CARY, N.C. – Semifinal Saturday is in the books at the 15U/16U National Team Identification Series (NTIS) Champions Cup. The 15U age group saw a pair of tightly-contested ballgames resulting in two walk-offs, while a couple of offensive outbursts led to two 10-1 final scores at the 16U level. Catch up with all the action from the National Training Complex!
SOUTHEAST STARS WALK IT OFF IN EXTRAS TO CLINCH SPOT IN 15U TITLE GAME
In a back-and-forth affair that went into extra innings, the Southeast Stars rallied for a walk-off win over the Midwest Stars to secure a spot in the 15U title game. With the game knotted at three in the bottom of the eighth, the Stars socked a walk-off double deep to left field to pick up the win. The knock put the Southeast in the 15U title game for the second time in the last three years, as the region won gold in the 2021 event.
WALK-OFF WALK SENDS SOUTH STARS TO 15U CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
After falling behind 2-0 in the early goings, the South Stars crawled back to beat the Midwest Stripes, 3-2, and secure a spot in the 15U NTIS Champions Cup title game. The Midwest side took an early lead with a run in the first inning and drew a bases-loaded walk to grow its lead to two, but the South hung around before drawing the walk-off walk to win. The title game appearance will be the first at the 15U level for the South region in its NTIS history.
OFFENSIVE OUTBURST LIFTS NORTHWEST STARS PAST SOUTHEAST STRIPES
The Northwest Stars scored early and often to breeze past the Southeast Stripes, 10-1, in semifinal action at the 16U NTIS Champions Cup. A nine-run first inning set the tone for the Stars, who came out of the gates firing in the victory. After Southeast put a run on the scoreboard in the top of the second, Northwest added another to make it the 10-1 score it would go on to win by. The Northwest returns to the 16U title game for the first time since it took home gold in 2019.
MIDWEST STRIPES KNOCK OFF SOUTHWEST STARS IN 16U SEMIFINAL ACTION
Five runs in the first and more insurance runs throughout helped the Midwest Stripes get past the Southwest Stars, 10-1, and secure a spot in the 16U NTIS Champions Cup title game. The Southwest offense only mustered one run in the sixth inning as the Midwest pitchers held its opponent to just four hits in the contest. The title game appearance will be the first for the Midwest region at the 16U level.
The 15U/16U NTIS returns to action on Sunday, with gold medal and consolation action set to take place in Cary. Follow along with all the latest by following @USABaseballNTIS on Twitter and @USABEvents on Instagram. All NTIS games at the National Training Complex are streamed live on USABaseball.TV.
