12U & 13U Win 'Ready to Rumble' NIT Tournament Championships
On Sunday June 7th, Golden Era had a streak of 34 straight tournaments where at least one team moved on to a Tournament Championship snapped. The following weekend over June 13-14, a new streak was started, where both the GE 12's & 13's moved on to the 'Ready to Rumble' NIT championship wins.
13's RECAP
The weekend for the Golden Era 13's was highlighted by a no-hitter thrown by Ryan Sasaki as well as phenomenal pitching from Daniel Nakamura, Ethan Medders, Josh Ugot and Zion Michael.
At the plate the GE 13's were just as impressive lead by impressive hitting performances from, Zion Michael, Josh Ugot, Hunter Mott, Jesse Molinar, Ian Pascual and Rocky Sizemore.
12's RECAP
After getting the tournament off to a rough start by dropping the first game in a loss to the Bay Valley Bombers, the Golden Era 12's responded by winning the next 3 games.
Game two seen tremendous starting pitching from Nathan Hovey, who went 4 innings allowing only 2 runs, followed by William Lingua giving a solid relief effort.
Game two was decided in the bottom of the last inning in exciting fashion. With Golden Era down 3-1, Tre Miles started off the comeback with a single to right field. Eric Bacanskas then walked putting the tying run on the bases and the winning run at the plate. Ajay Moore didn't disappoint as he stepped to the plate and rocked a triple to center-field to tie the game at 4. Brandon Hoover then sent a ball deep over the centerfielders head, scoring Moore and giving the Golden Era 12's a walk-off win.
Game three again required a comeback for the GE 12's. After falling behind 4-0 in the first inning the team started chipping away, highlighted by a big pinch hit single from Jake Rogers to tie the game at 4 a piece then a huge 2 run home run by Toshio Longley to give Golden Era a 6-4 lead.
Josh Hall and Chris Wagner anchored game three's pitching, putting the squad in a position to hold on and win the game 8-7.
The championship game was another thriller and was a rematch between GE and the Bay Valley Bombers, who had beaten Golden Era in the first game of the tournament.
The game was highlighted by tremendous starting pitching from Eric Bacanskas, who went 4 strong innings. Blake Smith then came in to finish it out showing nerves of stone.
In the last inning, the Bay Valley Bombers had the bases loaded with one out. The score was 5-4 Golden Era. Blake with the championship on the line proceeded to strike out the Bombers clean-up hitter, then retired the following hitter on a fly-out to center.
The win marked the Golden Era 12U teams 8th championship of the season.
12U & 13U 'Ready 2 Rumble' Champions (June 13-14, 2015)
Pictured Left to Right (Bottom Row 12U)
Jake Rogers, Brandon Hoover, Chris Wagner, Nathan Hovey, Tre Miles, Toshio Longley, Cody Wagner, Josh Hall, Max Keil, Ajay Moore, William Lingua, Blake Smith, Tyler Wilson, Eric Bacanskas
Pictured Left to Right (Top Row 13U)
Ryan Mooar, Zack Nelson, Hunter Mott, Daniel Nakamura, Ryan Sasaki, Ethan Medders, Rocky Sizemore, Zion Michael, Josh Ugot, Jesse Molinar III, Ian Pascual
