HOOVER, Ala. – Over the course of 14 innings of play on Sunday at the Perfect Game High School Showdown-Academies event, the Victory Charter School Knights 2020 did a lot of things very well .
Their pitching was outstanding. The hits, 15 in all, came in a very timely fashion and often in bunches; the Knights also played errorless ball.
It was easy on the eyes, the way they went about their business on this sunny but chilly afternoon a couple of weeks away from the first day of spring and on the first day daylight savings time went into effect.
And, it should surprise no one that the Knights were able to return to their home in Kissimmee, Fla., with a PG Showdown-Academies championship trophy in tow.
Victory Charter used 10 hits to run away from local entrant Bessemer Academy, 8-0, in Sunday afternoon’s championship game just a couple of hours after it had escaped the Georgia-based ECB Academy Texas Orange, 1-0, in the semifinals. Both games were played at the Hoover Met Sports Complex and the Knights finished the event with a 4-1-0 record.
“Today, when we were at the hotel, (we said) we’re going to take one game at a time,” Victory Charter Knights 2020 head coach Javier Taboas told PG not long after his team had wrapped-up a wild on-field celebration. “We (won) 1-0 and it was an amazing game. And the second game, it was 8-0, but every time (Bessemer) kept pushing and they tried to make runs; it was a great game, too.”
The Knights 2020 struck early and often against the Bessemer (Ala.) Academy Rebels, scoring three runs in the top of the first and two more in the second for a 5-0 lead; they added two more in the fifth and one in the seventh for their final total.
Once the box score became official it showed that senior Jesus M. Santana had doubled twice and singled and driven in a pair of runs; Lizandro Garcia doubled and singled and had an RBI; Pedro Rosario contributed an RBI double; Armando Guirola singled and drove in a pair of runs and Jamil Betancourt singled and drove in one.
It’s obvious to say anytime a game ends with a shutout, but the pitching was also stellar in the championship game.
Senior Alejandro Carrasquillo, a 6-foot-4, 175-pound right-hander, took a no-hitter into the bottom of the sixth and finished with a two-hit shutout, striking out three and walking one. (Bessemer’s Hunter Lopacki and Landon Dial hit back-to-back singles with one out in the sixth to spoil the gem). Senior righty Carlos Mavare worked a 1-2-3 seventh and needed only 14 pitches to clinch the win.
Keep in mind that this performance came right on the heels of the 1-0 semifinal victory. In that game, senior left-hander Yehoshua Garcia threw five, three-hit shutout innings, striking out three and walking one, and senior lefty Gabriel Morales-Melendez retired all six batters he faced, striking out one, to pick up the save.
And the one run the Knights scored? That came on an RBI double from (who else?) Santana in the top of the fourth. Santana, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound senior third baseman, went 6-for-16 (.375) with three doubles, three singles and six RBI over the weekend and was named the MV Player.
Carrasquillo, who had pitched before his championship game start, ended-up working nine four-hit shutout innings with six strikeouts and two walks; he was named the MV Pitcher.
“All these kids here have been with me for three years and I keep working with them. When nobody gave them an opportunity we gave them a chance,” Taboas said. “We work hard and we work a lot. That’s the only way we know we can get better if we just stick together; we’re one team, one heartbeat.”
The teams that are invited to the PG HS Showdown-Academies tournament often have rosters filled with players who are of Puerto Rican ancestry. They certainly bring added flair and enthusiasm to the event and it’s a joy to watch. To top it off, the invitations are very much appreciated
“I want to thank (Perfect Game) for giving us this opportunity,” Taboas said. “This is the second time that we’re here and every time we come here we try to prepare to do the best we can. … We have 20-something games ahead of us but this tournament right here is the most important tournament of the year for us.”
2020 PG High School Showdown-Academies Champions, Victory Charter Knights:
2020 PG High School Showdown-Academies Runners-up, Bessemer Academy:
2020 PG High School Showdown-Academies MVP, Jesus M. Santana:
2020 PG High School Showdown-Academies MVPitcher, Alejandro Carrasquillo:
