Thanksgiving Shootout Ends In Disapointment

The Stealth were back in action this past weekend in the USSSA Thanksgiving Day Shootout! Ten teams were all striving for title.  The format change was noticeable as two pools of five teams would warrant just four playoff spots with the top two coming out of each pool.  This placed a premium on every game and I for one was a huge fan. 

Pool A featured the Warriors Baseball Academy, Desert Cats Baseball, Aces Baseball, the LP Tigers, and the Stealth.  Pool B featured the Scottsdale Dirtbags, AZ Extreme, Big Chuy Rockets, BBC Reds, and the AZ Grinders.   

In game one of pool play the Stealth would square off against a very familiar foe and probably their biggest rival in the state the Warriors.  After taking a 2-0 lead in the first, the Stealth failed to score again and lost a tough one in the bottom of the 6^th when a leadoff ground ball bounced twelve feet over the short stops head into left field for a single.  Sasha Schneider then stepped to the plate and sealed the deal with a shot to left center that ran all the way to the wall and scored the winning run from first.  Mason Millett was dominating on the hill in the loss as he threw six innings while allowing just five hits and striking out eight.  Unfortunately for the Stealth, the guy on the other side was equally as dominant as Sasha Schneider also went the distance after avoiding some trouble early.  He struck out seven while allowing just two runs in the victory.  With a 0-1 record the Stealth now knew they had to win their next three games in order to advance and even then it would come down to the tie breaker. 

In game two the Stealth took on the LP Tigers, the Stealth jumped out early and never looked back as they scored two in the first, four in the second, four in the third, and four in the fourth en route to a 14-1 victory.  The Stealth pounded out ten hits but the Tigers also walked seven in defeat. Multiple hit game by Jonathan Ornelas, Mason Millett, and Nolan Gorman. Dawson McCarville also scored three times in the win.   

When day one was done the surprise of the day was the Desert Cats going 2-0 while the AZ Aces were 0-2.  The Tigers, Warriors, and Stealth all sat at 1-1 heading into day two.  On the other side of town the Dirtbags and Xtreme were 2-0 while the Reds and Rockets sat at 0-2.  The Grinders were 1-1. 

Day two began with a game against the AZ Aces.  The last time the Stealth faced the Aces was last year’s state championships where the Stealth walked away with the title in a 5-0 game.  After the Aces lost two on Saturday the Stealth knew they were in for a battle.  After the Aces jumped on the Stealth with two in the first and one in the second the stealth found themselves trailing 3-1 into the second.  The Stealth however did not back down as they scored four in the bottom of the second and then five in the fourth to seal the win 10-5. Newcomer Daniel Carrizosa went the distance on the hill while Nolan Gorman led the offensive charge with three RBI’s in the win. 

Day two was filled with surprises as the LP Tigers came from behind to beat the Warriors and all but seal the Warriors fate with a 2-2 record in pool play.  When the Desert Cats beat the Tigers it set the stage for a Stealth VS Desert Cats game to decide the #1 and #2 seeds. This one was over early as the Stealth struck for seven in the first on their way to an 11-3 drubbing and the #1 seed in their pool.  The Cats secured the #2 seed and a trip to the semi finals. 

On the other side of town it was a 8-7 win over the Dirtbags that catapulted the AZ Xtreme to the #1.  The Dirtbags secured the #2 seed and the semi finals were set.  In one semi it would be the Xtreme VS the Desert Cats while the other featured the Stealth VS the Dirtbags. 

In the first semi it was a mental mistake in the bottom of the fifth that cost the Desert Cats when they failed to tag on a fly ball from third base.  The 9-8 win by the Xtreme improved their record on the weekend to 5-0 and they waited for the winner of the Stealth VS Dirtbags.

In the other semi it was the Dirtbags that jumped ahead early with two in the first.  The Stealth then threatened in the second when back to back singles by Daniel Carrizosa and Adrian Salazar were followed by a walk to Jason Nelson.  With the bases loaded and nobody out Jacob Vesecky hit a rocket to the right center field gap to score Daniel from third.  However a bad jump from Adrian and a good one from Jason resulted in a fluke play that resulted in two quick outs at the plate.  Trailing 2-1 the Stealth took advantage of an error and did score the tying run but the Dirtbags avoided a huge inning. The game stayed at 2-2 until the fifth when Jonathan Ornelas doubled and was driven in by a Mason Millett single. The Stealth led 3-2 into the sixth and were in line to get back to the finals.  The Dirtbags however had other ideas. After the leadoff man reached on an error, the Dirtbags got a sacrifice fly and with one out and a man on third Ian McMillan singled to right to score the tying run.  The Stealth wiggled away without any more damage but the game was tied.  IN the bottom of the sixth Daniel Carrizosa led off with a single but was quickly retired when on the second pitch Coach Kurt sent him to steal second and Carson Garner gunned him down.  The Stealth then went quietly and were headed for extra innings.  In the top of the seventh the California tiebreaker would be in effect.  With Reid McLaughlin starting on second the Stealth started the inning with a strikeout.  The Dirtbags however came through with two hits to score the go ahead run and take a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the inning.  The Stealth went quietly though as they failed to execute in two bunting situations as they left the tying run stranded at third base and the Stealth were once again sent home in the semi as they lost 3-2. 

A disappointing weekend culminated with a 3-2 record even thought the Stealth outscored their opponents 40-16.  Their two losses came by just one run.  Coach Kurt was questioned by some after the game as he got two guys thrown out trying to steal and other teams feel that the once invincible Stealth are no longer bullet proof.  Parity seemed to reign supreme as when the tournament ended it was the AZ Xtreme that held the trophy. The Xtreme compiled a 6-0 mark on the weekend. 

The Stealth will be back in action for the USSSA Toys for Tots tournament December 9-11.