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TNL 12U Takes Triple Crown Championship! The Next Level 12U squad brought home the championship at this year's Triple Crown World Series, held in Park City, Utah. TNL stormed through the 56 team field with a perfect 10-0 record, scoring 75 runs, giving up only 12, and carrying a team batting average of over .300. In pool play, TNL started strong, winning their first two games against Colorado Wildfire and Huntington Beach Panthers in three-inning run-rule games. TNL continued the next day with a 9-1 win over Cupertino Inferno and downed Hotshots 4-1 to win their pool. Laura Winter notched two of the victories from the pitching rubber, while Geena Restiano and Lindsey Buck also collected victories with relief help from Kristen Casey. Bracket play opened against the Las Vegas Stingers, who won their first meeting in a close game in a tournament in Palm Springs. In the top of the first, TNL struck first when Alanna Haskell singled and later scored on a base-knock from Emma Capetz. After the Stingers went down in order in the bottom of the 1st, TNL collected three runs in the second, on a lead-off walk by Shelby Pickett and singles by Jessica Smith and Laurie Davis, and an RBI from Haskell. TNL stretched their lead to 5-0 in the fourth when Smith was hit by a pitch and later scored on another single from Haskell. In the bottom of the inning, the Stingers scored on a ground-rule double and a single, but TNL answered in the top of the fifth with back-to-back singles from Capetz and Winter, who both scored on a single by Smith. A pop-up to third and a pair of strikeouts by Winter clinched the 7-1 TNL victory. Next up came the Long Beach Dirt Dawgz, who found themselves in a three-run hole after the first half-inning. With one out, Maggie Sevilla drew a full-count walk and Capetz singled to start the rally. Shelby Pickett walked to score the first run, then Winter and Restaino scored on a single by Chelsea Stewart. The Dawgz answered in the bottom of the 2nd by scoring a pair of runs on a single, a walk, and a hit batsman. The Dawgz then knotted the game at three on a single and a TNL error in the fifth. After a scoreless sixth, time expired and the seventh was played under tiebreaker rules. TNL squandered its opportunity in the top of the inning on a runner interference call, and the Dirt Dawgz went down on a pair of strikeouts from Winter and a soft liner that was handled nicely by first-baseman Kristen Casey. Under Triple Crown rules, the 8th inning was started with a runner on 3rd, which in TNL's case was Maggie Sevilla, who scored on a sacrifice fly from Capetz. The Dawgz first two hitters in the bottom of the 8th were strikeout victims of Winter, but after a walk and advance to 2nd by their leadoff hitter, Long Beach's chances ended on a nice catch of a dying fly ball by Davis in right. Friday was the day for TNL comebacks. In the opening game of the day, TNL made a series of miscues in the infield to hand the Cyclones a three-run lead in the top of the 1st. Winter came on in relief and after another TNL error, ended the Cyclones' rally with three consecutive strikeouts. TNL's powerful top three uncharacteristically went down in order in the bottom of the 1st, but Winter fanned the next three Cyclones in the top of the 2nd to continue the streak of consecutive Ks that would reach ten in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the 2nd, Winter attacked the Cyclones from the plate as she took the first pitch of the inning over the left-field fence to put TNL on the board. In the bottom of the third, TNL started their go-ahead rally on a single from Buck, and after a Sevilla double and a Capetz RBI single, Winter came to the plate with runners on 1st and 3rd. Again she blasted the first pitch she saw, this time over the center-field fence for a three-run homer to give TNL the lead, 5-3. TNL added a run in the 4th on an RBI single from Smith, then put the game away in the bottom of the 5th with singles from Haskell, Sevilla Capetz and Pickett, a sacrifice fly from Winter, and a two-RBI double from Stewart to walk-off with an 11-3 run-rule victory. Friday evening saw TNL facing a strong Nevada Lightning team, who had not yielded a single run in the tournament going into the game. Lightning struck first, when a TNL error and a pair of singles gave them a 1-0 lead in the first, which they extended in the 2nd on a triple and an RBI single. TNL got their first score in the third on a double from Sevilla, a single from Capetz, and a sacrifice fly from Winter. The score stayed 2-1 until the top of the sixth when Buck singled to start the inning. Alanna Haskell then doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd for Sevilla, who singled to tie the game. Winter then came up, and with the outfield deep, blooped a single behind 2nd base to score Haskell and Sevilla to give TNL a 4-2 lead. In the bottom of the 6th, Lightning kept battling with a lead-off single, but with runners on 2nd and 3rd, Winter ended the threat by striking out the Lightning's #3 hitter, who was 2-3 at the time, on three pitches to end the game. Early Saturday afternoon TNL faced the OC Wildcats in the final game of the winner's bracket. As the visitors, TNL, as it had so often in the tournament, scored in the top of the first when Haskell led off with a double, and scored on a triple by Sevilla. Capetz then singled to score Sevilla, and after reaching on a fielder's choice, Winter scored after singles from Restaino and Pickett. TNL added two more runs in the third inning on singles from Capetz, Winter and Pickett, and an RBI single from Restaino. The Wildcats scored their first run in the fourth when Winter plunked the lead-off hitter, who later scored after a TNL error and a single. TNL answered back in the fifth, when Restaino singled to lead-off the inning, and after a fielder's choice, Shelby Pickett scored on an RBI double from Casey after a single from Smith. The Wildcats had singles in both the 6th and 7th innings, but never really mounted a serious threat. Winter went the distance on the mound for TNL, scattering four hits in the complete game, and striking out twelve. The Wildcats fought their way back to the championship game, but found themselves in an immediate hole after a lead-off single in the 1st came to naught, and TNL scored a pair in the bottom of the inning on singles from Haskell and Sevilla, an RBI double from Winter and an RBI single from Restaino. After the Wildcats went down in order, TNL added another pair of runs in the 2nd on singles from Casey, Haskell, and Sevilla. A Wildcat rally appeared to be in progress on back-to-back two-out singles in the fourth, but Winter ended the inning on a strikeout, and in the top of the fifth again snuffed a potential Wildcats rally on a pop-up to Davis at 2nd and a strikeout. As the home team, TNL ended the game by run rule after singles from Sevilla and Capetz, an RBI single from Restaino, and a two-RBI poke from Pickett. As one can see from the games above, every player on TNL's 12U squad made contributions to their impressive championship run. In the awards ceremony after the championsip game, Manager Sandy Baker chose Laura Winter as the "Offensive MVP." Winter led TNL in batting average, RBIs, and slugging percentage in the tournament. Of note on the offensive end as well, both Emma Capetz and Alanna Haskell hit over .500 for the week. Defensively, TNL played superb defense overall, and when matched with Winter's 57 strikeouts in 39 innings pitched, made for an unbeatable combination. In the end, with only two close games, TNL's 10-0 run through the Triple Crown World Series Championships was perhaps more impressive than their record would imply. In addition to thanking Chris Facione and the rest of the fine TNL organization for their efforts in preparing the squad for their championship run, TNL 12U squad would like to extend a special thank you to Sandy Baker and Rachael Donaldson for their superb work during the tournament. More photos from the Triple Crown World Series can be found in the Albums page. |
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