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Tournaments  | Story  | 6/8/2018

Gem lifts Gulf Coast Fury

Bryan Cooney     
Photo: Gulf Coast Fury (Perfect Game)

2018 PG 14u Southeast Championship Event Page

FORT MYERS, Fla. – At the PG 14u Southeast Championship, the vaunted bats of Elite Squad National lineup were a test that nobody came even close to passing. In their five-game stretch to Friday’s championship game, Elite Squad had bashed their opponents 53-5 and reached the morning title matchup with just one more team to climb on top of to win it all.

Fortunately for the Gulf Coast Fury, who also marched their way unscathed to the title game thanks to a deep pitching staff, lefthander Zachary Root (2022, Fort Myers, Fla.) was waiting in the wings to combat the hot-hitting Elite Squad lineup. Staked to a two-run lead in the first inning, Root was brilliant as he worked into the seventh inning and the Fury survived a late rally to come away with the hardware with a 3-2 victory at City of Palms Park.

With a smooth delivery and utilizing a fastball/curveball combination, Root worked out of two early jams in the first two innings and saw his teammates give him the cushion he needed to go out and execute in the strike zone and limit hard contact from a lineup that didn’t see many pitchers during the week that held them at bay.

“It was very important to keep them off the board early because if I got in trouble, we had other pitchers that come in and hold onto the lead,” Root said.

Root was put to the test in the top of the first after a one-out walk was followed by a single from Elite Squad’s red-hot Sal Stewart (2022, Miami, Fla.), but Root escaped with a fielder’s choice and a strikeout to get his team to the plate in the home half.

Fury leadoff man Michael McAloose (2022, Fort Myers, Fla.) singled to left to start the bottom of the first and Matthew Morales (2022, Cape Coral, Fla.) drew a walk, setting up Michael Perazza (2023, Lake Orion, Mich.) with an early opportunity to draw first blood.

Perazza’s grounder down the third base line got a fortuitous bounce of the bag and it rolled into shallow left field, allowing McAloose to score and Morales smartly taking the extra base as the Fury took a 1-0 lead. Morales’ baserunning effort was cashed in as Scott Edwards’ (2022, Fort Myers, Fla.) fly ball to right was deep enough to bring in another run and give Root a two-run lead to play with.

In the second, the lefthander again faced trouble as another walk was followed by a single from Salvador Alvarez (2022, Miami, Fla.) to give Elite Squad two men on with nobody out. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, Root buckled down again with a strikeout and a lineout to left to hold the lead for the Fury.

The Fury had a shot to add on in the third inning after back-to-back singles from Morales and Perraza with one out put Elite Squad starter Luis Delgado (2021, Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) in a bind. The righthander was up to the task as he retired the next two hitters on a pair of infield popouts to hold the margin at two runs for Elite Squad to make up.

Each starter settled into a good rhythm, with neither side generating many opportunities as pitch counts began to creep closer to the 95-pitch limit. Delgado hit it first as he finished 5 2/3 innings before Elite Squad’s Oscar Hernandez (2023, Kissimmee, Fla.) entered with Edwards on first after reaching on a fielder’s choice. The Fury center fielder stole second and moved up to third on a wild pitch before getting a great jump on another ball that skittered just away from the plate enough for him to score a valuable add-on run as his team went out to the field in the seventh with a 3-0 lead.

Root issued back-to-back walks with one out to end his outing and the Fury called on Austin Douglas (2021, Fort Myers, Fla.) for the final two outs. After a fly ball to center for the second out, Douglas hit a batter to load the bases up for Stewart, the last guy that the Fury wanted to have to deal with to close the game out.

On the first pitch, Stewart lofted a long drive to the left field corner that landed just fair but would hop over the wall for an automatic double. The bad break only allowed Elite Squad to plate two runs, but still had runners on second and third with Yoel Tejeda, Jr. at the plate. An intentional walk was issued to leave a force at any base for the Fury to use, but Douglas would get Giovanny Cueto to hit a routine fly ball to left to end the game.

Knowing the strength of the Elite Squad lineup while also seeing how well his fellow teammates had played to start the summer, Root knew that if he could keep his team out in front, they would find a way to get the job done in the end.

“They were a really good team and they could really hit the ball, but for our team, we’ve been together for four years now and when we can get on, we’ll get hit after hit offensively. We’re pretty hard to beat especially because we have a good defense behind us on the mound.”

Root would earn MV-Pitcher honors for his effort in the championship game, going 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs while walking five and striking out five batters.

Stewart was named MVP of the tournament for Elite Squad with a blistering 15 hits in 19 at-bats, good for a .789 average. He finished with seven doubles and a home run while driving in 12 runs and also added two scoreless innings on the mound, picking up three strikeouts.

McAloose and Edwards led the Fury offensively for the tournament, as McAloose went 8-for-15 (.571) with eight RBI and Edwards collected six hits in 12 at-bats for a .500 average, while stealing six bases and driving in four runs.

On the mound, the Fury picked up strong performances from Austin Black (2022, Bonita Springs, Fla.) and Morales on the mound. Over two outings, Black tossed eight innings and allowed a lone earned run, while Morales also threw in two games, totaling 6 1/3 innings and collecting seven strikeouts.

Delgado finished with nine strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings in his two appearances in the tournament for Elite Squad National.


2018 PG 14u Southeast Championship runner-up: Elite Squad National



2018 PG 14u Southeast Championship MVP: Sal Stewart



2018 PG 14u Southeast Championship MV-Pitcher: Zachary Root
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