Golisano visit simply 'awesome' | PG Select Festival underway | Photo Gallery

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Lightning delays threatened to steal the thunder at Sunday night’s Perfect Game Select Baseball Festival 14u all-star game at jetBlue Park, but at the end of a very long night, the 17 pitchers that toiled for the West and East squads took control with some lightning bolts of their own.

Nine West pitchers combined on a three-hitter, striking out 15 and walking four, and while the eight East arms were nearly as good, it was the boys from the West that took home the 3-1 victory at the inaugural all-star event.

The game went into what turned out to be a 35-minute long lightning delay just minutes before the scheduled first-pitch at 7:07 p.m. EDT. Once it finally got underway, it was smooth sailing until the top of the eighth when another delay – this one lasting an hour – shut down the action with the West holding a 3-0 lead. When play resumed the West survived a rocky top of the ninth to hold on for the win in a game that concluded after 11 p.m.

The West’s Calvin Harris, a 2020 left-handed hitting catcher/utility prospect from Peosta, Iowa, sliced a two-out, two-run single down the left-field line in the bottom of the second inning that gave the West-siders a 2-0 lead, which, as it turned out, would be all they needed. Harris was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

“The atmosphere out here was something else,” he said. “The talent of everyone out here was amazing and this has definitely been a great experience. It’s definitely something that I will never forget.”

West added a single run in the bottom of the third on the strength of a lead-off single that was erased on the base-paths, five walks and two wild pitches; it left the bases loaded in the frame. The West’s Robert Moore singled, walked twice and stole a base during the course of the game.

West 2019 right-hander John Pharris from Dequincy, La., was impressive in his one inning of work in the top of the fourth, striking out three and walking one. West 2020 right-hander Albert Hernandez from Davie, Fla., struck-out the side in the seventh, no small feat considering his three victims were Josh Shuler, Estanli Castillo and Tim McHugh, the 3-4-5 hitters in the East lineup.

Things got a little dicey in the ninth after the second lightning delay had expired and it had nothing to do with the stadium’s sprinkler system being automatically set off at 11 p.m. (that did, indeed, happen). West 2020 left-hander Yanluis Ortiz from Southlake, Texas, came in to get the save and promptly struck-out the first two batters he faced. But then walked the next two and threw a couple of wild pitches that led to the East’s only run. At long last, he was able to record the final out.

Liam Deegan