11/11/2023
Hello Aces fans, this will be a very long post as this was our last tournament of the year, and our coaches wanted to give everyone the credit they deserved, so thank you, and it’s a great read!
The Aces finished our last tournament of the year this past weekend at the Arizona State Championship tournament. The Aces ended up finishing in 3rd place, but that is only part of the story. This team showed more heart than we have ever seen displayed on a baseball field! Not only did the Aces compete and beat teams that were up to two years older than them and about twice if not three times as big in size, but you could have taken almost any player on any team we played, and they single handily had more club ball experience than the entire Aces roster. The only two teams that were able to finish in front of the Aces this past weekend were teams that had recruited guest players from out of state and played them instead of their original rostered players just to beat ten kids from Little League! We could not be more proud of what just ten kids from Little League were able to accomplish over the past few months, and it is a big eye-opener of what is possible when you have a team that turns into a family! This Aces team is led by its captain, Bradley Watson, who was only ten years old when the season started but led his team with the maturity of a high school senior. We had two huge Walk-off triples this past weekend from Andy Cordova and Noah Gonzalez, who both come from Buckeye Little League, where people used to say “not club ball material.” We had the smallest and youngest player just turning ten on our team, Cameron Reed, pitch and shut down a top team in the state at the 12u level while also making game-changing diving catches in the outfield who was told just a year ago he wasn’t good enough to even play for a little league Tops team. We had Elijah Solin hit a ball so hard over the fence that it still hasn’t landed, and we had J’Koah Cruz hit a ball so hard it literally took a player's glove off. We had Kellan Wang come out with a 1.000 batting average when players were in scoring position and always got the job done! We had Matthew Parise, who just started playing the game of baseball only a year ago, who came out and hit out of his mind all season with line drive after line drive from all that work on his mechanics. We had Elijah Yeager completely dominate an entire lineup from the mound with the fastest pitch thrown at only 52 MPH by hitting spots and changing speeds who was once told he was never going to be able to pitch at a level like this. We had Messias Cruz having the time of his life dancing in the dugout after getting massive hits over the fielders that the coaches were calling in because of his size. This team has beaten every single expectation that has been put on them, and every player on this team has contributed. We bat all ten players, and we play all ten players every single game, no matter who we are playing or the stakes we are playing for. This game is about a lot more than just finding a way to win; it’s about winning as a family, and I think we displayed that in impressive fashion this weekend. Here are some photos over the weekend that include a couple of the walk-off celebrations!
Also a huge shoutout to Raising Canes for sponsoring us for this tournament as without them this experience would not be possible!
