FORT MYERS, Fla. – Wednesday’s semifinals at the 15u PG Super25 National Championship couldn’t have yielded two more different contests, but the outcome presented a championship matchup that will pit two of the top teams all tournament long against one another.
The PA Playmakers-Kelley continued their offensive assault that they have used all tournament long to take care of the Tri-Cities Titans 14-2 in four innings and wrap up their berth in the title game.
The Missouri Gators found themselves in an unfamiliar position trailing by four runs in the fifth inning, but dug themselves out of it and walked off as winners thanks to Zackary Ploch’s RBI single to earn a 5-4 victory over the Keowee Cougars and a chance at a championship.
This will be the second matchup of the tournament between Playmakers and Gators, with the Playmakers prevailing 7-5 after falling behind 4-0 after the first inning on Monday.
On Wednesday, the Playmakers got the bats rolling early in the first and managed to generate a two-out rally that saw Kyle Lyons (2019, West Chester, Pa.) single in a pair of runs. Connor Schilling (2020, West Chester, Pa.) and Andrew Cole (2020, Landenberg, Pa.) cashed in RBI singles to make it a four-run first inning.
After the Titans scored two runs in top of the second thanks to RBI singles off the bats of Cade Elliott and Brantley Ellis, the Playmakers didn’t let off the gas and continued to pad their lead.
The Playmakers took advantage of three errors by the Titan infield to tack on two more runs to go ahead 6-2 after two innings. After adding two more runs in the third, the Playmakers poured on six runs in the fourth, with the game-ending run coming in via a wild pitch.
Justin Jump (2019, Wilmington, Del.) struck out five over his four innings of work to pick up the victory for the Playmakers.
Meanwhile, on one of the neighboring fields at the JetBlue Player Development Complex, after jumping ahead 2-0 through four innings on two wild pitches, the Keowee Cougars added two runs in the fifth inning with an RBI single by Walker Lathrop (2020, Seneca, S.C.) and another wild pitch allowing them to go up 4-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth.
The Gators began chipping away at the deficit after an RBI double by Joe Reid made it 4-1 and threatened for more, but Keowee third baseman Trent Land fielded a hot shot off the bat of Trevor Austin by the bag at third and turned a 5-3 double play to get the Cougars out of the jam.
The Gators continued the comeback in the sixth, netting two runs with the help of an RBI single by Noah Lampros and defensive miscues from the Cougar infield to draw within one.
Ploch (2020, Wentzville, Mo.) had come on in the fifth inning on the mound, and after allowing Lathrop’s single and uncorking the wild pitch that put the Gators behind 4-0, he would settle in and allow only one hit the rest of the way. He was aided by a diving catch in the seventh by Briar Stinson (2020, Rushville, Ill.) to end the inning and keep the deficit at just a run heading to their last at-bat.
The top of the Gators lineup got it going with a walk, and two singles loading up the bases with one out. Lampros (2020, Festus, Mo.) came through as he hit a high chopper over the third baseman to bring in Nicholas Steibler from third to tie the game at four.
Ploch came to the plate and with the infield drawn in, he drove a grounder through the right side on a 1-2 count to send the Gators off to the championship.
With each team getting a good look at each other, and some of the top performers in the tournament littered across each roster, Thursday’s title game is sure to be one not to miss. The championship game will be held at JetBlue Park in the stadium and begins at 8:00 a.m.