CARY, N.C. – The third day of the 15U/16U NTIS Champions Cup is complete, and it delivered plenty of action. Stellar pitching, a walk off win, and the first bracket play wins of the week highlighted the day. Read up on the top moments from Cary.
NORTHWEST STRIPES, SOUTHWEST STARS ADVANCE TO 15U GOLD MEDAL GAME
The first semifinal games of the 15U/16U NTIS Champions Cup are in the books, and it saw the Northwest Stripes and Southwest Stars advance to Sunday’s gold medal game. The Northwest Stripes earned a dominant 13-5 win over the South Stars, led by Cash Crateau’s 3-for-3 outing with four RBIs and four solid innings by starting pitcher Benjamin Sorensen. Crateau finished a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. The Southwest Stars defeated the Southeast Stripes 12-4, and the offense was led by four players who had multiple hits. James Key led the way with a 3-for-4 outing, while Noah Chan, John Kauffman, and Ryan Nicolaus had two hits each.
PHILLIPS THROWS COMPLETE GAME
15U Southeast Stripes’ Henry Phillips tossed the first complete game of the 15U/16U NTIS Champions Cup. He surrendered two earned runs on two hits, did not issue a walk, and struck out seven batters in seven innings of work. Impressively, Phillips took a perfect game into the fifth inning.
SOUTH STARS PLAYERS DOMINATE IN POOL PLAY WIN
Six players from the 15U South Stars – Bryce Ellie, Matthew Garcia, Weston Hoppes, Max Martinez, Mikey Mendoza, and Jon Rawley Mihlfeld, – turned in multi-RBI performances to combine for 14 of the 18 RBIs tallied in the squad’s 21-7 victory over the Northeast Stripes. Hoppes and Mihlfield led the way with three apiece, while the other four players had two each. Additionally, Ellie, Garcia, Hoppes, Martinez, and Mendoza had two-out outings in the contest.
O’BYRNE, MATEJA COMBINE TO TOSS ONE-HITTER
16U Midwest Stars pitchers Ethan O’Byrne and Sonny Mateja threw a combined one-hitter against the Northeast Stripes, leading their team to a 3-0 victory in the final pool play game. O’Byrne threw six innings of shutout ball, giving up just one hit while striking out a tournament-high 12 batters. Mateja closed out the game by throwing a hitless inning with two strikeouts.
SOUTHWEST STRIPES WALKS OFF SOUTH STRIPES
The 16U Southwest Stripes captured the first walk-off win of the week by defeating the South Stripes 4-3 in eight innings. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, Noah Patenaude played hero by hitting a single up the middle to help his team collect its second win of the 15U/16U NTIS Champions Cup.
MUSICK TURNS IN ANOTHER MULTI-HIT AND MULTI-RBI OUTING
15U Midwest Stripes’ Quinton Musick turned in a multi-hit and multi-RBI performance for the second consecutive game. After going 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored on Friday, he managed to go 2-for-2 with two more runs scored in its 9-4 win over the Northwest Stars on Saturday.
