14U Roster Spot Open

The 10U Sprayberry Jr Jackets participated in the inaugural USSSA 10U ‘A’ Final Four Championship last weekend finishing their own inaugural season strongly. This unique final four championship format brought together the top four teams (Lanier Longhorns, Crossroads Gladiators, Diamond Kings and Jr Jackets) from the 10U “A” USSSA State tournaments to battle it out in the tough 2 out of 3 series format to establish the ultimate 10U “A” champion in the state of Georgia!

The Jackets had the opportunity to face off in a rematch against the Diamond Kings whom they fell to in the USSSA State West tournament the previous weekend in the two of three state championship series. The Jr Jackets bats were hot in game 1 with 11 hits to the Diamond Kings 4 hits led by Jaiden Lan’s season first home run. Jacob McClure pitched three strong innings giving up only 1 earned run setting up Matthew Nay as the closing pitcher in the 8-6 victory. In game two, the recovering Ethan Rezendes took the mound and pitched 3 stong innings giving up only 1 earned run. Middle reliever Shane Bowles put the ball across the plate and the Diamond Kings rallied to put 6 runs across the plate. Matthew Nay closed things out in the 8-4 loss in which the Jackets left 7 runners on base unable to be hit in in at the right times. In the rubber game of the series, the Jackets brought Jaiden Lan to the mound for one of his few pitching appearances of the season. Jaiden pitched 3 strong innings only allowing 2 earned runs. The Jackets outhit the Diamond Kings scoring 8 runs on 6 hits compared to their 3 runs on 3 hits. Matthew Nay secured the win and the Jackets successfully advanced to the championship series on Sunday.

In the championship series, the Jackets were again presented with the opportunity for a rematch against the Lanier Longhorns whom they played terribly in a previous tournament. The Longhorns hit the ball well in game 1 against the best pitching that Ethan Rezendes and Jaiden Lan could deliver. Costly errors in the Jackets defense and a poor mental approach at the plate cost them in the end of the 11-5 loss. Game two challenged the Jackets team and families on multiple fronts for the first time in 60 games this season. Jacob McClure brought the best pitching of the tournament to the mound and delivered 4 shutout innings all the while with increasingly annoying and distracting “frogs” chanting on the other side of the diamond. The Jackets hit the ball well but were unable to drive runs across the plate leaving 7 runners on the bases preventing much needed insurance runs. Unfortunately the Jackets stellar pitching and defense succumbed to the distractions on the field in the 5th inning and allowed the winning runs to score in the 6-2 loss.

With their heads held high, the Jackets accepted their place in Georgia USSSA travel baseball history as the runners up in the inaugural final four tournaments for the 10U ‘A’ class. They received another USSSA Championship Ring which has to be regarded as the best award a player can receive in youth sports today. The Jackets finished the season ranked as the #3 (out of 55) 10U ‘A’ team in Georgia and the #5 (out of 1,180) 10U ‘A’ team in the USA. The Jackets have far exceeded all of the expectations and goals set for the team this year and look forward to continued success in the Fall and Spring 2012 seasons in 11U baseball!

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