The Delta Dawgs 11U Blue team muscled its way to a third tournament championship in five tries, taking home the title at the Games Galore tournament in Freemont after steamrolling to a 5-0 record at the event, including a 20-12 drubbing of the Livermore Lightning in the championship game.
Everybody knows that dogs run in packs, and these Dawgs are no different. Each and every player steps up when one is down, said coach Roger Kruse. They work in tandem and keep their eyes on the prize.
It's also true that every Dawg has his day, and the Games Galore tournament was John Velasco's day on the diamond. Velasco was named the team's MVP after his spectacular performance in the finale, launching a pair of three-run bombs in the championship game and posting a remarkable .636 batting average in the team's five wins.
Kyle Abono, Roger Kruse, Malik Hutchings and Ryan Yray all batted better than .500 for the tournament, and Matt Lautz, Charlie Sides, Austin Garcia, Talon Majewski and Pierce Mallonee all played superb defense for the Dawgs, who improved their season record to 22-2-1.
Although he was physically unable to participate due to injury, Steele Eich traveled with the Dawgs in support of his teammates.
The newly formed Delta Dawgs 13U Gold team also made an exceptional showing at the Games Galore tournament. In only in its third month of travel-ball competition, the team reached its first championship game. Although the team was defeated in the finale by the Morgan Hill Coyotes, simply making it to a title game was a major accomplishment.
Even though we came up short, the coaching staff could not be happier, given we did so well with so many new players to the team, said coach Mike Amthor.
Despite the fact that some Dawgs had never played together before entering the tournament in Fremont, the team managed an impressive 3-2 record and all the players enjoyed tremendous success at the dish. Mikey Amthor led the offense with an 8-for-11 performance at the plate, and Mitchell Majewski and Tyler Saude went 6-for-14 and 6-of-12, respectively. Newcomers Jeff Ericksen and Bopper Williams were also impressive Ericksen batting 5-for-8 and pitching four shutout innings, and Williams tossing four shutout innings of his own.
Our bats were on target, as we just plain outscored our opponents to get to the championship game, said coach Jason Saude.
Contributed by Mitch Eich and Mike Amthor
Post a Comment