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Tournaments  | Story  | 6/21/2018

It's a SWFL Nation at SE Champs

Jeff Dahn     
Photo: SWFL Nation 2019 (Perfect Game)

SWFL Nation 2019 rolls to PG 17u Southeast Championship title

FORT MYERS, Fla. – There are heads of steam and then there are Heads of Steam. SWFL Nation 2019 had definitely built up the uppercase version as it prepared to play Thunder Baseball in the championship game at the PG 17u Southeast Championship Thursday morning.

The Nation 2019s had outscored their previous four opponents by a combined 33-1 on their way to the title game and would continue to show that dominance on their way to an 8-3 victory over the Thunder; the game was played at Hammond Stadium, the spring training home of the Minnesota Twins.

SWFL (5-0-0) led, 3-0, after four innings, but the Thunder (4-1-0) closed the gap to 3-2 by plating two runs in the top of the fifth. The Nation 2019s then closed the door completely on the strength of a five-run bottom of the fifth and cruised to the win.

SWFL Nation 2019 totaled 13 hits in the contest – a number that included 12 singles – and five of its eight runs were earned. It’s an opportunistic team and the players make the most out of what’s put in front of them.

“The great thing about this team is we’ve got 10 guys that all can run under 7-seconds (60-yard dash) and they can all handle the bat; then we’ve got five guys that can really swing it,” SWFL Nation 2019 head coach Marc Trudel said. “So when those guys that can swing it are struggling, we can grind-out as many runs as we need to grind-out, which is what we did today. …

‘It’s a lot of fun to coach a team like this,” he added. “You just roll the ball out and we’ve got a bunch of baseball players out there.”

Jorel Ortega went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored; Jimmy Meredith was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs; Yariel Diaz doubled and drove in a run and Austin Jordan singled, drove in a run and scored one to pace Cape Coral-based SWFL Nation 2019 at the plate. 2019 right-handers Tyler Kreissler and Meredith combined on a six-hitter, giving up two earned runs while striking out seven and walking three.

“We do have some pitching but we play defense,” Trudel said. “Everybody’s a defender. I don’t have any holes in the lineup; we’re really blessed this year. I wish we had a little more pitching – we have seven position players who pitch and one PO.”

Thunder Baseball, based in Dunedin, won its pool with a 3-0 record, outscoring those opponents by a combined 12-6; it beat the Deltona Renegades 5-3 in the semifinals to reach the championship. Tyler Strickland doubled and drove in a run and Izaiha Kelly singled, drove in a run and scored one for the Thunder against SWFL National 2019.

Ortega, a 6-1, 190-pound infielder from Lake Worth, Fla., and a Tennessee commit, was named the Most Valuable Player; he went 9-for-14 (.643) with a triple, a double and six RBI. SWFL 2019 right-hander Matt Paulo, also from Lake Worth, didn’t allow an earned run on three hits while striking out five and walking two, in 7 1/3 innings and was named the Most Valuable Pitcher.

The Nation 2019s now moves on to play in its three biggest tournaments of the summer, the last two of which are the PG WWBA 17u National Championship in Emerson, Ga., and the PG BCS 17u National Championship back here in Fort Myers. Taking home this championship provides a nice little springboard into what lies ahead.

“I told the boys coming into this tournament that if we this it’s a great boost and if we lose it, it’s a big down,” Trudel said. “They responded to that.”


2018 PG 17u Southeast Champions: SWFL Nation 2019



2018 PG 17u Southeast Championship runner-up: Thunder Baseball



2018 PG 17u Southeast Championship MVP: Jorel Ortega





SWFL Nation 2020 on top at PG 16u Southeast Championship

FORT MYERS, Fla. – SWFL Nation 2020 was put to the test in its quarterfinal game at the PG 16u Southeast Championship on Wednesday, and the close call may have provided a much-needed shot in the arm heading into Thursday’s semifinal and championship games.

A couple of non-nail-biters would be more than welcome, and the SWFL Nation 2020 players were able to relax and get the job done.

Christopher Filippone delivered a walk-off, RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning that brought home SWFL Nation 2020’s eighth run of the game, and that was all that was needed to lead the Nation 2020s past SWFL Elite 2020, 8-0, in a run-rule championship game played at Hammond Stadium.

SWFL Nation 2020 (6-0-0) rolled to its pool championship by outscoring three opponents by a combined 23-10. It then sneaked past FTB-Gulf Coast 16u, 2-1, in Wednesday’s quarterfinals before stopping TSD Elite, 7-3, in Thursday morning’s semifinal.

“We had been struggling a little bit to start the summer at our first two tournaments, and that happens sometimes when you put a bunch of kids together for the first time,” longtime SWFL head coach Clint Montgomery said. “I thought (Wednesday’s) game against the FTB team was important for us because it was a close game, and we finally started to see the team come together.

“We haven’t been playing where I think we should be – I think our talent is better than how we’ve been playing – but we survived some games early and we finally put together probably our best game of the summer here today.”

Nine hits – eight of them singles – were all that were needed for the Nation 2020s to push across their eight runs. Ridge Skarbek tripled, singled, drove in four runs and scored one to lead the way. Josh Brooks singled twice and scored a run, Zachary Cole Cothren and Tucker Wiltrout both singled and drove in runs, and Bacon came through with his decisive RBI single in the fifth.

Sehjin Daley, a 6-foot, 195-pound right-hander from Tampa, threw a five-inning, four-hit shutout for the Nation 2020s, striking out 10 with no walks; he was named the Most Valuable Pitcher. SWFL Elite 2020’s Jaylen Youngs doubled and singled off of Daley, accounting for two of Elite 2020’s four hits.

Cothren, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound corner-infielder from Plant City, finished the tournament 7-for-12 (.583) – all singles – with three RBI and a stolen base and was named the Most Valuable Player.

SWFL Elite 2020 (4-2-0) won its pool with a 2-1 record and reached the championship game courtesy of two one-run wins: 4-3 over the PR Eagles 2020 in the quarters and 1-0 over Broward Baseball Academy 16u Gold in the semis.

SWFL Nation 2020 actually brought a 4-4 summer tournament record into the PG 17u Southeast and will leave it with a 10-4 mark. It is Montgomery’s hope the team has turned the corner as it looks forward to playing in this weekend’s PG Super25 16u Florida Super Qualifier here in Fort Myers.

It can then the start looking ahead to the PG WWBA 16u National Championship (Emerson, Ga.) and the PG BCS 16u National Championship (Fort Myers) in July.

“Those are last three tournaments and with those last two, the (college) recruiting end of it really picks up,” Montgomery said. “A lot of schools will be at those (tournaments) and to start getting on the right foot going into those would be a big thing for some of our players.”

SWFL Nation 2020’s 16u SE Championship title came only about 2 hours after SWFL Nation 2019 captured the 18u SE Championship crown and considering a third SWFL team played in the 16u championship game, it seemed like everything was coming up SWFL at Hammond Stadium on Thursday.

“This has been a real good day for the organization,” Montgomery concluded. “These were tournaments with some good teams, and we just had a good run as an organization.”


2018 PG 16u Southeast Champions: SWFL Nation 2020



2018 PG 16u Southeast Championship runner-up: SWFL Elite 2020



2018 PG 16u Southeast Championship MVP: Cole Cothren



2018 PG 16u Southeast Championship MV-Pitcher: Sehjin Daley
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