The Florida Pokers 11u Team won their Third Fall 2012 Tournament Championship on Sunday, completing a 5-0 Tournament run by defeating the Palm Beach Gardens Thunder and Florida Piranaz with 21-2 and 13-12 Wins respectively!   The semi-final game featured break-out offense from the entire Florida Pokers Line-up, with multiple fence-bending doubles by Co-MVPs Satcher and Pratt, as well as Logan Rubin, & Sawyer Feller…While earlier games featured Long Ball 3-Run Homers from Satcher & J.J. Toler!  Though the Pokers offense awakened at opportune moments throughout this tournament, it was the dominating Pitching of Co-MVP Pratt that sealed the victory in their first elimination game versus Team Panama 2013.  Having escaped their first meeting with a 5-4 seeding game victory, the Pokers inserted Mike Pratt in their elimination second match-up and he provided a dominating performance.  Bringing together Pratt’s pitching with Satcher’s 3-run homerun that tied the game early, the Pokers held Team Panama scoreless after the second and added 4 more runs themselves to preserve a 7-3 win and advance in the tournament.  The semi-final game against Palm Beach Gardens Thunder was closely contested early, but Pokers Nick Anello provided a pitching clinic and held the Thunder scoreless after the 1^st inning.   Anello’s pitching, as well as the outstanding hitting of Keanu Torres, Tim Manning, J.J. Toler, Richie Pena, Feller, Rubin, Jet Lica, Trevor Kole, Colin Flynn, Chris Satcher and Mike Pratt, allowed the Pokers to build such a lead that the Thunder were unable to recover.  The Championship game entailed two familiar foes, with the Pokers prevailing over the Florida Piranaz in an extra-inning slugfest!  Although the Pokers took a 7-2 lead into the bottom half of the 3^rd inning behind the pitching of Richie Pena, the Piranaz sprinkled quality hits amongst several botched plays by the Pokers’ usual stingy defense and the Pokers found themselves trailing 9-7 by inning’s end.  The Pokers defense re-emerged afterward, led by a miraculous catch and throw from Jet Lica and valiant efforts from J.J. Toler, and Keanu Torres, they held the Piranaz scoreless after the third inning and managed to push across 2 additional runs, resulting in a 9-9 score at the end of regulation.  USSSA applied Kansas City rule for extra innings and once again the Poker bats came alive to score 4 runs in the top half of the 7^th inning.  After getting one out in bottom half, the Pokers inserted relief pitcher Trevor Kole and he did not disappoint. Despite entering the game under such intense pressure, Kole induced the second out on a fly ball to left field and finished the championship with a high fastball strikeout!  Although absent from Sunday games, the Pokers also received offensive, defensive and pitching contributions from Luis Fuentes during this tournament run.  Manager John Calabrese remarked after the game “Any time you prevail in games against well-coached, disciplined, and super talented teams like Palm Beach Gardens, Team Panama, and the Florida Piranaz, you know you've earned this Title!  Those Teams are class acts, amongst the best in the nation, and we are very proud of our players and coaches performance.  We only hope we bring this brand of Pokers Baseball to the Elite 10 event next weekend.”  The Pokers may only enjoy this title briefly since they were invited to participate in the USSSA Elite 10 Battle for the Belts Tournament, featuring the Top Teams in Florida. Congratulations to the Florida Pokers 11U Players, Coaches and the enthusiastically-dedicated Parents who make this possible!  GREAT JOB & GO POKERS!!