The Blaze started Sunday off by beating the Naples Vipers 13-1.  This set up the next round match up against the #1 seeded South Florida Knights.  These two teams played earlier in the tournament with the Knights getting the win 6-3.  This time was different the Blaze beat the Knights 8-4 to move into the Championship game against the South Florida Swamp Rats.  The Blaze and the Knights have met up in the semis of the last three tournaments that both teams have have played in.   You can take it to the bank – when these two teams meet it’s going to be a great game with a ton of mutual respect going both ways.   

The Championship game the Blaze jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead and after the 4^th inning they were on top 4-1.  The Swamp Rats wouldn’t give up they ended up tying the game in the bottom of the 7^th inning 7-7.  The Blaze scored 3 runs in the top of the 8^th and after a leadoff double by the Swamp Rats the next three hitters went down 1-2-3 to end the game and bring the 14U Championship home to South Florida.   

This was a total team effort!  They had strong pitching performances by Phil Kean, Jake Toyota, Zach Birchall, Darian Saunders, Cameron Krzeminski, Dylan Barnett and Ryan Shultz.   Clutch hitting by Gavin Levy, Nick Volpe, Cameron Krzeminski, Dylan Ogozaly and Jake Toyota helped drive the Blaze offensively.  Defensively, Brandon Schreiber, Phil Kean, Nick Volpe, Zach Birchall, Dylan Ogozaly, Gavin Levy and Jake Toyota helped the Blaze turn 11 double plays in 5 games.

Congratulations to all the teams that participated in the AAA/AA West Coast Fall Nationals and special thanks to John Valeo and Gaspar for setting up such a great event.