Babe Ruth Baseball

Good luck to the North Carolina Teams playing in the Southeast Region Babe Ruth Tournament this week.

The 18U teams are competing at Parker's Park, South Hill Virginia. Teams competing are:

• N. Florida
• Baxter Tennessee
• S. Florida
• South Hill Virginia
• Manassas Virginia
• Triangle Allstars - Eastern NC Champion
• Winchester Virginia
• Anderson South Carolina
• Tri-Counties - Western NC Champion
• Mobile Alabama

The 16U teams are competing at Waters Field, Vienna Virginia. Teams competing are:

• Brunswick, Virginia
• Triangle AllStars - Eastern NC Champions
• E. Mecklenburg - Western NC Champions
• Team Alabama
• Lumber River - Eastern NC Runner-Up
• Arlington, Virginia
• Harris County, Georgia
• N. fairfax County, Virginia

Brackets are attached.

 

Day 1 Results

The Triangle Allstars are off to a solid start in the Southeast Region Tournament. From Vienna, Virginia, the 16U team opened with a 5 - 0 victory over Brunswick, Virginia.

Here in South Hill, Virginia, the Triangle Allstars 18U team found the going a bit rougher in eeking out a tense 1 - 0 8-inning nailbiter against Manassas, Virginia. Brett Garrett (Louisburg High) went the distance on the mound for the shutout. Garret, whose fastball hovered around 80 - 82 all night, kept Manassass off-balance with an array of off-speed pitches. The complete game 2-hitter was a masterpiece worthy of the huge crowd their for the game.

Manassa countered with a trio of fire-ballers. Their starter was consistently 92 - 95 and held the Triangle team hitless through 5 innings. Their bullpen was equally formidable with both guys throwing 88 - 90.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, Triangle developed some patience at the plate as right-fielder Jeremy Davis, batting in the 9-spot, drew a lead-off walk. After Davis stole second, Lee Pearson, playing shortstop, worked a 10-pitch at bat into a walk. With runners of 1st and second and no one out, Andrew Satterfield, playing second base and hitting in the 2-hole, laced a 2 - 2 pitch into left field scoring Davis with the game winning RBI.

Aside from scoring the winning run, Davis also made the play of the game. With 1 out in the 6th inning and a runner on second base, Davis made a head first diving catch deep down the right field line. Davis' speed and quickness coupled with dumb base-running kept the runner, who failed to tag, at second base. Garrett was then able to get an infield pop up to end the inning.

Next up for Triangle 18U is a 7:00 pm game against the Baxter, Tennessee/Winchester, Virginia winner (game being played at 10:00 am today). Baxter, Tennessee squeezed out an 8 - 6 come from behind victory over North Florida.

The defending National Champion Mobile, Alabama Raw Dawgs were every bit as good as advertised in their 11 - 0 victory over the Western North Carolina Champion.

Other Scores can be found at: http://brlseregion.com/tournaments/baseball/brackets/2008/pdf/2008_16-18s.pdf

 

Babe Ruth 16's and 18's Southeast Regionals

Thanks for the updates, coach!

For anyone interested, the brackets are updated daily at 7:00 am.

 

Good luck coach. Mobile won the 16 world series last year, beat us in regions. They pull from half of Alabama. We always seemed to play that group in regional finals for like 5-6 years in a row. Is Tony Hendrix the coach? He is good but they do things a little different. About 5 years ago we lost at there place in regional "if" game we had played together for 2 1/2 weeks. The game story in the paper had them like 52-6 for the summer. Keep us updated. Good to see Joe and the 16's won as well.

 

Any rosters posted for these teams?

 

WNC State Babe Ruth Champions - Tri County Spirits

Trevor Leonard
Nick Musgrave
Keaton Hawkes
Bradley Hayes
Ben Hunt
Alan Atkinson
Ruben Torrellas
Blain McGraw
Ricky Vaughn
Travis Loman
Travis Starbuck
John Clark

Unfortunately, Tri-County Spirits' season came to an end on yesterday (Friday). After suffering an 11 - 0 opening round loss to pre-tournament favorite, Alabama Raw Dawgs, the SPIRITS dropped to the loser's bracket for a 1:00 pm Friday match-up with the North Florida Champion. After dispatching North Florida, the SPIRITS were back on the field for a 4:00 pm game against Anderson, SC. Behind the strong pitching of Ruben Torrellas, the SPIRITS gave Anderson all they could handle. Shaky defense in the 6th inning allowed Anderson to take the lead and hold on for a 6 - 3 victory - eliminating the SPIRITS.

