The game times for the Eagles' next tournament have been posted.
The Eagles play the Macon Bulldogs Saturday (6/20/09) at 9:00 a.m. Their next game is against the Georgia Academy Red at 11:00 a.m. (Saturday, 6/20/09.)
Both games are at Hidden Valley Park. The park has been added to the "Locations" section on the menu to the left.
The tournament website is here. The bracket will be updated there throughout the weekend.
The Collins Hill 11U Eagles came up just short of their goal to repeat as Gwinnett County Champions, as they lost in game 3 of the Championship Series to the Dacula Falcons, 8-4.
The Eagles were unable to get anything going offensively early in the game, whereas the Falcons jumped out to a 7-0 lead after 3innings. The Eagles’ bats were held silent through the first 3 innings of the game, not recording their first hit until the top of the fourth when Trevor Powers lined a 2-out double to the left-centerfield gap to score Jeremy Lewis, who had led off the inning with a walk. The Powers double moved Ian Jenkins to third, who had reached base after getting hit by a pitch. However, the Eagles were unable to push across any more runs in the fourth, leaving the score 7-1.
The Eagles would be held scoreless in the 5th, but would surrender one more run to the Falcons, to make the score 8-1 after 5 innings. Coming up for their final at-bat, the Eagles were determined to go down swinging. Caleb Watson started off the rally with a ground-rule double to center field. Jeremy Lewis would move Watson to third with a single to right field. Lewis would steal second as Riley King stood in the batter’s box to put 2 runners in scoring position for the Eagles. King would hit a grounder to short driving in Watson, but the Falcons’ shortstop would make an errant throw to first, allowing King to reach safely, and Lewis to race home from second to make the score 8-3, with no outs. The next 2 batters, Ian Jenkins and Alec Cargin, would each draw a walk to load the bases with no outs. Trevor Powers stepped up to the plate and delivered a single down the left field line to drive in King from 3rd to make the score 8-4, with the bases still loaded and no outs. Due up next for the Eagles was Casey Marksberry. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Marksberry would pop out to the Falcons’ second baseman, who would turn quickly and double Powers off of first.
The Eagles were down to their final out, with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Al Del Villar would draw another walk to re-load the bases for the Eagles, and bring Reed Egan to the plate. Egan would take the count to 2-1 and hit a sharp ground ball to third. However, the Falcons’ third baseman was able to field the ball and step on third to force the Eagles’ runner for the third out of the inning, and secure the victory for Dacula.
It was a very hard fought series, and both teams should be proud of the way they played. The two teams were the top two teams in the tournament, with the Eagles finishing the regular season in first place, and the Falcons in second. It was the Eagles’ trademark during the 3 game championship series to stage late inning rallies. Their final rally came up just a bit short. Regardless, the team should feel proud of the way they played, and their determination to not give in when things looked bleak.
Congratulations to the Dacula Falcons on a well-played series.
This was the third consecutive season that the Eagles advanced to the GGBL championship series – the only team in the league (in their age group) to accomplish that feat. This was also the second season the Eagles finished as regular season champions.
Congratulations to the Collins Hill Eagles. 2009 GGBL Regular Season Champions and Tournament Runners-Up. Thanks for another season of making us proud.
