FORT MYERS, Fla. – Weather had the final say on Sunday as rain halted the 13u BCS National Championship as the Kangaroo Court Roos and D-BAT Elite were tied at four heading into the bottom of third inning before play was called, with each team sharing champion honors.
Travel arrangements for D-BAT Elite flying back to their home base in Texas along with the threat of continuing storms on an already wet field resulted in the final decision to name the two teams as co-champions.
In the action preceding the weather delays, the two teams displayed how they had mowed down their competition over the week.
The Roos generated an early scoring opportunity in the top of the first, as Cade Kurland (2023, Tampa, Fla.) reached on an error and Ashton Ferdorek (2021, Largo, Fla.) singled to left with two outs, bringing up Roos’ starter Brad Myers (2021, St. Petersburg, Fla.) to the plate with a chance to help himself.
Myers hit a liner that was slicing away from D-BAT right fielder Evan Hebert (2021, Garland, Texas) towards the foul line, but Hebert went into a slide and managed to haul it in, likely saving two runs in the process to end the inning.
In the home half of the first, D-BAT wasted little time getting a scoring chance together as leadoff man Weston Duncan (2022, Bartonville, Texas) was hit by a pitch and scored on an RBI double by Issac Shabay (2022, Colleyville, Texas) to take a 1-0 lead. The Roos gave D-BAT’s most dangerous offensive threat, Jordan Viars (2021, Prosper, Texas), a free pass, but both Shabay and Viars would move up on a wild pitch to set up Xavier Arias (2021, La Vernia, Texas) with second and third with still nobody out.
Arias would cash in the opportunity as he grounded a single through the left side, scoring both runners to put D-BAT up 3-0, but rain halted play for the first time before another pitch was thrown in the contest.
Once play resumed after an hour delay, Alejandro Mendoza (2021, Keller, Texas) made it a 4-0 D-BAT lead as he brought Arias home with a single to center.
The Roos would pick up two runs in the second inning, as Amai Martinez (2022, St. Petersburg, Fla.), who doubled to lead off the inning came around to score on another double off the bat of Gio Suarez (2021, Spring Hill, Fla.). Gunnett Carlson (2022, Tampa, Fla.) would bring home Suarez on a two-out single to center to make it a 4-2 game.
Kangaroo Court would get another big hit in the third as Myers helped his own cause in his second at-bat with two men on as he drilled a pitch down the left field line to score two runs and even the game up at four.
The Roos had a chance to pull ahead with two on and two out again, but Miles Curley (2022, Largo, Fla.) hit it to the wrong man as his liner was grabbed on a diving catch by Hebert again as he charged in and snagged it to keep the game tied up.
Before D-BAT came to the plate in the bottom of the third, the skies opened up for the second time which rendered the playing surface unplayable. Waiting for the field to dry or potentially moving the contest to a different venue to finish the game was not in the cards with the circumstances of D-BAT needing to return home forcing a final and fair conclusion to the tournament.
It was a clear choice to award Viars as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, as he batted .600 (13-for-20), with a double, two triples and three home runs for D-BAT Elite while driving in an astounding 18 runs in eight-plus games to go along with his excellent work on the mound registering 13 strikeouts in eight 1/3 innings.
Myers took home Most Valuable Pitcher honors for the tournament for the Roos, going 2-0 with nine strikeouts in seven 2/3 innings while allowing a lone earned run.
2017 13u BCS National Championship MVP: Jordan Viers
2017 13u BCS National Championship MV-Pitcher: Brad Myers