Other than TORRELLAS, we had the chance to watch the Spirits' Blain McGraw as he faced the deadly Raw Dawg lineup. McGRAW pitched very well - especially considering who he faced. As with TORRELLAS, McGRAW should do very well on the mound at the next level.

Congratulations to the SPIRITS! You represented your District with the class expected of Babe Ruth baseball.

 

Triangle Allstars 18U Suffer 1st Loss

The winning streak ended at 5 as the TRIANGLE ALLSTARS lost to Baxter, Tennessee in a second round match up Friday night. Through 2 regional playoff games, the TRIANGLE lineup has produced very few hits. After putting just 4 balls in play Thursday night, TRIANGLE hit the ball all over the park on Friday night but the balls could not find holes in the Baxter defense. TRIANGLE stranded runner after runner all night as the Baxter pitcher continually got himself out of trouble. Triangle pulled within 4 - 2 in the top of the 6th inning only to allow Baxter to score 7 runs in the bottom of the 6th.

Tyler Hunter got the start for TRIANGLE and pitched extremely well until tiring in the 5th. HUNTER, who left the game down 4 - 1, allowed 4 runs (2 ER) on 5 hits. The usually solid TRIANGLE defense did not make the plays when needed. Johnathan Devine came on in the 5th and squelched a Baxter threat only to see the threat become reality in the 6th. Lee Pearson relieved Devine in the 6th - but the Baxter hitting had done its damage.

TRIANGLE, in the loser's bracket for the 1st time this summer, sends lefty Nate Smith to the mound at 1:00 pm today in an elimination game against Anderson, SC.

 

Good Luck Coach

Its good to hear some of my South Granville boys are doing so well. It sounds like your having a great time at the ball park. Good luck today I hope your son takes care of business on the hill.

 

Thanks Coach 27 ....

....but lefty did not "take care of business" on the hill today - although he did go 3 for 5 at the plate. TRIANGLE 18U was eliminated in a thrilling 7 - 6 8 inning affair against Anderson, SC. Despite falling behind on 2 unearned runs in the top of the 1st, TRIANGLE battled back to take a 3 - 2 lead in the bottom of the 5th inning on Brett Garrett's towering 3-run homer. That lead was short-lived however as Anderson tied the game with yet 4 more unearned runs in the 6th. Down 6 - 3 in the bottom of the 6th, TRIANGLE mounted yet another rally. Lee Pearson beat out an infield single. After an out by Andrew Satterfield, Nate Smith beat out a bunt single. Crawford Bolton bounced a hard grounder off the second baseman's chest scoring Pearson from 2nd base. William Kearney then drilled a shot up the middle scoring Smith from second base. Hasten Simmons followed with another single scoring Bolton with the tying run.

After a quiet top of the 7th, TRIANGLE stranded runners at 1st and second. A lead-off homer in the top of the 8th inning proved to be the winning run as Triangle went down 1-2-3 in the bottom half.

This TRIANGLE 18U team, coached by Donald Moody (Warren County HS), Orlando Jones (St. Aug), and Derrick Alston (Warren County, HS), represented Eastern North Carolina extremely well. This team, the only one in the regional tournament that was primarily assembled from "Parks & Recreation" sponsored teams, faced competition the likes of which most of these players had never seen. TRIANGLE 18U battled fearlessly and proved to themselves that in baseball as in life all one needs is an opportunity. These young men will forever be known as champions and I have enjoyed watching their confidence grow.

 

i look forward to keeping up with nate smith during his time at nccu. i saw him play a few weeks ago at the usa complex and immediately knew the kid was a player. i believe he has the talent to make it to the NEXT level after nccu with hard work.