By Adam Burns
Jonah Choate has righted the ship. And so has his team. Choate tossed two shutout innings and his offense took care of the rest as the New Berlin Magic closed 14u Pool H play of the Omaha SlumpBuster tournament with a 17-0 run-rule victory over the LS Yellow Jackets Friday morning on Pat Shanahan Memorial Field at the La Vista Sports Complex. “I threw pretty well in the first inning, but the second I loaded the bases and bounced back and got out of it,” said Choate, who allowed just three hits and struck out two batters. It was a performance that put Magic coach Dave Rodgers at ease. “He's been struggling and he's one of our Top-2 pitchers and he's reliable, but the last couple weeks he's been throwing it high,” Rodgers said. “He did pretty well and we were pleased with his performance. It looks like he's back on track.” And so is the Magic offense, which erupted for 17 runs and seven hits, all while taking advantage of five errors from the Yellow Jackets. The Magic, a Milwaukee-based team, led 8-0 after two innings before adding nine more runs in the third to promptly end the game. “We came out with the bats today,” said Matthew Riser, who collected two hits and two RBI. “Jonah pitched really well, and it's always good to get the bats going and score some runs.” Plenty of runs, indeed, for Choate and Risser, who came on in relief and threw a scoreless third inning to start a bountiful resting period for the Magic pitching staff ahead of Saturday, the start of bracket play. “The other nice part of having a big game like this is not burning up too much pitching,” Rodgers said. “We have pretty much our whole bullpen through the rest of the weekend, so I'm pleased with that.” The three-inning contest lasted around one hour and put the Magic at 2-1 ahead of bracket play. The Yellow Jackets, of Lee's Summit, Missouri, fell to 0-3. “This puts us in a really good spot in this tournament,” Risser said. “Being 2-1 is really good headed into bracket.” “It's always good to get a win to get the momentum going into bracket play,” Rodgers said. “We were 1-1 (after Friday) with a win against a pretty good team and then we got shut out. So it was good to come back and bounce back today ... It gives us a lot of confidence going into the weekend.” By Connor Wiggins
So far in the Slumpbuster, it has been a rarity for a game to go the full seven innings without reaching the time limit, but that’s exactly what Millard United Elite and Vegas Vipers did on Wednesday afternoon. Millard started the top of the first inning with a double from Nick Venteicher, but nothing else was going for them in the inning. Their defense didn’t start very clean either, as Evan Festa of Vegas reached on an error by Millard first baseman Drew Lodice on the first at-bat of the bottom of the first inning. Vegas scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning to put some early pressure on Millard. The top of the second inning didn’t go as planned for Millard either, as they started with a leadoff single and got another hit as well, but nothing was going as the Vegas defense continued to step up. Millard’s defense still was not up to par in the bottom of the second inning as they had another error and were called for a balk, but the Millard pitcher was able to get out of the inning without letting another run by after a lineout and flyout. In the top of the third inning, Millard managed to get two more hits, but still couldn’t get in the scoring column. The Millard defense started to get into rhythm in the bottom of the third inning with a quick two outs, but after a hit batter, Michael Gibson of Vegas capitalized and drove in the hit batter with an RBI double. The lead was extended to three. Millard’s bats got going in the top of the fourth inning as they got in the hitting column four more times and in the scoring column five times to take their first lead of the game. But Vegas responded quickly by scoring four more runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to a grand slam from Alex Rhymes. The lead was taken back by Vegas and the deficit was two runs. Brady Dallimore stepped onto the mound in the top of the fifth inning and looked impressive with a 1-2-3 inning and a strikeout to halt Millard’s hot bats for the time being. Vegas didn’t manage to plate any more runs in the bottom of the inning, as they started with two singles, but grounded into a 5-3 double play. Dallimore flew out to center field to end the inning. Millard did the rest of their damage on offense for the afternoon in the top of the sixth inning as they scored five more runs on six hits, one of the hits being a 2-run home run from catcher Logan Woolfork. “My approach at the plate was to just put it in play and hit it hard somewhere,” Woolfork said. “I had a feeling it was going to clear the fence,” he said. Things went south for Millard in the bottom of the inning as Harrison Hart entered the game to pitch. Hart started the inning by getting a ground ball and retiring the first batter of the inning, but just six pitches into his outing, he took a line drive off of his right hand and had to exit the game. J.D. Moffett came in to pitch for the injured Hart and gave up a single in the inning, but managed to get out of trouble and keep Millard out of the scoring column. The score remained 10-7 after the top of the seventh inning thanks to two strike outs and a fly out in a quick 1-2-3 inning. Vegas made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh inning with a leadoff single and a walk to follow. They drove in runs on a groundout that scored a runner from third and a dropped fly ball from the Millard right fielder, but J.D. Moffett got out of the inning and ended the game for his team despite giving up two runs. “I just thought about getting ahead, throwing the next strike, and not worrying about any of the runners,” Moffett said. Head Coach of Millard United Elite, Chris Veintecher, was happy with the way his players responded after Hart’s injury. “I’m just proud of the way we came out and adjusted and made some plays at the end and got some key base hits in both games to seal off the victories,” he said. Millard United Elite finishes pool play with two wins and a loss. Bracket play begins Friday. By Adam Burns
