JOHNS
CREEK, Ga. – The Orlando Scorpions 14u Purple (4-1) may have
lost their Wednesday afternoon matchup with the Puerto Rico Red
Raiders, but that did not stop the Orlando, Fla.-based squad from
advancing in the 2012 14u WWBA National Championship.
In
this early afternoon game, the Scorpions saw their one-run lead
quickly change to a three-run deficit as the Red Raiders put a
four-run third inning. Despite a straight steal of home in the sixth
by Chris Moore, the Scorpions came up short, losing 4-3.
“I
think this is the first game where we probably just didn’t execute
when we needed to offensively,” said Scorpions head coach Brian
Martinez. “They brought a good pitcher on the bump. He threw a lot
of strikes and got ahead with the first-pitch fastball real well.
That one inning where they scored their runs…we just couldn’t
throw a lot of strikes so that hurt us. That’s what we’ve been
doing well this whole tournament: throwing a lot of strikes and
getting batters out.”
But
it all worked out for the Scorpions as they advanced from Pool K by
virtue of their overall run differential in the tournament. In a
three-way tiebreaker with the Evoshield Canes M-A 14u Black (4-1) and
the Red Raiders (4-1), the Scorpions moved on due in no small part to
outscoring its first four opponents by a combined 35-4 margin.
“We’ve
been playing pretty well,” said Martinez after the loss to the Red
Raiders. “We haven’t been giving up runs, our defense has been
solid and we’ve been swinging the bats well.”
The
team, made up mainly of rising high school freshmen, started
practicing together this past spring.
“All
of those players have some pretty big hearts, and they want to win,”
Martinez said. “They try not to play down to the level of their
competition.”
When
asked to name some of the team’s key players, Martinez mentioned
third baseman Joe Skinner and Carson Crouse, who pitched second
against the Red Raiders. Both will begin high school in the fall.
Martinez also named shortstop Greg Lewendoski as a player to watch.
“Our
shortstop…he’s a beast over there,” said Martinez of
Lewendoski, who will not begin high school until the fall of 2013.
The
Scorpions will begin their title quest as the number 11 seed. The
team will square off against the number six seed Showcase Baseball
Academy Canes Black at Kell High School at 9 a.m. this morning. After
this tournament, the Canes will take a break from playing in
tournaments.
“This
is it. No more tournaments,” Martinez said. “Just a little bit of
practices. They’ll take off the rest of the summer and play on
their local teams in the area of Orlando. Then in September they’ll
try out for the 2016 Scorpions.”