10/02/2023
I am a bit behind on posting as we have been at the ballfield the last 2 weekends playing our first USSSA tournaments as we look to up our level of competition.
The first tournament we could get on our schedule was the USSSA Fall State Championships. Not exactly the easiest tournament to start off with as it is an open format with a winner take all bracket format. The boys came out firing Saturday winning our first 2 pool games and securing the #2 seed going into Sunday bracket. After winning our first bracket game we came up short vs the #3 seed SBA Americans (who we would end up facing 3 times over 7 days) and finished #3 for the tournament. This being our first experience the coaches and I could not have been prouder of how confident the team came out and proved they belong at this level of play.
Our second USSSA tournament was this weekend at the Lou Zike Memorial tournament and of course we pull the SBA Americans in the first pool game. This time the outcome was for us as the Phoenix bats came out on fire scoring 11 runs on 13 hits and only gave up 2 with solid pitching and defense. We lost the next game to the team that would be the eventual champs giving us the #5 seed in gold for bracket play. The baseball gods have a great sense of humor as we would face the SBA Americans… again as our first bracket game….at this point we agreed we should probably just start practicing together. SBA took the early lead in the first, but the Phoenix exploded in the top of the second scoring 6 runs and never looked back with a mix of hot bats, 11 stolen bases, and solid defense we took the game 12-4.
Being the last seed in gold we would have to win another game just to make it to the championship, but the boys were up to the challenge. In our next bracket game we met the Park Sharon Nationals and a pitchers duel was on. We knew the Nationals pitcher as we had the great fortune of having him on our Top Gun All Star team so we knew it was going to be an up hill battle….but we had the arms to match. It 0-1 them going into the top of the 6th and our last at bat. The Phoenix was able to scape and claw out 1 run with quality at bats to get on base and a timely single to even it up. The defense locked it down with some highlight reel plays including a put out at the plate to keep it 1-1 and forcing an international tie breaker. In the 7th the Phoenix found their mojo at the plate and put up 8 runs and then the defense once again held giving us a 9-5 win and a place in the championship game!
As I said before we had lost to the team that would become the eventual champions so yes, that means we faced the one team that had beat us in the final game and unfortunately, they were able to do it again. The boys were worn out but they gave it their all, but this team hit everything we threw at them and earned their win.
Having finished #3 and #2 in our first USSSA tournaments is beyond anything we could have hoped for. More importantly the boys had multiple opportunities to give up after getting behind in games but this team has matured so much since our first season that they never gave up and found ways to manufacture wins using all facets of the game. This group works hard and plays even harder and have gelled as a true team. It is so much fun to watch these boys play when they are loose and just having fun. The coaches and I are extremely lucky to be a part of their journey in this sport.
