Behind an excellent showing on the mound and just enough timely hitting at the plate, GBG National 2025 cruised past the SoCal Birds Orange 4-1 in the gold-medal game of the 16U National Team Championships Arizona. With the win, GBG picked up its fourth gold medal in the event's history, and its first at the 16U age group.

From the very outset of the afternoon, both teams threatened to start off the game by putting crooked numbers on the board. In the top half of the first, the Birds notched back-to-back singles with two outs to put early traffic on the basepaths, but GBG starter Ian Fisher came through with a clutch three-pitch strikeout to shut down the early threat. Right after this, it was Birds starter Sutton DeNinno's turn to wiggle out of trouble, with the young righty stranding the bases loaded without giving up any damage by inducing a weak fly ball into center field.

After squandering its first golden scoring opportunity of the day, GBG would not miss out on its next one just an inning later. John Petrie III got things going in the second with a one-out base hit, and on the very next plate appearance, Gavin Flores smoked the first pitch he saw into the right-center gap to bring home Petrie III and give his team its first advantage of the day.

Now armed with a lead for the first time on the day, Fisher went into cruise control, working through the majority of the game without breaking a sweat. The big lefty faced the minimum over his next five frames on the bump, allowing just one single in the third that was immediately nullified on the basepaths by catcher Caleb Danzeisen. By the time his day was complete, Fisher had finished six stellar innings in just 65 pitches, blanking the Birds' bats on the scoreboard while striking out eight, walking none, and conceding just the three base hits.

This incredible performance by Fisher kept GBG ahead while its lineup worked through some struggles of its own, and once the fifth inning rolled around, it finally rewarded its starter's effort and broke through against DeNinno. Base hits by Danzeisen and Angel Laya got the rally started, and Brady Ebel came through in the clutch shortly after, cashing in by crushing a triple off the wall in right field to bring both runners home easily. Grayson Boles added on a crucial insurance run one batter later as well, hitting a ball just deep enough to center to allow Ebel tag up and score to increase the team's lead to 4-0.

This turned out to be all the offense that GBG needed to take things home. Ryan Penney came on in relief of Fisher to get the last three outs of the game, and after making things interesting by allowing a run to come across via a base hit by DeNinno and bringing the tying run up to the plate, he slammed the door shut with a huge strikeout to end the ballgame. This put the cherry on top of a magical week for GBG, capping off its run with an undefeated record and a gold medal in tow.

Dugout Chatter

• "I thought it was phenomenal. It was the same thing we've done the whole tournament, pitching, defense, and timely hitting. We continued to do that today, and that's why we won." GNG National Program Director Tate Caraway on how his team took home the victory in the gold-medal game.
• "I think it's awesome. We came into this week with the goal of winning this thing. I thought we had the talent to do it, and we did what we did and pulled it off." - Caraway on his team winning gold at Champs AZ for the first time.
• "It was one of the best pitching performances I've ever seen at this age, to be honest. He was able to attack hitters with multiple pitches, and his secondaries were on the whole time. He got the ball in a big game and did what he does, man. He's one of our best arms, and he showed that again today." - Caraway on the performance from starter Ian Fisher.

Notable Stats

• Today's performance capped off an incredible tournament on the mound from Fisher, with the lefty finishing things with a 0.84 ERA with nine strikeouts in 8.1 innings pitched.
• Ebel's big day at the plate also put a bow on top of his week. The 15U National Team alumni finished with a team-high 1.450 OPS in nine games, going 11-22 with two doubles, three triples, and eight RBIs.
• Ebel and Danzeisen led the way in the gold-medal game with two hits each. Five other hitters picked up one hit apiece, which included Laya, Boles, Petrie III, Flores, and Ethan Porter.