LIVE: From the USA 16U Baseball Championships - Recap

Dave Lax: We're There

We had a good run, but ultimately the Baseball Factory team lost and was eliminated from the tournament Friday morning, losing to the Orlando Scorpions 8-7. The game started on Thursday at 5 PM. After four scoreless innings on both sides, the rain finally came and postponed the game for the day. We resumed play Friday at 8 AM. After a rough fifth inning, Baseball Factory was down 6-0.

But we wouldn’t give up without a fight. Baseball Factory would come back with three runs in the top of the sixth inning. Michael Bradshaw (Crestwood, NY) led the charge with a 2-RBI double to right field. The Scorpions would score another run in the bottom of the sixth, making the score 7-3 as both teams entered the seventh inning. With no outs and runners on first and second (walk and hit by a pitch), Joseph McCrary (Stone Mountain, GA) doubled to right to score one, leaving runners on first and third with no outs. The very next batter, Joe D'Annunzio (Scotch Plains, NJ) hit a 2-RBI triple to right field to cut the deficit to one, 7-6. Mike Ford (Belle Mead, NJ) then singled to left to tie the game, 7-7. After such a dramatic comeback, we unfortunately couldn’t hold on in the end. The Scorpions scored the winning run in the bottom of the 7th to defeat Baseball Factory, 8-7.

While it was a heartbreaking loss, these boys should be very proud. The Orlando Scorpions went on to win the USA Baseball 16U Championship title. The Baseball Factory finished in the top 16 out of a 72-team tournament. A special thanks goes out to Rick Sofield and Reggie Harris for coaching and motivating the boys throughout our championship run, and the parents for being so flexible and patient through this crazy week of rain. And finally to the players, who played their hearts out this week, thank you so much for such a fun and entertaining week of baseball!!!