NTIS: 2017 in Review

By KATIE BOSTIC | USA Baseball

In 2017, USA Baseball introduced the Champions Cup to the National Team Identification Series, recognizing the top region competing through all six age groups at the National Training Complex over three weeks in August.

Champions Cup points are accumulated based on which place the region finishes within the respective age groups, and the region with the most points after three weeks of competition will take home the trophy.

In the Champions Cup’s inaugural year, Southern California took home the hardware after securing first place in the 11U, 14U, and 16U age groups as well as a second-place finish in 13U.

11U

Gregg Forwerck

SoCal and Northwest squared off in an extra-innings thriller for the 11U title in 2017. Northwest jumped out to an early lead with a four-run first inning, but SoCal was able to hold them to just one more run for the rest of the game while chipping away at the lead and eventually tying the game at 5-5 in the sixth inning. Both teams were able to load the bases in the seventh inning but neither was able to push a run across as the championship game went into extra innings. After a stalemate in the seventh inning, SoCal took over, scoring five in the eighth to win the title, 10-5.

13U

USA Baseball

Southwest pieced together a five-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Southern California, 8-7, in walk-off fashion to claim the 13U title. With no outs and trailing 6-3 in its final at-bats, Southwest scored on a throwing error, and Steven Milam followed with a line-drive RBI-double before Mason Neville hit an RBI-triple to tie the game at seven. Following an intentional walk by Southern California, Ruben Castro came through with the clutch RBI-single to left field to bring in the winning run and capture the gold medal.

14 U

Southern California emerged victorious in an in-state battle with Northern California to claim the 2017 14U NTIS gold medal. Training 1-0 in the second inning, Southern California scored on an RBI-triple and its offense didn’t look back, scoring in every inning that followed. Northern California got within two in the fifth but the rally fell short as Southern California scored four more runs late to put the game away and secure 14U NTIS gold medal with a 9-6 victory.

15U

Southwest scored six runs in the fifth inning of the gold medal game and defeated New England 11-6 for the 2017 15U NTIS championship. New England jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first, before adding two more runs in the second, one in the third and two in the fourth to go ahead 5-0. But Southwest was able to put together an impressive six-run rally in the fifth to take the lead, 6-5. After giving up another run immediately after taking the lead, four consecutive walks once again put them in front, 7-6. Then they put the game out of reach, scoring two on back-to-back bases-loaded-walks and another pair on a two- RBI double from Chase Gallegos, securing Southwest the 15U NTIS title with an 11-6 win over New England.

16U

Southern California was able to overcome an early deficit to secure the gold medal in the 2017 16U NTIS with a 6-2 victory over Northwest. Northwest opened scoring in the bottom of the first to take an early 2-0 lead, but that was all they would manage from the plate. Southern California got on the board in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead that it wouldn’t relinquish. In the fifth inning, a two-RBI triple and an RBI-single added three more for the final 6-2 score and another NTIS gold medal for Southern California.