Day two of the 2025 15U/16U National Team Identification Series (NTIS) Champions Cup showcased tightly-contested games, shutouts, and spotlight performances. Read up on the action below that took place in Cary:
15U NTIS CHAMPIONS CUP ROUNDUP
NORTHWEST STRIPES 3, SOUTHEAST STRIPES 2
Northwest Stripes starting pitcher Christian Greer and Southeast Stripes starting pitcher Cooper Parman dueled it out over the first four innings of their contest, as both kept the opposition off the board to give their team a shot at a win. In the fifth, Southeast broke the ice with a pair of runs, but not before Northwest tied things up at 2-2 in the sixth and then scored the go-ahead run in the seventh on an Ethan Salazar RBI double. Parman struck out nine batters in 6.2 innings of work, and Greer did not surrender an earned run to pick up the 3-2 win.
SOUTHEAST STARS 12, SOUTHWEST STRIPES 2
Down 2-1 after five innings, the Southwest Stripes scored 11 unanswered runs across the sixth and seventh innings to secure a 12-2 victory. Cade Seale and Riley Shumpert combined to throw the last four innings, allowing one hit to back up the Southwest offense. Southwest’s Brooks Blanchard (2) was the only player to tally multiple RBIs, while Tyler Puhr went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
MIDWEST STARS 21, NORTHEAST STRIPES 0
After scoring two in the first inning, the Midwest Stars never looked back and scored runs in the next five innings en route to a 21-0 win over the Northeast Stripes. Midwest’s pitching trio of Ty Pohl, Paulie Hobbs, and Kanon Baxley combined to throw a one-hitter while walking four batters and fanning seven. Kameron Cox had a strong day at the plate by going 5-for-5 with five RBIs and four runs scored, while Chase Watson and Aarion Gould had three-hit performances.
SOUTH STARS 22, NORTHWEST STARS 0
The South Stars used offensive bursts in the fourth, sixth, and seventh innings to shut out the Northwest Stars 22-0. South starting pitcher Troy Haynes took a no hitter into the seventh, but ultimately combined with Tyler Carr to throw a two-hit shutout with eight strikeouts. Reid Truett turned in a game-best 3-for-3 outing at the plate, and Nicolas Collazo tallied a game-high three RBIs.
MIDWEST STRIPES 12, NORTHEAST STARS 8
The Midwest Stripes came out on top in a back-and-forth contest with the Northeast Stars, 12-8. Northeast jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, but Midwest knotted the score in the second and proceed to score runs in the third and fourth to take a 5-3 lead. The teams traded runs across the final frames, but Midwest managed to respond each time to hang on to its lead. Tegan Ritter was the lone player to have a multi-hit outing, as he went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored.
SOUTHWEST STARS 16, SOUTH STRIPES 5
The Southwest Stars used timely hitting and capitalized on wild pitching to jump out to a 6-0 lead in the first two innings, but the South Stripes cut its deficit in half with three in the third. Southwest added some late insurance in the game, though, to secure a 16-5 win behind effective pitching from Joey Koenig, Finnegan McManamy, and Juan Carlos Rodriguez Jr. The three pitchers combined to allow one hit in four scoreless innings of relief and struck out seven batters. Landon Swinehart, James Stout, and Cooper Holland all had two-hit outings and scored two runs each, while Holland had a four-RBI day at the plate.
16U NTIS CHAMPIONS CUP ROUNDUP
MIDWEST STARS 8, NORTHWEST STARS 4
The Midwest Stars used a combined six runs in the latter innings to pick up an 8-4 victory over the Northwest Stars. After two quiet innings between the teams, Northwest got on the board first with a run in the third, but Midwest responded with runs over the next three innings to take a 5-1 lead through five complete. Northwest cut into its deficit in the sixth with three runs to make it 5-4, but Midwest added insurance with three in the sixth to secure the win. Midwest’s Taye Reich (3), Scott Miner II (3), Cason Borchardt (2), and Luke Elliott (2) all tallied multiple hits and combined for 10 of the team’s 13 in the contest. Borchardt led all players with three RBIs.
MIDWEST STRIPES 15, SOUTHEAST STARS 4
After facing a 4-1 deficit through four-and-a-half innings, the Midwest Stripes plated 12 runs in the bottom of the fifth to earn a 15-4 win over the Southeast Stars. At the plate, Isaiah Snavely led all players with a 3-for-4 outing with four RBIs, while three batters tallied two hits each as a part of Midwest’s 12 hits in the contest.
SOUTH STARS 11, NORTHEAST STRIPES 10
The South Stars scored runs in four of the first five innings and avoided a late rally by the Northeast Stars to secure an 11-10 win. Up 4-1 after the third inning, South used timely hitting from Hayden Bogan and capitalized on wild pitching from Northeast to score seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take an 11-2 lead. Northeast stormed back in the sixth with eight runs on five hits to make it a one-run game, but Braden Schleifer-Bell tossed the final two outs of the game to hold off the Northeast rally. Nathan Collins (NE Stripes) and Maika Jonick (South Stars) turned in multi-hit outings with two hits apiece, while Bogan tallied a game-high three RBIs.
SOUTHWEST STARS 11, SOUTH STRIPES 1
The Southwest Stars put up large numbers in the third and fifth innings to come out on top 11-1 over the South Stripes. After both teams scored a run each in the second inning to knot the score, Southwest plated four in the third and six in the fifth for a combined 10 unanswered runs. The Southwest pitching trio of Jackson Binn, Braeden Casey, and Sam Heyborne combined to surrender one earned on four hits and struck out six batters across the seven innings of play. Southwest’s Jack Waeger and Teague Lucy each tallied two hits to lead all batters in the game, and Lucy and Jaxson Milius scored two runs apiece.
NORTHWEST STRIPES 6, NORTHEAST STARS 0
The Northwest Stripes used strong pitching from Kenny Week and Charles Preston to shut out the Northeast Stars 6-0. Week threw two hitless innings with two strikeouts, and Preston tossed the final five innings and racked up six strikeouts. Northeast’s Jayden Burgos, who also went 1-for-2 at the plate, held Northwest scoreless across the first three innings of the game, but a four-run fourth and two-run sixth propelled Northwest to victory.
SOUTHWEST STRIPES 4, SOUTHEAST STRIPES 2
In a tightly contested game, the Southwest Stripes edged out the Southeast Stripes 4-2. Back-to-back hits by Oliver Allen and Orion Gonzalez brought a run across in the first inning for Southwest, but Southeast responded with a pair of runs in the second to take its first lead of the game. Southwest proceeded to score three unanswered runs, two in the second and one in the fifth, and used shutdown pitching from Isaiah Camacho and Connor Ortiz to keep Southeast at bay in the final two innings. Camacho tossed 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits, and Ortiz got the final out in strikeout fashion. Offensively, Southeast’s Kade Buchanan tallied two RBIs, while Gonzalez drove in two runs and Allen led all players with two hits.
