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Tournaments  | Story  | 9/17/2018

2 claim crowns at Fall Champs

Jeff Dahn     
Photo: CBA Marucci National (Perfect Game)

CBA Marucci National completes clean sweep at Upperclass Fall

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – The press box discussion began shortly after CBA Marucci National had scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 4-0 lead over the Canyon Thunder Black in the championship game at the Perfect Game Upperclass Fall National Championship Protected by G-Form.

The conversation's topic revolved around a handful of viable Most Valuable Player and Most Valuable Pitcher candidates sitting in the CBA dugout, but two in particular stood out: top two-way guys Joseph Naranjo and Cameron Repetti.

The two were essentially interchangeable when it came to the post-tournament awards but based on the numbers that came out of the championship game, it would be easy to think PG officials got it backwards even if, in fact, they didn’t.

Most Valuable Player Repetti threw a complete-game, four-hit, four-strikeout shutout and Most Valuable Pitcher Naranjo went 3-for-3 with a home run, a double, an RBI and two runs scored, and No. 2-seeded CBA Marucci National (7-0-0) skated to a 6-0 victory over the No. 5 Canyon Thunder Black (6-1-0) in the championship game played at Goodyear Ballpark.

Ontario, Calif.-based CBA scored those four runs in the fourth – the inning in which Naranjo delivered his solo bomb – and added single runs in both the fifth and the sixth to cement the victory.

The Marucci Nationals totaled nine hits in the game, with Corey Sanchez smacking a pair of singles and scoring twice in support of Naranjo; Joshua Romero doubled and drove in a pair of runs to make his mark.

“These guys are my brothers,” Naranjo said. “It’s always a blast playing with them, coming out every day and playing in the 100-degree heat; it can’t get any better than that.”

Repetti, meanwhile, was his own steady self on the mound and the Thunder could never really mount a threat. They had just the four hits and only one went for extra bases: a double from Alex Figueroa in the top of the seventh.

Naranjo, a 6-foot, 175-pound 2019 first baseman/left-hander from Chino, Calif., is a Cal State Fullerton commit ranked No. 73 nationally in his class. He hit .375 (6-for-16) with a double, a home run and six RBI over the weekend.

He earned the MV Pitcher award by tossing a one-hit, 11-strikeout, no-walk shutout in the National’s 4-0 win over Aggies Baseball Upperclass in Monday morning’s semifinals.

Repetti is a 6-foot-4, 200-pound 2019 third baseman/right-hander from Cypress, Calif., who is ranked No. 161 nationally and has also committed to CS Fullerton. He hit .400 (8-for-20) with a double, seven RBI and three stolen bases and pitched 8 2/3 shutout innings over two appearances, allowing six hits while striking out six and walking one.

CBA Marucci National earned the playoffs’ No. 2 seed after beating its three pool-play opponents by a combined 22-4. It got past the No. 15 Players Choice Academy (2-2-0) in the first-round of bracket-play and then dumped the No. 7 SoCal Bombers 2019 Black, 6-1, in the quarters before knocking off the No. 11 Aggies Baseball Upperclass (5-1-0) in the semis.

“It’s always good to win the whole thing, but really we were just trying to get together as a group and get back to playing some baseball,” Repetti said, noting the team hadn’t played in a tournament together in more than a month.

“It’s everybody together, just doing the right things,” he added. “These guys, we don’t stay up late when (we’re on the road). We’re here to win and we have the right mindset, we’re business; it’s just a great group of guys.”

The Phoenix-based Thunder also went 3-0-0 in pool-play (16-5 run differential), and beat the Twin Cities Baseball Academy, 2-0, in the playoffs’ first round before dropping No. 12 Slammers Akerfelds, 9-2, in the quarters. They won their semifinal game by forfeit when No. 1-seeded TB SoCal Baseball decided to pick up its ball and go home Sunday night.

CBA Marucci National hasn’t closed the books on this fall season by any means. This team will be at the PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., towards the end of October and can’t wait to get there.

“We were lucky to win this tournament, and now we’ve got Jupiter next and we’re excited about that,” Naranjo said. “Winning this tournament and going into that, it’s a boost. Once we get to Jupiter, we’ll get it going again.”