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Music from rap artist Tech N9ne could be heard from the third-base dugout on Field 4 Thursday afternoon at the Council Bluffs Recreation Complex. The speakers boomed during pre-game warm-ups and in between innings, ringing in everything from rap and hit music to “Sweet Caroline.” The culprits? The Kansas City Siege, who are the talk of the 12-and-under Omaha SlumpBuster Division I Invite Only Championships. The Siege play their music loud and proud during warm-up sessions, but it’s a laid back atmosphere filled with 10 players and a handful coaches from the Kansas City area, just like the successful rap artist in Tech N9ne. “The main thing we try to do as coaches is to make sure they’re mentally prepared for the game but also allow them to have fun and enjoy being in the dugout and hanging out with each other,” Siege coach Dirk Kiser said. “They have pretty good chemistry and they’ve been playing together for the last couple years.” That atmosphere has set the stage for a 3-0 pool play record, including an 11-5 victory that saw Michael Mange hit for the cycle and drive in a pair of runs. “Michael was on today,” Kiser said. “We need that bat going and he hit for the cycle here. When he gets the bat going he’s as tough as anybody. He hits the ball hard.” Mange, a right-handed hitter, tripled in his first at-bat as part of a 7-run top of the first, and hit a solo home run over the left-center field fence — a distance of 300 feet — to increase the lead to 8-1 in the second inning. It was his sixth home run of the summer, Kiser said. “It was the first pitch, a cookie right down the middle,” Mange said. “I had to yack.” Mange singled in his third at-bat to right field and doubled to right-center field in his final plate appearance for the rare cycle. The Siege extended their lead to 10-1 with a two-run fourth. The Spiders, who also entered the contest 2-0 in pool play, trimmed the lead a bit with a run in the fourth and three in the fifth to make it 10-5, but the Siege added a single tally in the fifth and closed the door in the bottom of the fifth for the run-rule victory. The top of the Siege’s lineup proved to be a tough out in this one. The first three batters went a combined 10-for-12 with six RBI. Leadoff hitter Myles Bachali was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two-hole hitter Grant Madrid also went 3-for-4 and drove in four. “We started off good,” said Bachali, who tripled, stole two bases and helped out on the mound. “We need to keep hitting the ball.” “Today we showed what we are offensively,” Kiser said. “We got our bats going today.” The Siege used three pitchers for two innings apiece. Rex Holcomb got the start and didn’t allow a hit. He walked two and surrenedered one earned run. Bachali allowed one run on one hit with one walk and a strikeout. Tyler Coffin finished it out with three runs on three hits, three walks but three strikeouts. The Siege didn’t record an error. “Top to bottom of our lineup, we’re pretty strong and we’re a very strong defensive team,” Kiser said. “We have seven or eight guys that can go on the mound and pitch at any given time.” The Spiders, based out of Akron, Ohio, managed four hits on the day, coming from Dana Williams, Dominic Sintic, Leo Wilson and Beckett Khoury. They too played errorless baseball. Both teams entered this contest with 2-0 marks, but it was the Siege that came out on top and with the most favorable seed of Pool B. With a pool play run differential of 14, the Siege open bracket play Friday as a No. 1 seed and the No. 2 overall seed. They face fourth-seeded Millard Elite at 10 a.m. Friday on Field 4. “We’ve had a successful season so far,” said Kiser, who noted a 37-3 record. “We find ways to win and our top pitchers are pretty good and they’re set up for tomorrow.” By Connor Wiggins
After five innings of play in the 10:15 a.m. game between Fastball Elite out of Chicago, IL and AZ Venom Royal out of Glendale, AZ, it looked like there was no chance for Fastball Elite to come back from a 6-1 deficit. That all changed in a hurry. Fastball Elite found themselves in the hits column after the first inning of play, but two runners were left stranded after AZ Venom Royal starting pitcher Julian Chavez managed to get a fly out, strike out, and ground out to move to the bottom of the inning. On the other hand, the AZ Venom Royal bats were scorching to begin the game. Christian Mogen led the team off with a solo home run, and Kevin Ramos hit a triple immediately after. Trevor Brock drove in Ramos with an RBI single from the 3-hole, but Fastball Elite starting pitcher recovered by getting a 5-4-3 double play from his defense and another ground out from his shortstop. Julian Chavez wasn’t even close to done in the top of the second inning, as he saw only four batters come to the plate. Chavez struck out one more hitter in the inning. “The change-up and fastball were working for me today,” Chavez said. Fastball Elite were lucky to have only let one run come to the plate in the bottom of the second inning as things looked a little sloppy from their defense. There were two errors in the inning and the lone run from AZ Venom Royal scored as Fastball Elite starting pitcher J.P. Reiger’s pickoff attempt at second base went into center field. The top of the third inning began with a beautiful play at third base from Connor Mayer on a ground ball. There was no shortage of great defense from AZ Venom Royal in this game. “The defense was backing me up, so