Triple Crown Sports U.S. Club Nationals

In its inaugural year, the U.S. Club Nationals brought nearly a dozen, high-achieving baseball programs to Atlanta with a unique mission—have multiple age groups from the same academy put their skills to work for a shot at team and organizational rewards.

While the event fulfilled expectations on the diamond, the postgame—Awards Night—carved out new territory. More than 1,000 parents, coaches and players arrived at the Georgia Aquarium on Saturday, where the hardware was handed out.

Triple Crown Sports secured the aquarium for exclusive use of its U.S. Club Nationals teams and entertainment included baseball showman Domingo Ayala.

“The event overall was just spectacular. It’s very difficult to get a tournament with this many quality teams going for a full week,” said Jason Kisz, head coach of the 9U East Cobb Astros, who won their age group and helped East Cobb claim the overall title of Top Organization. “This was solid baseball all the way through. The unique thing about this was, you compete as an organization. It’s really cool to have the 13s and 14s cheer on the 9-year-olds. To know we played our part in taking home the organizational trophy . . . it makes you feel like family, like you are fighting for more than just your team.”

Will Cawthon, coach of the 12U champ 6-4-3 DP Athletics, agreed.

“We had a lot of fun together. The championship game was hard, but we had it in our minds to go out and finish hard,” Cawthon said. “At the beginning of the tournament, it was really hard, because we really weren’t playing as a team. At the end, we started playing more as a team because we were down a lot, real close games, and everybody played (better). I had a lot of fun with my teammates and coaches.”

“It was good, and we had a lot of fun winning it all,” said Payton Wehner, second baseman and outfielder for the Beaver Valley 9U team that won its age group. “The trip down was long, but I watched a couple of videos on the way down. This fits in good because this was my first year with Beaver Valley and I played really good.”

Beaver Valley (Pa.) also answered the call in the 13U bracket and finished No. 2 in the overall point standings.

“Our expectation is to always come out on top. With 10 kids, we weren’t sure we had that in us, with the heat,” 13U coach Ryan Lambert said. “But our kids were able to get well-rested and then come out and play their best game (Saturday), and that’s what they did. The first game against East Cobb, where we won 10-5 . . . we had a late lead, and they put up a couple runs late . . . it was right then when I knew we had a pretty special group of kids that could make a run.”

6-4-3 Goes Extra Mile For 11U Crown

When the 6-4-3 DP Athletics 11u team looks back on its favorite moments at the US Club Nationals, it’s bound to be a long conversation.

That’s what happens when a championship run requires a trip through the loser’s bracket, a nine-inning stress fest in the next-to-last game, and a triumphant finish over an undefeated squad for the crown.

The Athletics wrapped up Saturday’s full shift in uniform with a 5-3 victory against the Motor City Hit Dogs, an impressive effort after needing nine innings to get past the Dallas Patriots, 9-8, in the last game of the loser’s bracket. The Hit Dogs entered the final with a 5-0 mark and were scrappy to the finish, starting the sixth inning with three hits in hopes of pulling off a rally.

But the Athletics turned to reliever Kent Collier, who got a break when the Hit Dogs ran into an out on the bases. With two outs and runners on first and third, Collier got a game-ending strikeout to, finally, allow his team to call it a day.

“They responded fantastically. Sometimes, we’ve been in that spot where we’ve had to make a long run in a tournament, but our motto when we break every huddle is ‘6-4-3, effort, effort, effort,’” Athletics coach Steve Robertson said. “They gave 100 percent today.”

In the title game, 6-4-3 trailed 2-1 in the top of the fifth but got Cooper Davidson and K.K. Towe on base with singles. With two outs, Tate McKee came up as a pinch hitter and lashed a first-pitch double to put the Athletics up, 3-2.

“Tate had pitched in the previous game, and his elbow was hurting a bit, so we held him out of the lineup,” Robertson said. “We knew his bat had been hot all day, and we were thinking, ‘Where can we use him?’ That worked out; it was a perfect time for him.”

A.J. Mastrie, who had the game-winning hit against the Patriots, then provided the Athletics some elbow room with a breathtaking home run blast in the sixth that pushed his team up, 5-2. Those runs came in handy when the Hit Dogs put their threat together in the bottom of the frame.

“We were just trying to keep the same momentum we had going in the extra innings,” Mastrie said. “I was looking to just drive one over the middle and move the runner over (on the home run).”

“A.J.’s bomb, good heavens, that was an absolute bomb. I’ve never seen an 11-year-old hit it out here,” Robertson said.

While all this was going on, Logan Geter did some stellar work on the mound for the Athletics, going five-plus innings and shining in pressure moments, including a four-pitch, retire-the-side effort in the fifth.

“I’m feeling kind of happy, and nervous at the same time, getting to pitch,” Geter said. “It’s the championship game, and I think I did good. I just try to breathe and count (when there’s pressure). We were pretty tired for the last game, but we pulled it off.”

Zachary Warren had two hits and two runs for the Hit Dogs; Alex Cheese man added a run and an RBI. Davidson and Towe both reached base twice for the Athletics; Geter had a double, and Ryan Novak singled, stole a base and scored a run.