2018 PG Fall Upperclass Championship Protected by G-Form champions: CBA Marucci National



2018 PG Fall Upperclass Championship Protected by G-Form runner-up: Canyon Thunder Black



2018 PG Fall Upperclass Championship Protected by G-Form MVP: Cameron Repetti



2018 PG Fall Upperclass Championship Protected by G-Form MV-Pitcher: Joseph Naranjo





Dykstra Baseball delivers championship effort in Freshman Fall final

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – 3D Baseball came into Monday morning’s championship game at the Perfect Game Freshman Fall National Championship Protected by G-Form as an unstoppable force. The Phoenix-based ballclub had, after all, managed to win four of its first five games at the event in short fashion, via the run-rule.

Dykstra Baseball right-hander Marcos Carrasco was fully aware of those numbers when head coach Allan Dykstra handed him the ball to make the start against the formidable 3D’ers but remained unfazed.

“I know a lot of kids on that team; we play on Sandlot (Baseball) together,” Carrasco said. “I was just trying to have some fun going out there and throwing and just doing what I usually do. I was a little nervous at first but then I was able to get into it.”

Get into it, indeed. Carrasco threw a complete-game, three-hit shutout at 3D Baseball, striking out seven without issuing a walk, and Temecula, Calif.-based and No. 7-seeded Dykstra Baseball (5-1-0) shutdown No. 1 3D Baseball (5-1-0), 4-0, in the championship game played at Goodyear Ballpark.

This was a snappy affair, played in well under two hours, with Dykstra totaling five hits and 3D just the three. 3D 2023 right-hander Derrick Mitchell allowed only one earned run on two hits with nine strikeouts and three walks in his 5 1/3 innings of work and the game was scoreless through five innings of play.

It was the top of the sixth when Dykstra with sweet-swinging Austin Easter went to work. Easter doubled and drove in a run in the two-run sixth, and then repeated that feat in the top of the seventh; he finished the game 2-for-4 with the two RBI and a run scored. Ian Halverson also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

But it was Carrasco who proved to be the difference-maker.

“Marcos did a fantastic job,” Allan Dykstra said. “He kept his pitch-count down and was attacking batters, and that’s the type of pitcher he is. He’s a competitor … and that’s why we brought him out here because we know he’s a competitor on the mound. … He came out here and he wanted the ball in this situation, and that’s something you just can’t teach.”

Carrasco, who calls Queen Creek, Ariz., home, made an appearance earlier in the tournament and finished without giving up an earned run on four hits in 8 2/3 innings, with eight strikeouts and one walk; he was named the co-Most Valuable Pitcher.

“Dykstra is just a great team,” he said. “It was just a really fun experience to be out here and play some good teams, play some good ball.”

He shared MV Pitcher honors with 3D’s Logan Saloman, a 2022 right-hander from Chandler, Ariz. Saloman pitched seven shutout innings over two appearances and allowed just two hits while striking out 14 without a walk.

Easter, a 2022 outfielder out of Winchester, Calif., finished the tournament 8-for-17 (.471) with three doubles and five RBI and was named the Most Valuable Player. Halverson also finished 8-for-17 (.471) and had a double, triple and five RBI.

3D’s Ethan Hott and Demitri Diamant contributed two of the three singles their team got off Carrasco Monday morning, and also enjoyed fine tournaments. Hott went 7-for-13 (.538) with two doubles, a triple and two RBI and Diamant was 7-for-15 (.467) with a double, triple, four RBI and five stolen bases.

3D West earned the playoffs’ No. 1 seed by outscoring its three pool-play opponents by a combined 24-2. It continued that dominance once it got into bracket-play, blanking both No. 8 Top Tier Gamers Baseball (2-1-1) and No. 4 GBG Marucci Navy (4-1-0) by identical 8-0 counts in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.

Dykstra Baseball 2022 went 2-1-0 in pool-play and outscored its foes by a slim 19-16 margin, earning the No. 7 seed. It then upset the No. 2 CBA Wave, 5-2, in the quarterfinals and walloped the No. 6 San Diego Show, 11-0, in the semis.

“We’re really starting to play ‘baseball’ instead of being just a bunch of individuals, which says a lot,” Dykstra said. “This is really their first full year of playing together and they know their roles and what each player can do. … At the higher levels of baseball you want to play with guys that you can trust and that you know.

“You have to have guys to get this far in a tournament like this that really exceed their own expectations and really help out the team.”


2018 PG Fall Freshman Championship Protected by G-Form champions: Dykstra Baseball 2022



2018 PG Fall Freshman Championship Protected by G-Form runner-up: 3D West



2018 PG Fall Freshman Championship Protected by G-Form MVP: Austin Easter



2018 PG Fall Freshman Championship Protected by G-Form co-MV-Pitchers: Marcos Carrasco (left), Logan Saloman
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