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Tournaments  | Championship  | 7/3/2020

Aces Win Championship After 11 Run Come Back

Julia Krzeminski     
Photo: Aces Outlaws Elite (Perfect Game)
FORT MYERS, FL.— The 11u Florida World Series championship game turned out to be more than just a match up of the top two teams in the tournament. The championship game was actually a rematch for the 11u Aces Outlaws Elite and I AM UNITED who faced off only the day before. In that first match up, team UNITED beat the Aces by a score of 10-5. Despite this loss, coach Alfredo Tavarez of the Aces wasn't worried about how the championship would play out as he told PG “they had gotten us yesterday but we were saving up our pitchers for today”. 

The championship rematch started out slow with a scoreless first inning from both teams, but it quickly heated up the in second. 



Up to the plate first in the bottom of the second was Marc Ascencio of team UNITED who delivered a line drive to left for a single. Right behind him was Martin Wade who put himself on base with a second line drive to left. Aces pitcher Zachary Tavarez then loaded the bases after walking Michael Sanchez

Team UNITED put their first run on the board with a run walked in after Tavarez also walked Gavin Ruvalcaba. With bases still loaded, Carlos Cantos came to the plate and had an RBI ground out to second to give team UNITED a 2-0 lead. 

Team UNITED then continued to run up the score in the third inning just as they had done all throughout the tournament. Alec Cruz got the team started with a line drive to left field for a single. Then joining him on base was Blayden Caballero who hit a ground ball to the pitcher. The score was then brought to 4-0 after Alejandro Cabral hit a line drive down the left field line for two RBIs. 

With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Marc Ascencio delivered a line drive to center for an RBI and team UNITED was now up 5-0. 

Still not finished running up the score, team UNITED came back to the plate in the bottom of the fifth and tacked on two more runs. The first run was thanks to an RBI line drive to left from Blayden Caballero. A few batters later, Marc Ascencio came to the plate with runners on third and first. A loose pitch to Ascencio allowed Caballero at third to score and team UNITED now had a seven run lead going into the sixth. 

Pitcher Carlos Cantos from team UNITED pitched five scoreless innings against the Aces giving up only five hits with no errors and 4 strike outs. It was no surprise Cantos was named MVPitcher of the 11u Florida World Series after his outing this game. 

When the game went into the top of the sixth, Blayden Caballero was brought in to relive Cantos. After being unable to score after five innings, the Aces started heating up in the sixth. 

Getting things going for the Aces was Juan Luis Rivera Jr. with a fly ball to center for a single. Following right after Rivera was Brandon Ortiz with a ground ball to left which put Rivera in scoring position on second. Rivera was quickly able to score after Teagan Leach hit a line drive to center. 

With the team just warming up at the plate, Issac Vidal hit a fly ball to left for an RBI. Only having one out plus the RBI from Vidal was enough to call for a pitching change to Alec Cruz for team UNITED. 

The pitching change however proved to be ineffective against the Aces’ line up. First up to face Cruz was Jacob Amador who hit a ground ball to short for a single which resulted in the third RBI of the inning. Next in the line-up was Anthony Diaz who’s line drive to right for a double brought in two more runs. With the score now 7-5 with two outs, the Aces weren't finished. A line drive to center from Juan Luis Rivera Jr. allowed Amador and Diaz to score before the last out occurred at third. 

The Aces went from having only five hits and no runs through five innings to tying the game at 7-7 in the sixth and sending them into extra innings. 

“The bats started getting hot and we started moving” Coach Alfredo Tavarez of the Aces told PG regarding the sixth inning. “We have nine kids that don’t give up and they are always in the game” he added.

To keep his team focused going into the seventh inning, Coach Tavarez reminded his team “lets keep batting, lets keep pushing” and that's exactly what they did. 

In a second attempt to keep the Aces from taking the lead, Michael Sanchez came in to pitch for team UNITED. However, the Aces’ were coming off a heavy hitting inning and Sanchez wouldn’t be able to stop them. 

After Armando Monday and Issac Vidal delivered hits to right and center, they were able to advance to second and third while Jacob Amador was at bat. With Monday ready to go at third, Amador’s ground ball to left allowed Monday to score which put the Aces in the lead. 

The two outs on the board from earlier in the inning were of no concern to Anthony Diaz who hit a fly ball to left field for 2 RBIs. For the final run of the inning, Jake Cueto hit a fly ball to center for an RBI single. 

Going into the bottom of the seventh, the Aces were now up 11-7. Pitchers Issac Vidal and Andy Espinosa of the Aces kept team UNITED from making a come back and the Aces claimed the 11u Florida World Series title. 

Juan Luis Rivera Jr. was named the MVP of the 11u Florida World Series.