EAST MECKLENBURG BASEBALL SPRING BREAK SHOWCASE

EM Tournament

Well, it's hard to believe that the inaugural EM Spring Break Tournament is over! We wrapped up the tournament the way it started - with extra innings. Let me pick up where WCLion left off.
First of all, Hopewell rebounded from their previous 2 losses to defeat Mount Pleasant 14-5.

Mt. Pleasant 013 010 0 5-9-3
Hopewell 412 034 - 14-12-1

WP - Keith Prowse
LP - Jacob Warner

Leading Hitters: H - Cody Strickland (4-4, 3-2B, 3 RBI); Keith Prowse (2-2, 2B, 3 RBI); Blake Dueitt (1-3, HR)
MP - AJ James (2-3 HR, 2 RBI); Corey Huneycutt (2-3, 2-2B)

Now for the nightcap. WOW! East Meck defeated North Meck 8-7 in 9 innings. Going into the final game of the tourney, EM was the only team that had not hit a HR. Well, boy did that change tonight. The Daniels boys took care of that! EM's Leighton Daniels opened the game hitting EM's first HR of the tourney. Down 5-4 going into the top of the 7th (NM was the visiting team), EM's David Daniels hit a 3-run BLAST over the cedars in leftfield to give the Eagles the lead. I believe that was the 20th HR hit in the tournament! NM rallied back to tie it in the bottom of the 7th and we were going into extra innings. Neither team scored in the 8th. EM took the lead for good in the 9th on a NM error. EM junior pitcher, Ben Leach, pitched two scoreless innings to earn his second consecutive win of the tournament. The Eagles definitely had angels in the field this tournament!

EM 300 100 301 8-6-3
NM 000 203 200 7-8-1

WP: Ben Leach
LP: Jip Richards

Leading Hitters: EM - David Daniels (1-2, HR, 3 RBI); Leighton Daniels (2-4 HR)
NM - Anthony Dimino (2-5); Adam Venditti (2-5, 2B)

What a GREAT tournament! Thanks to everyone who came out this week. There is NO doubt that you saw some fantastic baseball! We hope to see you again next year.

 

Box Scores for 11:30 and 2:00 games at EM:

Independence 300 000 2 5-9-3
Weddington 134 020x 10-12-0

WP: Colby Spivey
LP: Brandon Wolfe

Leading Hitters: W - Payden Honeycutt (3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI); Anthony Boone (2-3, HR, 2 RBI); Andrew Knight (2-3)
Indy - Cody Starnes (3-3); Brandon Wolfe (2-3, 2B)


Butler 000 201 0 3-9-6
M. Ridge 008 002 x 10-12-2

WP: Tyler Chadwick
LP: Patrick McMahon

Leading Hitters: B - Chase Gehringer (2-2, 2B, 2R); Nick Salisbury (2-3, 2 RBI)
MR - Josh Ferguson (3-3, 2B, 2 RBI); Zach Lax (2-4); Byron Haag (2-4, 2B)

 

EM Spring Break Tournament All-Tournament Team

Tommy Hibbard - Butler
Cody Strickland - Hopewell
Anthony Boone - Weddington
David Daniels - East Meck
Byron Haag - Marvin Ridge
Cody Starnes - Independence
Anthony Dimino - North Meck
Grayson Atwood - Mount Pleasant

MVP: Ben Leach (2-0) - East Mecklenburg

 

Now for the nightcap. WOW! East Meck defeated North Meck 8-7 in 9 innings. Going into the final game of the tourney, EM was the only team that had not hit a HR. Well, boy did that change tonight. The Daniels boys took care of that! EM's Leighton Daniels opened the game hitting EM's first HR of the tourney. Down 5-4 going into the top of the 7th (NM was the visiting team), EM's David Daniels hit a 3-run BLAST over the cedars in leftfield to give the Eagles the lead. I believe that was the 20th HR hit in the tournament! NM rallied back to tie it in the bottom of the 7th and we were going into extra innings. Neither team scored in the 8th. EM took the lead for good in the 9th on a NM error. EM junior pitcher, Ben Leach, pitched two scoreless innings to earn his second consecutive win of the tournament. The Eagles definitely had angels in the field this tournament!

EM 300 100 301 8-6-3
NM 000 203 200 7-8-1

WP: Ben Leach
LP: Jip Richards

Leading Hitters: EM - David Daniels (1-2, HR, 3 RBI); Leighton Daniels (2-4 HR)
NM - Anthony Dimino (2-5); Adam Venditti (2-5, 2B)

What a GREAT tournament! Thanks to everyone who came out this week. There is NO doubt that you saw some fantastic baseball! We hope to see you again next year.[/QUOTE]

Wow!! Sounds like an unbelievable game. Proud of the way East played in all three games. With the first game being a tough loss despite a gutsy pitching performance, first by Lou Trosch, then by Olen Little, the Eagles had every reason to win that game but, to their credit, Marvin Ridge wouldn't go away and battled to win the game.

The East Meck vs. Weddington game was a nail biter and I was thrilled to hear (and read) how Ben Leach rose to the occasion and won the game in memory of his grandmother (with the help of his teammates...).

Now, I read the finale was better than all the rest, with the Daniels brothers' bats getting hot and Leach getting another win. Great win for the Eagles and congrats on hosting a fantastic inaugural tournament.

Couldn't be happier for the East Meck coaches and players. Thanks also to the parents and boosters who worked tirelessly to host such a great showcase!!

 

East Meck Tourney

Great job Vikings, even though we got the Loss it was a great game and that builds character for the rest of the season. Way to play hard and never give up!

East Meck....awesome, awesome job hosting this event. I have only been a part of really 2 of these and can't see how any one could have been better ran. Now it is off to the Beach!!

 

North Meck never gave up in this game. Olen Little was cruising through the Viking lineup and ended up with 11 Ks. However, the Viking hitters made some adjustments and came back to take the lead. They left everything on the field last night. When Little pulled a muscle, Ben Leach came in shut down the Viking hitters. It was a great finale to a wonderful tournament. Good luck to North Meck and East Meck the rest of the season.

 

WOW! What a tournament - it went WAY beyond what anyone imagined it would be. Coach Koppe wanted me to thank everyone for making our first showcase tournament such a success. The EM parents, players, coaches, Booster Club, athletic department, and other supporters volunteered numerous hours to make sure everything ran smoothly. Some volunteers were at EM from 9:00am-midnight each day. Koppe had a vision and everyone pitched in to make it happen. Our sponsors helped keep the operating cost to a minimum and their support was greatly appreciated. It was great to see the CMC/Kohl's medical truck at the tournament each day, all day. We were lucky to not have any serious injuries but I know it made everyone feel better knowing that we had a top notch medical crew on hand to take care of any problems.
Koppe would also like to thank the coaches, the 7 teams who participated and their fans who showed up daily to support their team. We received many compliments from our guests and they were greatly appreciated. We hope to see everyone back again next year and we wish each team good luck the rest of the season.

 

Great Event

This was a very nice event. The field conditions could not have been any better. In fact it was only upstaged by the play on it!!. The volunteers from EM put in way to many hours...it was all very much appreciated. Thank you for all your hard work putting on this event for these young men. I look forward to next. Not sure how it can get better, but I'm sure the folks at EM will come up with something!!