Richmond Braves North 12U Dominate on their Way to Border Wars Tournament Victory
The Richmond Braves North 12U Baseball team won the prestigious Triple Crown Border Wars Tournament in Rocky Mount, NC held May 2-3. The tournament featured 31 of the top teams from North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and other surrounding states.
Despite the quality of the competition, the Northerners pounded their opponents throughout the weekend, outscoring the opposition 61 to 7 on their way to a 6 – 0 record. The performance was so dominating that the Braves nearly had more homeruns (12) than their opponents had hits (13). The tournament victory was the Braves 6th in the last 10 tournaments entered and earned the Braves an invite to the Triple Crown Super Nationals Tournament in Myrtle Beach, NC.
In pool play, the Braves opened the tournament with an 18 to 2 thumping of the Great Neck Breakers. The game was tight after one inning, but the Braves offense proved to be too much, scoring at least one run in every inning and blowing the game open in the fifth with an 8 spot. Offensively, the Braves banged out 11 hits and stole 11 bases. They were led by James Triantos who hit 2 home runs and had three hits overall. Kyle Parizek and Colin Tuft also had multi-hit games. After giving up 2 runs in the first, the pitching staff, led by Jason Pan, Ben Eldridge, and Ryan Mills, shut the Breakers down for the rest of the game.
The second pool play game featured a matchup against the #1 ranked Majors team from North Carolina, the Carolina Kong. The Northerners jumped on the Kong early with 3 runs in the top of the first, highlighted by a lead-off homerun by Conner Hale on the game’s first pitch. The game remained a tight 3-0 contest until the fourth when the Braves plated another run and tallied 3 more on the 5th. The pitching combination of Matt Keay and Conner Hale kept the Kong off the scoreboard until the 5th. The Braves sealed the game with two more runs in the 6th, making the final score 9 to 2 for the Braves. The Braves continued to rake at the plate with 14 more hits, including 2 HR’s by Conner Hale and one by James Triantos. Ben Eldridge, Matt Keay, Ryan Mills, and Tio Graybill also had multi-hit games.
The two pool play victories on Saturday positioned the Braves as the number 1 seed going into the Sunday elimination bracket.
For the first game Sunday, the Braves had to face Carolina’s #7 ranked team, the Carolina Nationals, where the Braves Ryan Mills was pitted against the Nationals flamethrower, Will Lee. Mills more than met the challenge, throwing a one hit shutout as the Braves toppled the Nats 8 to 0. Offensively, Nick Morgan led the charge with three hits and two RBI’s while both Mills and Colin Tuft had multi-hit games. One of Tuft’s hits was a HR.
The win against the Nats allowed the Braves to move into the quarterfinals against the Pirate Baseball Club. This time it was Matt Keay’s turn to twirl a gem, throwing a 3 hitter as the Braves overwhelmed the Pirates 11 to 1. Keay was helped in the field by superb defensive effort from both Ben Eldridge and JT Carter. Conner Hale and James Triantos hit back to back home runs on the first two pitches of the game to set the tone offensively. Hale added another HR later in the game while Triantos, who returned to the lineup after battling a bout of food poisoning, collected three hits along with 3 RBI’s. Matt Keay also had two hits to help the team’s cause.
Waiting for the Northerners in the semi-final were the Virginia Vipers, who brought in an 18 – 4 record and the goal of avenging an earlier loss to the Braves. Conner Hale took the mound for the Braves and continued the mastery from the bump with a 2 hit masterpiece as the Braves cruised to another 11 – 1 victory. Triantos pounded his 5th HR of the tourney and was joined by JT Carter and Kyle Parizek in the homer department. Parizek’s HR was a grand slam that blew open a close game. Hale and Morgan continued to terrorize the opposition with multi-hit games while Tio Graybill and Jason Pan made several excellent defensive plays to hold the Vipers at bay.
With only one game standing in front of them for the championship, the Braves turned to Triantos to bring home the hardware. Standing in the Braves way were the Evoshield Canes Black who brought in a 15 – 5 record. Triantos followed on the heels of the rest of the staff throwing a 2 hit, 9 strikeout gem, leading the Braves to a 4 to 1 victory. The Braves trailed in the fourth inning 1 – 0 until Conner Hale led off with a single. After Triantos reached on an error, Ben Eldridge put down a perfect bunt that allowed Hale to score and tie up the game. Nick Morgan then followed with a 3 run blast that gave the Braves a 4 to 1 lead. Triantos then mowed down the Canes over the final two frames to preserve the victory and give the Braves the hard fought championship.