I had a lot to work with and I felt comfortable,” Julian Chavez said. Fastball Elite got in the hitting column once more in the inning, but the runner was left stranded after the third strikeout of the day from Chavez. The bottom of the third inning saw no runs come to the plate from AZ Venom Royal, even after a throwing error from Fastball Elite’s first baseman that advanced their only base runner of the inning to third. Fastball Elite finally scored their first run of the game in the top of the fourth inning as Jordan Green hit a lead-off solo home run to cut the deficit to only two, but Julian Chavez recovered and retired the next three batters to move to the bottom of the inning. J.P. Reiger’s day was over on the mound after pitching three innings. Lukas Brniak entered the game to pitch for Fastball Elite. Brniak walked Jake Sanko to begin his outing on the mound, but Sanko was thrown out trying to steal second base. Brniak struck out the next two batters he faced to end the inning. Julian Chavez exited the game in the top of the fifth inning after giving up a single to Brandon Schultz and walking Jacob Janisko, but no damage was done in the inning after Alejandro Mogen came into pitch and got two outs with runners on the corners. Lukas Brniak began the bottom of the fifth inning by walking Demarion Reeves, but there was no threat after Jacob Williams grounded into a 6-3 double play. Still in the bottom of the fifth inning with two outs, Brniak found himself in trouble as he walked Andrew Balian and Christian Mogen reached second base on an error from the right fielder. Another run came to the plate on that play for AZ Venom Royal. Kevin Ramos drove in Mogen with an RBI single, and Trevor Brock drove in Ramos with an RBI single of his own. The inning ended after Ramos was caught in a rundown, but the damage was done and the deficit was now five runs for Fastball Elite. Connor Mayer came into the game to pitch for AZ Venom Royal in the top of the sixth inning, and the time limit was close to being reached. Mayer struck out Brniak to begin his outing on the mound, but things got disastrous for Mayer from there. The next six batters Mayer faced all reached base and the deficit was cut to just one run after a 3-run triple from Eloy Suarez. “It felt pretty good,” Suarez said. “He was throwing first-pitch fastballs, so I figured I’d just jump on the first one.” Mayer struck out the next batter in Brandon Schultz, but Christian Deshazer drove in a run with a single in the next at-bat. With runners on the corners and still two outs, Fastball Elite was really threatening Mayer now. Deshazer was successful in a steal attempt of second base, and Jameson Martin headed home as AZ Fastball Elite’s catcher threw the ball to second base. Martin was thrown out at home plate thanks to quick reaction time from the second baseman. Lukas Brniak ended the game with a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth inning. The time limit was reached, so the game ended in a 6-6 tie. “For our guys, it’s just about swinging at good pitches. When they swing at good pitches, we score runs,” Fastpitch Elite Head Coach Cory Deshazer said. This was the case for Fastpitch Elite in the sixth inning. “I liked the fact that we battled,” AZ Venom Royal Head Coach Jon Williams said. “We haven’t played our best baseball, but yet we battled through both games.” He said. The Omaha Slumpbuster will move from pool play to bracket play starting Friday. By Adam Burns
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — The Gretna Thunder Gold had hoped for a stronger start to the 2019 Omaha SlumpBuster tournament. At the very least, the 12-year-old squad from Nebraska wanted to win one of two contests on opening day of the Division I Invite Only Championships. Instead, the Thunder on Wednesday dropped both games — 16-6 to the Ohio Spiders Elite and 5-4 to the Kansas City Siege. “We just took yesterday and threw it into the trash can,” Thunder coach Kyle Janssen said. It showed. Behind a 15-hit outburst, the Thunder bounced back with a 20-6 run-rule victory over D-Bat Elite (Griffin) on Thursday morning. “It was important to get a win,” said Trevor Cox, who led the Thunder offensively. “We knew we had to put the bat on the ball to get some runs and beat this team.” Cox did his part, driving in five runs on two hits. There was no secret to his success, he said. “Just going up there and do what I do,” Cox said. On the team’s successful day, one that followed a rough Wednesday, Tyler Cox, Trevor’s twin brother, said the key was simple. “We hit the ball around and played good defense, and we didn't have many errors,” he said. After the 0-2 showing on Wednesday, the Thunder wasted little time in bringing out the bats, scoring a combined 12 runs in the first two innings. “They came out swinging today. They hit the ball around the park really well,” Janssen said. “We knew that they were going to hit it. All these teams are really good. We just need to keep our foot on the accelerator.” The Thunder added a run in the third for a 12-1 lead. But D-Bat finally got to Thunder starter Karson Skokan in the third inning, tallying five runs to knock Skokan out of the game. Skokan recorded two strikeouts. From there, the Thunder didn’t settle for the six-run cushion, as they poured it on with a seven-run fourth before Brody Bernal tossed a scoreless frame to secure the run-rule win after four innings. Grant Gilbreath and Griffin Goldman each tallied two-hit performances, while Ike Jarzynka and Tanner Erdkamp drove in two runs apiece. “The kids played great today,” Janssen said. “They hit it around the park and bounced back great from yesterday. I was proud of them.” Going forward, the Thunder hope to continue that offensive success into Friday, the opening of bracket play. “We have some good momentum with this win to end pool play on a positive note,” Janssen said. |