ShockWave won the Championship of the 13u, 16u & 18u Brackets in the USSSA Jus' Sports Challenge held Oct 31 - Nov 1 in Charleston. 

• The 13u team led by Chris Phillips won the 13u Championship held at Gahagan Sports Complex,  
• The 15u Showcase team led by Jeff Ridgway won the 16u Championship held at Pinewood Prep
• The 17u American team led by Jarod Matthews won the 18u Championship held at Goose Creek HS.

Congratulations to ALL TEAMS for being ranked in the Top 10 in SC in their classification!!! 

16u Showcase - N/A; only playing College ShowCase Events

15u AAA - SC #4 in USSSA Power Rankings

14u Majors - Nationally #21 "Perfect Game - Crosschecker"

14u AA - SC #7 in USSSA Power Rankings

13u AA - SC #10 in USSSA Power Rankings

12u Majors - SC #6 in USSSA Power Rankings,  #1 in USSSA Coaches Poll

11u Majors - SC #6 in USSSA Power Rankings,  #1 in USSSA Coaches Poll

10u AA - SC #7 in USSSA Power Rankings

9u Majors - SC #8 in USSSA Power Pankings

The Shockwave 11U and 13U teams both worked their way through talented fields, playing six days of baseball and advancing to the quarterfinals to place fourth in their division. The 11U team finished with an overall record of 4-2 and the 13U team finished at 5-2-1.  

“We played well the entire tournament and ended up with the best finish for the South Carolina teams,” Shockwave 13U Manager Aubrey Heflin said Friday. “We hit the ball and we had 13 consecutive innings of shutout baseball today so our pitching and defense also came through. We came up a little short of our goal, but we played our best, outplayed several very talented teams and left it all on the field so it was great experience.”

The 13U team outscored its opponents 53-36. The Shockwave went 3-0-1 in pool play, defeating the Cincinnati Sharks 10-2, West Cobb (GA) Huskies 5-2 and Sandy Springs (GA) Longhorns 9-1 and battling for a 4-4 tie with the Mid-State (PA) Mavericks.  The Shockwave earned the No. 3 seed for its 17-team division after allowing the fewest runs, nine.

The team defeated the Sandy Springs Longhorns 15-10 to open bracket play and then fell to the undefeated Effingham (GA) Long Horns by a 10-7 score to set up a show down Friday with the Carolina Fury out of Moncks Corner. The game was a defensive battle that went two extra innings. Shockwave pitcher JD Waite threw nine superb innings to earn the win.

Miles Goodwin led off the bottom of the ninth inning for the Shockwave with a double down the third-base line. He moved to second when the Fury decided to put Nick Bell on base rather than pitch to him and to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brian Doucet. The Fury then walked Adam Blocker to load the bases. The stalemate was broken two batters later when Tradd Pearson plated Goodwin with a single for a 1-0 Shockwave win.

That advanced the team into the quarterfinals, where it fell 7-2 to the Sandy Plains (GA) Wildcats. The Shockwave took a 2-0 lead when Grande Fender drove in Doucet in the bottom of the fourth. However the lead, and the momentum, shifted on a controversial play in the fifth. The Wildcats tied the game off two singles and a walk and then Travis Wildermuth was awarded a homerun that the Shockwave coaches and several fans thought should have been a triple.

The Shockwave right fielder picked the ball up and returned it to the infield to hold Wildermuth to three bases, but after some conversation between coaches and the umpire, the umpire ruled that the ball bounced off the scoreboard and then back into the field of play. The play resulted in a 4-2 Wildcat lead.

“It seems like if it hit a metal scoreboard, we would have heard it,” Heflin said. “That had to be one of the hardest calls I’ve ever had to accept, but that’s part of baseball.”

John Kirk earned two wins on the mound for the Shockwave during the tournament and Bell also earned a win. Waite and Goodwin led the team’s batters with averages in the .600 range. Other members of the team are Austin Morgan, Joel Roberts, Johnston McCurry, Hayden Heflin and John Kirk.

The Wildcats went on to defeat the Carolina Mets out of Puerto Rico twice in the finals to win the 13U Championship. The tournament was the final event of the season for the Shockwave, which earned two SC-USSSA Tournament Championships and a third-place finish at the Smoltz-Grissom Wood Bat Classic in Atlanta, Ga. this year.

The 11U Shockwave outscored its opponents 62-48 in the tournament. The team went 3-0 in pool play, defeating the Mt. Pleasant All-stars 14-13, Charleston Braves 12-2 and Cincinnati Sharks National (OH) 13-5 to earn the top seed for its six-team division. In bracket play, the team lost to the Charleston Braves 7-5, defeated the Cincinnati Sharks National 13-12 and lost to the Mt. Pleasant All-stars 9-5 in the quarterfinals to place fourth.

Bradley McLaughlin earned two wins on the mound for the Shockwave and Zachary Heaton earned a win. McLaughlin and Joshua Litchfield both finished the tournament with a batting average over .600.  McLaughlin had five homeruns in the tournament while Stokes Brownlee, Mark Hopkins, Sawyer Bridges, Richie Elias and Zachary Heaton also had dingers. Other members of the team are James Knowles, Chadwick Wood, Dillon Salisbury, Danny Rowland and Cole King.

Next up for the 11U Shockwave is the Lexington Summer Nationals July 25-27 in Lexington. This will be the finale of the team’s season.

Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com.

The Shockwave put in another great performance in the 15u silver division to win the championship of the Lowcountry Homerun Challenge.  The Shockwave outscored their opponents 25 to 7 to hoist the championship trophy.  Included in the weekend was an 8-0 win over the lone 15u team in the bracket.  The team played an outstanding game and received incredible pitching from Bryan Dye.  Also pitching well on the weekend were Jacob Presnell, Jack Buddin, Billy Seigler, Matt Chapman,  and Chase Murray.  Matt Chapman hit a home run in the game against the 15u Mustangs and won a pair of batting gloves for his feat.

After a big win over the Myrtle Beach Angels followed by a big loss to the Palmetto Stix (NC) on Saturday the ShockWave would have to win 2 games on Sunday just to earn a chance to play for the Championship.   The team got off to a great start on Sunday by cruising thru a 16-0 win over the Florence Storm.  The win earned them a spot in the semi-final game and an opportunity to face the team who had defeated them on Saturday (Palmetto Stix).   The ShockWave defense demonstrated great fundamentals behind 7 innings of excellent pitching by JD Waite for a dramatic 3-2 win.  The victory earned the ShockWave a spot in the Championship game vs. the Florence Insanity who were undefeated on the weekend.  ShockWave trailed 0-3 until the bottom of the 6th when John Kirk got the bats going with a RBI double.  Followed by a RBI by Adam Blocker, JD Waite and go ahead RBI single by Joel Roberts to put the ShockWave on top 4-3.  It was 3 up, 3 down in the top of the 7th to complete a flawless game on defense behind a complete game championship pitching performance by Hayden Heflin.   

After going 1-1 on Saturday - Coach Jamie Waite told the team that if they went 3-0 on Sunday to win the Championship they could "shave his head"!   So as you can see in the picture he is sporting a new look!