Stealth Win USSSA Winter Classic

The Stealth continued their winning ways this past weekend as they compiled a 4-0 mark en route to a Championship! Just six teams entered the USSSA Winter Classic but it did show off some of Arizona's best. The Warriors, LP Tigers, Storm Baseball, Desert Cats Blue and Ball Club all joined the Stealth in this one. The teams were separated into two pools, with the Stealth, Warriors and Storm going battle in me while the Ball Club, Desert Cats, and Tigers made up the other.

First up for the Stealth was the Warriors Baseball Academy. In this one the Stealth scored early and often as they plated six in the first, three in the second, and two in the third as they cruised in run rule fashion 11-1! Matthew Liberatore threw three scoreless innings while striking out five and allowing just one hit. Offensively the Stealth pounded ten hits and took advantage of four Warrior errors. Daniel Carrizosa, Matthew Liberatore, Adrian Salazar, and Nolan Gorman each contributed two hits a piece in the one sided affair.

In game two the Stealth took on the Storm. After the Storm scored two in the first the Stealth fought right back to tie it in the bottom of the inning. After a scoreless second the Stealth exploded for four in the third and six in the fourth. A 12-4 lead was good enough as time expired. Adrian Salazar got the win on the mound while offensively the Stealth were led by Jonathan Ornelas and Nolan Gorman who each homered while Jacob Vesecky and Josh Sandoval tripled.

With the #1 seed in toe, the Stealth earned a first round bye and sat waiting for the winner of Storm Baseball and Desert Cays Blue. In this one it was the Storm out slugging the Cats by a score of 11-8. On the other side of the bracket the Warriors survived a scare against the up start LP Tigers when they scored the winning run in extra innings to come away with the 8-7 victory. Both semi final matchups were set, on one side it was the Stealth vs the Storm while the other side featured The Ball Club vs the Warriors.

After the Ball Club jumped out to an early lead the Warriors fight back and took a 7-4 lead into the 6th. A three run Home run by the Ball Club though tied the game and sent it to extra innings where the Ball Club executed a bunt to score the winning run and sent them into the finals waiting for he winner of the Stealth vs Storm.

In the other semi it was the Stealth sending ace Mason Millett to the hill while the Storm countered with their ace Hayden Sandman. Although the Stealth struck for two in the first and two in the third to hold the slight 4-0 advantage. the Storm countered for one of their own in the fourth but the Stealth then rallied to plate seven in the bottom of the inning to secure the 11-1 run rule victory. Offensively the Stealth were led by four triples. Jonathan had two while Jacob Vesecky and Mason Millett each tripled once. Mason Millett was once again dominant on the hill as he struck out eight while allowing just one hit through four innings pitched!

In the finals the Stealth sent Kevin Ortega to the hill. Kevin was coming out of an outstanding performance in California and looked to build on it. Kevin allowed just four runs and four hits as the Stealth bats were once again on fire as they pounded thirteen hits while scoring twelve runs. In the first, the Stealth plated two and then with the bases loaded and nobody out the Ball Club turned a triple play to get out of what could have been a huge inning. The Stealth chipped away each inning as they scored two more in the second, one in the third, and four in the fourth to finish the game via run rule 12-4! Offensively the Stealth were led by Jason Nelson and Dawson McCarville who chipped in with two hits each. Josh Sandoval drove in two while Kevin Ortega helped himself and drove in three runs while securing the title for the Stealth!

The Stealth are on a roll, after finishing second in California they came back to some local cooking and the bats caught fire as they pounded 44 hits including 9 extra base hits in just four games. It was not all offense though as the Stealth pitching remained dominant as hey allowed just ten runs while the defense committed just one error in four games. Josh Sandoval led the Stealth with a .667 average while compiling six BB and a on base percentage of 833! Daniel Carrizosa and Matthew Liberatore remained hot coming in at .625 and .545 respectively. Nolan Gorman and Mason Millett led the Stealth with five RBI's a piece while Jonathan Ornelas led the team with nine runs scored!

The Stealth are back to work this week with practice on Wednesday and a league game against the Warriors on Thursday. The next tournament for the Stealth is the USSSA Ice Breaker Classic on February 11-12. Stay tuned!