Blue Wave 12U-Merrell took one step closer to Cooperstown Sunday (7/17/11) when they came from behind to beat Five Star Dirtdogs 7-6 to earn a shot at the Xtreme Diamond Sports World Series Warm-up Tournament 12U National Division Championship at Mile Square Park.
“It was a great game, something to build on as we head to Cooperstown next month,” Coach Darric Merrell reported on his team’s achievement over the weekend. “In general it was a great weekend.”
Great weekend could be an understatement, though the team went 1-1 in the first day of competition Saturday to end up seeded 6th overall, second in the National Division playoffs for Sunday.
After defeating the LA Rockstars 9-5 in the tournament opener, Merrell’s Marauders dropped a 7-13 slugfest with the Murrieta Redhawks on Saturday. The Redhawks went on to win the American Division title Sunday as the No. 1 seed, none of the other three teams they faced scored a run against one of the top ranked Majors-level club teams in the region.
Though down three runs to the Dirtdogs in the final inning of their first playoff game on Sunday, Merrell said team remained confident and executed a lot of the skills they have been working on for the past year to prepare to play for the National Association of Tournament Champions championship at Cooperstown Dreams Park, New York, August 19-26.
“They did what they had to do to get on base,” Merrell said. “Cookie (Andrew Cook) put a perfect drag bunt down to load the bases and Fritz (Miller) stepped up and drove them all in to win the game with a solid double.”
The win propelled the team into the championship game against the Diamond Dawgs, who they defeated 8-1 to win their first title of the summer. Alex Shadid dominated on the mound in the championship game, going four innings and allowing only one hit and no walks.
“We hit well, played good defense, and pitched well,” Merrell said. “They have improved a lot over the past six months.”
Besides Miller, Cook, and Shadid, members of the team include Dillon and Hudson Davis, Sam MacDonald, Brett Super, Neil Ontiveros, Garrett Schwab, Josh Bolan, Evan Larsen, and rookie Gaston Bouchereau, who hit a home run on Saturday. Head coach is Darric Merrell, Gavin Hedstrom is assistant coach.
In winning the tournament, the players also earned the right to hound Blue Wave president Steve Kruse about their uniforms.