Hometown 6-4-3 DP claims 12U Title

Teams from all over the nation made the trek to Marietta, Ga., for a shot at the inaugural US Club Nationals title. In the 12u division, amidst all of Mother Nature’s elements, it was hometown 6-4-3 DP Athletics that took home the championship, knocking off the Motor City Hit Dogs, 9-6.

“We didn’t swing it very well earlier in the week,” said head coach Jamal Hawkins. “Once the kids got warmed up we started to hit the ball, we started to pitch better and I knew that if we made plays in the field and didn’t make errors, that our offense could take over.”

6-4-3’s defense had rolled them through pool play where they sported an undefeated 3-0 record and the No. 1 seed out of their pool.

A loss to Motor City in the first round of bracket play, however, left a long road for 6-4-3 to make it back into the final. Wins against the SBA Canes and crosstown rival East Cobb set up the epic rematch against their newfound rivals from the north.

Both teams pushed across a run in the first inning, heightening tensions. However, the 6-4-3 offense was as looming as the storm clouds overhead.

6-4-3 would piece together a three-inning stretch in which they would score five runs. Three came in the top half of the second inning, two of which came on a triple by Druw Jones.

In the fourth inning, pitcher Scott Smith helped his own cause by launching a towering home run to deep right center.

“I saw a fastball right down the middle,” Smith said. “It was a long at bat and I knew I had to put a good swing on it.”

On the mound, Smith would pitch 4.1 innings, striking out three and surrendering four earned runs. 6-4-3 would add a couple of insurance runs in the fifth inning when Bryson Jackson knocked in Max O’Brien and Will Cawthon.

In the bottom half of the fifth—with Motor City creeping within reach of a potential comeback—Hawkins sent in Reece Robertson for the five-out save.

“Reece had been in the same situation just a couple of games ago,” Hawkins said. “I had complete faith in him and our team had complete faith in him. I wouldn’t want anyone else in that situation.”

Robertson induced a grounder and a strikeout to finish the fifth inning. In the sixth, Robertson got himself into trouble, allowing Motor City to score two, drawing within striking distance and an improbable comeback.

In a Hollywood-type finish with two outs, the bases loaded and a pouring rain, a determined Robertson took a deep breath and got Joshua Clement to ground to second, claiming a championship for his team.

“This championship means a lot to us,” Smith said. “We’ve been able to play against some teams we’ve never seen before which has been awesome, but with this being our home state, we wanted to make Georgia proud.”

“This shows that we’re one of the best organizations in the country,” Hawkins said. “We had to beat not only teams from all over but a couple of very good local clubs to get here.

“This tournament is a great a concept. Of course we were at an advantage because we didn’t have to travel as far as other teams, but it’s just been awesome. We’ve loved playing in the US Club Nationals.”

Beaver Valley dominates 10U Championships

Beaver Valley Baseball traveled more than 700 miles with a specific goal.

The baseball organization from Ellwood City, Pa., wanted to prove it could compete with some of the best teams in the country at the US Club Nationals.

Beaver Valley’s 10U squad did just that on Saturday at East Cobb, completing its dominant run through the Triple Crown tournament with a 9-0 win over the SBA Canes to bring home the championship title.

“Of course it feels pretty awesome because there’s not many times in your life you get to win that last game, of a season or a big nationwide tournament like this one,” coach Danny Farrow said. “We were going to win or lose with all 11 guys. To come down here and do that is very special.”

The 10U Beaver Valley team had an impressive performance in the six-team field in its age division.

They were nearly flawless through the tournament’s pool play, going 4-1 to earn the playoff bracket’s top seed. Their only defeat, in fact, was dealt by SBA a day prior.

The Canes had rallied in the final half-inning to steal the win from Beaver Valley, setting up a rematch in Saturday’s title game.

“You feed off the fact that they came through yesterday late in the game like that. They got the better of us,” Farrow said. “So we knew we had to step our game up today. We showed we did and I’m proud of them.”

Leading Beaver Valley in its final game was pitcher Luke Costello, who was nearly untouchable on the mound to power his team defensively. He earned the shutout with a complete-game, five-inning performance, striking out five batters and allowing only three hits.

While Costello kept SBA’s offense at bay, his own team was able to begin its scoring spree early to take control. Beaver Valley shot out to a 5-0 lead in the second inning and used a three-run fourth frame to end the game via the run rule.

“It feels really good because everyone puts everything they have into our team. We get on the field and play our hardest,” Costello said. “I was confident because we had our bats and I knew I had our great defense behind me.”

Five players—Brady Miller, Costello, Hunter Troiano, Payton Wehner and Taili Thompson—each contributed two of Beaver Valley’s 13 hits in the championship. Miller, Thompson and Brady Boyle all had an extra-base hit with a double each.

Beaver Valley also presented strong baserunning throughout the tournament, represented in seven stolen bases on Saturday.

“Luke was awesome in the championship game here, but our other six or seven pitchers were tremendous, too,” Farrow said. “Our great pitching staff got us here and Luke closed the deal with our defense and offense behind him.

“Everybody played a big role and did their job, and that’s why we’re going home with a championship.”