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Tournaments  | Championship | 7/14/2026

SBA Bolts National Raise Trophy at 16u

Will Dembo
Photo: SBA Bolt National (Perfect Game)
After an action-packed week at the 16u WWBA Championships, the tournament came down to two of the nation’s top teams battling for one of travel baseball’s most prestigious titles. No. 5 ranked SBA Bolts National faced No. 60 Alpha Prime 2028 after both teams reached the championship undefeated, but the SBA Bolts were the sole team to exit without a loss, defeating Alpha Prime 10-2 in mercy rule fashion and capture the national title behind dominant pitching and explosive offensive performances.

The SBA Bolts were perfect throughout their week, running the table and going 11-0 while outscoring their opponents by an impressive margin of 108-25.



“It was awesome,” SBA Head Coach Travis Thompson said on the mercy rule victory. “It just kind of culminated our week. It's been a long week. I can't even remember our first game, which felt like three weeks ago. The amount of teams here, the amount of competition, is just awesome, and it's awesome to see, especially here at East Cobb, all the colleges represented, all the players that are nationally ranked, represented. I'm just proud of our team to really gut it out these last two days and win the WWBA, which is very, very hard to do.”

“It means a lot to my team and everybody, I like to do it for them.” SBA starting pitcher Brendan Blakenship said on his stellar performance, going five innings while allowing just two runs on five hits, and the championship victory. “We came out here and battled. My team battled for me too. They made a lot of great plays behind me, and they put the ball in play and scored those runs.”

Alpha Baseball created chaos immediately to commence the championship, as an error and a hard-hit infield single put runners on the corners before Blankenship was able to record an out. Alpha forced a throw to second base on a steal, and the leadoff runner at third base took advantage and crossed home safely to put the first run on the board. Cleanup batter and left fielder Isaac Schroeder lined a single to left field to put runners on first and third base once again, but Blankenship was able to get out of the inning without allowing a crooked number by inducing back-to-back flyouts.

Jaxon Gentry, Alpha’s starter, began his opening frame by allowing a walk on a full count, but quickly bounced back to force a tailor made 6-4-3 double play while looking to keep his team’s lead intact. SBA first baseman Camden Dean forced a single over the head of the infield and Gentry’s command became an issue by allowing two walks and tossing seven straight balls. Hudson Simmons came to the plate with the bases juiced and drew another five-pitch walk to even the game at one run a piece and force Gentry out of the game.

Mikey Lopez entered the game in relief with a trio of ducks on the pond, but the fresh arm was no issue for SBA's offense as catcher, Yates Toney smashed a single through the left side to plate two more runs and record a crooked number. Right fielder, Peyton Tarlton followed up Toney’s single with a single of his own to make it 4-1 and keep the rally alive. The 9th batter of the inning, Ivan Andino battled with a two-strike count and was able to beat out a weak grounder for an infield single to continue the chaos at the plate and drive in another run. Lopez was finally able to get his team out of the jam by way of strikeout, but his team faced a four run deficit following the opening inning.

Both pitchers were able to settle down in their second inning of work, holding both offenses to a scoreless frame while keeping the score at 5-1 heading into the third inning.

"With all the run support that my team gives me, it just lets me go out there on the mound and just throw strikes and get outs” Blankenship said on his team’s first inning rally to help settle him down.

Blankenship tossed another efficient inning in the third, retiring the top of Alpha’s lineup in order on just seven pitches to continue his dominance following the away half of the first inning.

Lopez began the bottom half of the third with a strikeout, but everything continued to go SBA’s way as a check swing connected with the pitch allowing a perfectly placed dribbler as a single followed by a sawed-off swing which sent a liner to left field for another hit. Andino came up to bat with a pair of runners on base and two outs and absolutely clobbered the first pitch he saw over the left field fence and into the trees for a massive three-run homer to extend the lead to 8-1 heading into the fourth inning.

“I had to step up big for my team, I was hitting nine hole so I knew I was going to get something to hit. I saw that that splitter, and I sent it, and for a game like that, cracking it open is huge.” Andino said on the clutch three-run home run. “Giving as many runs for my pitcher so he could throw strikes, he could calm down. I know since I'm a pitcher too, so any run support that they give me is a lot more calming in a situation like this, especially in a championship game for such a big tournament.”

Blankenship picked up right where he left off in the following inning, tossing his second perfect frame in a row on just six pitches to beat his prior inning of seven pitches.

“I mean, it's just throwing strikes,” Blankenship said on the key to his quick innings. “You get a lot of ground balls, you get a lot of pop flies, you get outs. You don't have to strike everybody out, you let them put the ball in play, and good things happen.”

Cohen Dwyer entered the game out of the bullpen for his Alpha squad and was able to match his opponent’s inning with a perfect frame of his own and kept his team's deficit at seven, but time was running out.

Alpha plated their first run since the first inning via sacrifice fly to make it 8-2, but Blankenship shut the following batters down to give his chance a team to end the game by mercy rule.

Shortstop Derek Vazquez kick started a rally by drawing a walk on a full count, and a double from Simmons put the winning run in scoring position with just one out. Toney, who already had two RBIs with a double in the first inning, hammered another double into the right center gap, driving in the winning runs before being tackled into a dog pile by his teammates. The SBA Bolts were officially national champions.

“Just thinking, end it quick.” Toney said on his at-bat prior to the walk off. “Ready to go home, been a long week. Big dub for the boys. Long, long season, long tournament, and just big win overall.”
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