CARTERSVILLE, Ga. – The majority of the 72 elite teams participating in the 14u, 15u and 16u Perfect Game World Series being contested in the north Atlanta suburbs this week woke up Friday morning pretty much knowing where they stood as far as their chances of advancing to their respective final-four playoffs.
With four, six-team pools at each of the three PG national tournament events, only the four pool champions moved-on into Saturday’s play, a total of 12 teams. There were squads in all three age-groups that had their pool championships clinched by the end of the day Thursday, while other pools offered pretty cut-and-dried “win-and-you’re-in” scenarios.
And then there was Pool B at the 15u PG World Series, where it was safe to say that by the end of the day Friday all six teams in that grouping were literally fit to be tied. When play opened Friday, the SY Titans (California) held a tentative lead with a 2-0-2 mark; the East Cobb Colt .45’s (Georgia), U.S. Elite 2019’s (New York) and The D Las Vegas Baseball (Michigan) were all at 2-1-1. The Elite Squad (Florida) at 1-2-1 and the EvoShield Seminoles (Virginia) at 0-4-0 were out of the playoff picture.
“This is, I would say, why we come here to play, and at this tournament especially with the level of the competition,” East Cobb Colt .45’s head coach John Michael Vidic said before his team took the field for its pool-play finale against the Seminoles. “I looked at our pool before we started, and I thought the winner of this pool is probably going to have one loss, maybe two.
“Look at our pool. The Elite Squad? Probably one of the best teams in the country and they don’t have a chance to make it,” he continued. “The EvoShield Seminoles? They were in the (quarterfinals) of the (15u) WWBA and they’re 0-fer. That’s just how good the teams are that are here are and it’s awesome,” he said. “For us just to have the chance – the chance – to make it out (of pool-play) is pretty impressive.”
It was a thought shared by all four of the head coaches involved in the playoff hunt from 15u PGWS Pool B. “This is why you come to a tournament like this,” The D Las Vegas head coach Brian Kalczynski said before sending his team out to face the SY Titans in a contest that could have settled everything simply by being a head-to-head matchup between two of the contenders.
“You come to play good teams in your pool, and this was a really tough pool,” he said. “I’m sure everybody feels like their pool was tough but this was a really solid pool, and you knew you were going to get five great games; that’s why you come.”
At the end of the day – another crazy one in which two of the final three games ended with tied scores – the EC Colt .45’s used a 10-4 victory over the Seminoles to finish pool-play at 3-1-1 and edged the Titans (2-0-3) on tie-breaker criteria to claim the pool championship.
The No. 3-seeded Colt .45’s (3-1-1) will face No. 2 Hunter Pence Baseball Academy (3-0-2) in one of the 15u PGWS semifinals on Saturday while the No. 4 Banditos Elite (3-2-0) take on No. 1 Team GA Elite (5-0-0), the only team of the 24 to emerge from pool-play unscathed. The semis are schedule for 8 a.m. at LakePoint, with the championship game slated for approximately 10:15 a.m.
The 16u PG World Series kicked-off on Tuesday, a day before the 15u and 14u PGWS, and its final four was set after the completion of pool-play mid-afternoon Friday; the two semifinals games were played Friday evening. The No. 4 North Carolina-based Dirtbags (5-1-0) shocked No. 1 Game On Stealth from Georgia (5-1-0), 7-0, to move onto Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. championship game.
They will be joined by the No. 2 Central Florida Gators (6-0-0), which dropped No. 3 U.S. Elite/Team Majestic (5-1-0), 6-2. The championship game is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Saturday (short semifinal game recaps will be included in the 16u PGWS championship game write-up).
The 14u PG World Series semifinal parings had not yet been set when this story was posted. The 14u semis are scheduled to be played simultaneously at 12:45 p.m. Saturday with the championship game to follow at 3 p.m. The 13u Perfect Game World Series champion was crowned Friday, with the Academy Select Sun Devils out of Plano, Texas, taking home the title.
There were numerous scenarios under which any of the four teams in 15u PGWS Pool B could have emerged as the champion based on head-to-head competition before Friday’s play: The Colt .45’s tied the Titans, beat The DLV and lost to the U.S. Elite; the Titans tied the .45’s, beat the Elite and tied The DLV Friday morning; the Elite beat the .45’s, tied The DLV and lost to the Titans; The DLV tied the Elite and the Titans and lost to the Colt .45’s.
When asked if he instructed his players not to be doing any scoreboard watching while the three pivotal games were being playing simultaneously Friday morning, The DLV’s Kalczynski actually laughed at loud.
“I can’t tell them that because the coaches will be doing more scoreboard watching than anybody,” he said smiling widely. “I know our kids good enough that they want to win and they’re excited, but that’s one of the (most fun) things, to be able to watch the scores and always know where you’re at. The kids have a good time, and the coaches do, too, that’s for sure.”
The U.S. Elite 2019’s head coach Jason Ferber said his players often ask him if he’d looked at the daily leaderboard that appears on the event page on PG’s website, or they’ll ask if he’s looked at the pool standings. Ferber claimed he hadn’t looked at any of that stuff even once, because he prefers to tell his kids to just go out and win the game and then worry about the next one later.
“When you’ve played in enough big games at the national level in this kind of environment, a big game becomes a regular game,” he said.
“It’s definitely been nerve-racking,” SY Titans head coach Dave Lawrence said. “Not only the ties, but our other games have been decided by one run and (Thursday) night we came back and won in the bottom of the seventh (a 4-3 victory over U.S. Elite 2019’s). But that’s what you come here for, to play in the tight situations and go from there.”
Because of their head-to-head results, the Colt .45’s needed a few things to happen Friday morning: They needed to not only beat the EvoShield Seminoles but they needed to limit the number of runs the ‘Noles scored, and losses by the Titans and the Elite would seal the deal. But first things first …
The .45’s got a triple and a double, two RBI and three runs scored from 1019 leadoff hitter Dylan Rogers – the No. 32-ranked national prospect his class – a double and single and two ribbies from Isaac Bouton as part of a 12-hit attack in the win over the Seminoles; 2019 Carson Neal tripled, singled, drove in a run and scored two and 2019 David Burke had a pair of singles; 2019 Jonathan French, the No. 87-ranked national prospect in his class, singled, drove in a run and scored a run.
2018 right-hander Sebastian Szot turned-in four very serviceable innings, allowing three earned runs on three hits with three strikeouts and three walks, and picked up the much needed victory.
That victory, coupled with the SY Titans and the U.S. Elite once again having their seven-inning games end with tied scores, gave the Colt .45’s the edge. But their 3-1-1 record represented the same winning percentage (.700) as the Titans’ 2-0-3, a tie-breaker was still needed. That went the .45’s way because they had allowed 12 runs in their five games as opposed the 13 the Titans had allowed. Anyway it was sliced and diced, the East Cobb’s Vidic saw it as a win-win.
“With this many good teams in one place there are a lot of people watching, which is the goal,” he said. “I tell (the players) every day that you guys can worry about winning but I’m also about getting y’all to the next level. Winning is one thing, but at the end of the day it’s about getting you to college or the pros.”
The DLV’s Kalczynski and the Titans’ Lawrence agreed:
“The kids have done a good job and the scouts are here, so it has to be about more than just the winning. For us, it’s more about the kids getting an opportunity to play great competition, and at the same time having the opportunity to be seen,” Kalczynski said.
“We’ve seen a lot of good pitching, a lot of good players; it’s been really good,” Lawrence concluded. “We knew we were getting into this situation and this is why we come.”