Regional Championship: WR 8U Blue 29, Palm Beach Gardens 5

Just over a month and a half ago, Coach Sean gathered the 2013 West Raleigh Blue All-Stars out beyond the center field fence at Nowell Field. He promised them a few things:

1. They would have a lot of fun over the next seven weeks.
2. They would learn a lot over the next seven weeks.
3. They would play a lot of baseball over the next seven weeks.
4. They would work very hard over the next seven weeks.
5. And, if 1-4 came together, they might have the opportunity to play for a championship at the end of those seven weeks.

That’s exactly what happened. Twenty of the best 8U baseball teams in the Southeast United States came to Varina, Virginia, this weekend. The two final squads standing were Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, which had blown through the tournament at 6-0 and (according to their coach) were riding a 39-0 record this summer. They crushed Julington Creek, a very impressive team, 14-2 in Sunday morning’s semifinals.

And then there was West Raleigh, a team made up of what appear at first glance to be ordinary eight-year-olds. It’s just that when you hand them a bat or a glove, they turn into superstars, and you barely had time to get settled in your lawn chair before they started showing it.

8U Blue had a championship first inning for the ages, scoring 11 runs on 13 hits before Palm Beach Gardens even had a chance to hit. “I’m going to have to talk to the kids,” Coach Sean confided after the offensive blitzkrieg. “I asked them for 14 runs that inning.”

To make it up to him, they went out and scored eight more runs in the second, and eventually put 23 runs on the board before Palm Beach had their first runner cross the plate. West Raleigh scored at least one run in 17 of their last 19 innings at the regionals, and in the seven games combined, they outscored the best teams in the Southeast by a total score of 107-24. Think about it: 8U Blue scored more runs in the championship game alone than their opponents scored in the entire tournament combined. Here's the last out (featuring a cameo appearance by Coach Sean's best side--he might be good at positioning the defense, but not so good at positioning himself):

There will be much more about the phenomenal stats from this weekend in the days to come, but this one will blow you away: according to the archives on the Southeast Region Babe Ruth web site, the 29 runs scored by West Raleigh in today's 8U title game are the most runs scored in a Southeast Regional game since records are available in 2008. That's six seasons of the best eight-year-old baseball in the Southeast...and no one had even approached 29 runs until today.

After the game, tournament organizers announced that they wanted to present an MVP award to an individual West Raleigh player. Needless to say, the players and coaches decided there was one obvious and overwhelming choice: Creed Sellers from Laurinburg:

After the trophy presentation (as was noted by Mason, “This trophy is almost as big as my upper body,” to which Asher correctly replied, “It IS as big as my upper body”) the team, coaches, parents, grandparents, fan club members, autograph seekers and everyone else gathered in left-center field, where there surprisingly were no craters from the rockets that had been hit in the title game. The Southeast Regional game ball was presented to Mason, for his unending commitment to the team and being at every single game and practice even as he battled through injury. Plus, of course, his most important contribution was keeping Coach Bruce calm in the dugout.

Coach Sean told the team they were 77-0 since they started playing against their age group last summer, a number that doesn’t even seem real. He also said, “I’m honestly kind of speechless,” after the incredible display on Sunday. “You guys did what true champions do: you turned it up when it was time to turn it up,” he said. The final tally is 34-0 this summer, with a district championship, state championship and Southeast Regional championship to go with it.

I don’t remember what happened after that, but I’m pretty sure they dragged the infield a couple of times and made it really dusty, causing some eye issues for various coaches, parents and maybe even a player or two.

The best compliment I can give anyone is that when all the speeches and pictures and high-fives were finished, we started walking back to the dugout and I was floored to see that literally everyone else had cleared out from the field. It seemed like we had only been out there a couple minutes, but time had gone so fast that there were no more umpires, no more opponents or opposing parents, no more Varina staff.

