the job done against the Bottom of the Ninth in Monday’s opener, but it was far from a breather. The Scorps South Prime led 5-1 after two innings but B-9 rallied for six runs in the top of the third, only three of them earned (the Scorps 2017 Prime made an uncharacteristic four errors in the game).
They retook the lead at 7-6 with three in the bottom of third and added another run in the top of the fifth for a 9-7 advantage before the game was stopped by the 2-hour time limit rule. David Vazquez hit a three-run bomb in the bottom of the first for the Scorps and Andrew Lee finished 2-for-2 with two RBI and two runs scored.
“These guys are grinders, man,” Sandel said. “They play the game the right – we’re teaching them how to play the game the right way – and they go about their business the right way on and off the field. They seem like a tight-knit group, too; they get along and that goes a long way, too. They play for each other and that’s usually a good situation.
“It’s not like we have one guy doing it every day,” he continued. “Sometimes you’re going to have your off-day and somebody else is going to have to pick you up.”
Vazquez and Lee are just two of at least eight top-300 type prospects on the Scorpions South 2017 Prime roster. Not all of them played Monday but most of them are expected to make an appearance at some point during the week.
The top 2017s include right-hander/outfielder Tyler Ahearn (ranked No. 77 nationally; Jupiter, Fla.; Florida State commit); catcher Mason Doolittle (No. 82; Jupiter, Fla.; LSU); outfielder Reese Albert (No. 91; Jupiter, Fla.; Florida State); Servideo (No. 172; Jupiter, Fla.; Mississippi); Benoit (No. 196; Pensacola, Fla.; Tennessee); corner-infielder Andrew Martinez (No. 270; Jupiter, Fla.; North Florida), and Vazquez (No. 332; Hialeah, Fla.; North Carolina State); the top 2018 is Lee (No. 51, Boynton Beach, Fla.; LSU). Ahearn and Albert did not play in the opener.
“We all like joking around with each other; we’re all like a family right now,” Benoit said. “We feel like that will really help us in this tournament. … Playing with a lot of highly ranked guys when you get out there they want to win just as much as you and they’ll do anything to help you do that.”
“The bond all of these kids have on this team is unbreakable,” Servideo added. “We just come together and play together; it’s awesome. It’s pretty much an honor (to put on the Scorpions jersey and) play with the best kids around all on one team and all for the same organization.”
The Scorpions South 2017 Prime were able to avoid the first-game jitters and pull out a win in their pool-play opener Monday at the 17u PG BCS Finals, something they were unable to do a little more than a week ago up in Georgia. Servideo, the Ole Miss recruit, admitted they might be playing a little tired but he also knows quite a few of the other top teams down here this week have been riding on the same bus.
Now it’s just a matter of bearing down and winning some games. They will play four more within their pool over the next four days, wait and see if they can secure a decent seed (giving up seven runs in the opener is not a good start but better than a loss) and do some real damage in the playoffs. The carrot at the end of the stick is still very much there, after all.
“I definitely hope to get my finger-sized to get a ring,” Benoit said. “That’s the main goal that we have, just to get a ring.”