EMERSON, Ga. - Academy Select has won nine games so far in the 14u WWBA National Championship at LakePoint, and they moved on to the semifinal round after two wins on Thursday afternoon. Having close to 10 wins is typical for a playoff team at this point, but this has been anything but a typical run for the Allen, Texas-based team, having shutout opponents in seven of those nine games. Coach Linty Ingram said that his staff’s success has been because his pitchers have executed their game plans on the mound.

“Throwing strikes, making them swing the bat. It’s tough to get a lot of runs when you throw strikes with these wooden bats, so we’ve been focusing on filling up the strike zone, letting our defense work a little bit, and we’ve played really good defense, and we’ve got some guys that have some stuff on the ball that are able to get breaking balls over behind in the count and get their fastball in on people. Basically, just filling up the strike zone,” Ingram said.

Two of those shutouts came on Thursday, with the first coming in the form of a 1-0, walkoff win against the All Out Pack. Luke Robertson received the start for Academy Select, and turned in a gem, going seven innings, giving up just two hits and one walk, striking out nine. Luke Vaks of All Out Pack just about matched Robertson, going 5 2/3 innings, giving up three hits, three walks, while striking out seven.

“Luke was getting three pitches over at will, whenever I called,” Ingram said. “His changeup, curveball and fastball was getting over, spotting his fastball real good. He just kept them off balance, and he made pitches throughout the day that were just incredible.”

Robertson was able to pick up the win after he received some offensive help in the bottom of the seventh. The score was 0-0, with Elijah Wohl leading off the bottom of the inning. He would reach on an error and would advance to second. After a wild pitch, with Wohl on third, Keegan Allen hit a game-winning sacrifice fly to center field to score the game’s only run.

“I just went into the at-bat knowing that I had to get the runner in. I had to put something in the outfield, and he threw me a good pitch and I hit it,” Allen said. “I’ve just been trying to help the team out, get some runs, and swing at every strike [the pitcher] throws, because you don’t get very many of them.”

Their quarterfinal matchup was the same story on the pitching side, but it was a stark contrast to their first game, as they broke out with an eight-hit, eight-run attack against GoWags. Allen picked up a hit and an RBI, while Nathaniel Price went a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Ingram attributed much of the success to an improvement in the game plan at the plate.

“Well, I think the key why they weren’t alive in the first game was the pitcher, the pitcher was really good,” Ingram said. “This game here, I think we had a little better approach. Our hitting coach talked to them. Coach [Chris] Edelstein talked to them about what he thought the guy was trying to do, and I think it worked out, especially, I think it was in the second inning that we had a pretty good approach. I think it’s just we got some pitches to hit and made it count.”

On the mound, Jonathan Huff provided the team with another quality start, going five innings, giving up only three hits, while striking out five to secure the seventh shutout for the team. It was Huff’s second outing of the tournament, having gone two innings against Team GA Gold 14u in an earlier appearance, and the righty has yet to give up a run.

“My curveball was working really well, my offspeed was working. I know everyone here can hit fastballs, so I made sure that I had all my good stuff working today,” Huff said. “[Mindset was] just to help out my guys, do whatever I can, get the innings out of the way. I know once we get going, we’ve a pretty good team, and just do what I can.”

Huff was just one of the players on the team who expressed a team first mentality, often saying that they were focused on allowing their teammates to be in a position to succeed. Wohl, who has been on fire this tournament hitting .409 with three triples and 12 RBIs, was on the same page with Huff, saying that has enjoyed this tournament with his team because of the family atmosphere that it provides.

“I love the team, we’re just a huge family, we come together and play every game to the best we can, and I just love playing with them,” Wohl said.

After Thursday’s games, the team is looking to take that family mentality and continue to translate it into success on both sides of the ball in the semifinals against Team Elite 14u Nation on Friday at 8:00 a.m. at LakePoint. Ingram said his team has shown hit grit and hopes that they can continue that into Friday’s game.

“This team right here man, they’re just tough kids,” Ingram said. “I don’t know that I have the best pitchers here or the best players, but they’re just tough and they play together. We talk about that, we preach it, so we’re just trying to stay together and be a tough team, not necessarily a good team, a tough team."