But didn’t we just get here? I really wanted to see Eli make one more diving catch or Joey bang another two-out hit through the middle or Gavin make another play in the hole or Bryce “twist it” on a double play up the middle or Chace lay into another double or JT come up with his uniform covered in dirt after another brilliant play or Andrew calmly spear a rocket up the middle or Mason rip another double down the left-field line or Ben get angry and drive in another run or Jake mash a double and then stand grinning on second base or Carter make a key catch in the outfield or that goofy Asher kid do his post-victory Spiderman celebration.

Oh wait, maybe we can see that last one:

For the others, we will have to wait...but hopefully not too long.

No practice tomorrow.

Championship 8U Blue scoring plays

First inning

Did you think Saturday’s first inning—11 first-inning runs against Varina—was pretty good? Then you’ll love the first inning of Sunday’s championship game, as the 8U Blue offense pounded out 11 runs on 13 hits. Bryce started it with a beautiful bunt single. JT crushed a double to center that scored Bryce. OK, one run in the top of the first of the championship game, that’s pretty good. With one out, Chace doubled and Jake singled. Hey, three runs, that’s a nice cushion. Joey singled to put runners on first and second. Andrew lashed a double to left that scored a pair. Five runs, that’s even better, now we have room to make maybe one mistake. So then Elias singled to put runners at the corners. Ben singled through the left side to make it 6-0. This is a pretty good first inning, this is really setting the tone. Asher dropped in a single that loaded the bases. Bryce blasted a single that plated a pair. Well, we’ve got eight, but that’s what we got against Giles County and then they got six. Gavin singled to left with two down, and then Chace drove in Asher (who looked a lot like Carter) with a single. Jake singled to center and brought home two. We just got eleven runs—ELEVEN RUNS!—in the first inning of the Southeast Regional championship game.

Score after one-half inning: 8U Blue 11, PBG 0

Second inning

With one out, Elias singled. Ben ripped a single to left and then after a misplay in the outfield, Elias came around to score while Ben hustled to third. Asher singled home Ben. Bryce blasted an RBI double to left, then moved to third on JT’s single. Gavin singled home Bryce, and then as the ball was tossed around, JT hustled home as well, with Gavin moving up to second. Chace’s RBI single scored Gavin. Jake crushed another double, and then Joey (for approximately the 832^nd time this weekend) collected a big two-out hit, scoring both Jake and Chace.

Score after one and a half innings: 8U Blue 19, PBG 0

Third inning

Bryce, JT and Gavin knocked back-to-back-to-back one-out singles. That loaded the bases for Chace, who promptly scored a pair with a rocket double. Jake’s sacrifice fly scored Gavin, and then Joey’s two-out single scored Chace.

Score after two and a half innings: 8U Blue 23, PBG 0

Fourth inning

Carter reached on a grounder to the left side, then Asher cracked a single past the drawn-in corners. Bryce singled to load the bases. JT plated Carter with a single, and then Gavin’s sacrifice fly scored Asher (who looked a lot like Ben). Chace reached on a fielder’s choice that put runners at the corners, and then Jake pulled a two-run single. Joey singled, and then Andrew and Elias went back-to-back with RBI singles to finish the offense at a scant 29 runs.

Score after three and a half innings: 8U Blue 29, PBG 5

Championship Web Gems

With one out and a man on first in the second, Bryce gobbled up a grounder up the middle, stepped on second, then fired to Chace at first for the double play.

After the first two runners reached in the third, Carter came in hard on a line shot to right-center. He fielded the ball cleanly and threw to Bryce at second for a big rally-stopping out.

Gavin made a leaping grab of a line shot through the hole on the left side for the first out of the fourth.

JT didn’t necessarily have a highlight play on Sunday, but he seemingly made every play at third base, including a couple very tough short hop grabs that he scooped up cleanly and threw across the diamond for easy outs.

With one out in the fourth, Mason went in for Joey in left field, and received a huge standing ovation from the West Raleigh crowd (which, by the way, might have been the biggest crowd of any team at the regional all weekend—including the host team, Varina). He even fielded a hard shot to left and made sort of a half-flip, half-throw to hold the runner to a single.

Championship line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
WR 8U Blue	11	8	4	6	X	X	29	35
PB Gardens	0	0	5	0	X	X	5	8