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Tournaments | Story | 7/3/2019

Scrappy 5 Star wins 15u BCS

Jeff Dahn

Photo: 5 Star National 15u Dobbs (Perfect Game)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – During the short break after both the Florida Dodgers Scout Team 2022 and 5 Star National 15u Dobbs had each scored a pair of runs in their respective halves of the first inning, the folks gathered inside Hammond Stadium on Wednesday morning seemed to reach an unspoken consensus:

There is no way this contest’s outcome is going to be decided within the constraints of a seven inning ballgame. And so it came to be …

5 Star National 15u’s Brady Skipper and Gage Harrelson both reached on errors to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning – with Skipper racing all the way around to score the winning run after the second miscue – and 5 Star National claimed a thrilling, back-and-forth 5-4 victory over the FL Dodgers in the championship game at the Perfect Game 15u BCS National Championship.

The title was a repeat of sorts, with seven members of this 5 Star team having also played on the 5 Star National team that won last year’s 14u BCS National Championship.

Wednesday’s championship game – played-out on yet another hot and steamy early July morning in Southwest Florida – was tied at 2 after the first inning and at 4 after five, with the Florida Dodgers enjoying a 4-2 lead at one point in between; they totaled 10 hits in the game, the 5 Star Nationals eight.

“It’s pretty simple: That was a great game between two well-coached teams, and it was a pleasure to be a part of it,” 5 Star National 15u head coach Britt Dobbs said moments after his players had soaked him with a cooler full of ice water, an act that was probably much appreciated given the morning’s high heat.

“It was a hard-fought, scrappy ballgame between the last two teams standing,” he continued. “My hat’s off to (the Dodgers). They are an outstanding group of players and we were just fortunate to pull it off at the end.”

The Florida Dodgers ST 2022 (9-1-0) wasted absolutely no time in showing they were ready to play when Finn Howell, Mason Steel and Eli Maddox all singled to lead-off the top of the first. Howell eventually scored on a wild pitch and Steel was chased home on a sacrifice fly from Jordan Taylor.

5 Star National 15u (9-1-0) came right back with two runs of its own in the bottom of the frame. Harrelson stroked a lead-off single, stole second and scored when Cole Mathis delivered a one-out double. Hunter Russell and Davis Green then both singled, with Mathis scoring on Green’s safety to knot the score at two.

The Dodgers made it 4-2 in the third when Steel and Maddox hit back-to-back singles for a second time and Tanner Olson reached on an error. Taylor then came through with an RBI single and Dalton Moore an RBI fielder’s choice ground-out.

Five Star scored single runs in each of the fourth and fifth to tie things at 4, the first on an RBI fielder’s choice groundout from Green. The second came on an inside-the-park home run from Tanner Knowles, a fly ball lofted into the right-field corner that bounced away from would-be fielders while Knowles raced around the bases. The game remained tied until 5 Star eked out the win in the bottom of the eighth.

“It was very special being a part of (this game),” 5 Star National's Harrelson said. “It’s always been a dream I’ve had to win this thing and be national champions. … (The Dodgers) are a great team and we really respect their program.”

Harrelson, a 6-foot-1, 160-pound left-handed hitting outfielder from Kathleen, Ga., was named the Most Valuable Player after going 8-for-23 (.348) with three doubles, five walks, four RBI, nine runs scored and three stolen bases, while also playing a stellar centerfield.

He wasn’t the only 5 Star National player to hit lights-out over the past seven days. Hunter Russell and Cole Mathis each collected 11 hits, including a double and a triple for Russell (8 RBI, 6 runs) and three doubles for Mathis (7 RBI, 7 runs); Jaxson West had nine hits with a home run, four doubles, eight walks, nine RBI and seven runs.

“We try to recruit gritty, gutty, scrappy players and that’s exactly why we’re here today,” Dobbs said. “We’ve got 19 guys who all week long unselfishly played the roles the coaching staff asked them to do and they did it to the best of their abilities, and here we are.”

5 Star National 15u dropped a game during pool-play but battled back to reach the championship game. That’s just the way this team goes about its business, according to Harrelson.

“Our number-one thing that we say around here is ‘a thousand miles per hour,’” he said. “We’re busting our tail every second that we get and there was no way that we were not going to bust our tails through the rest of this tournament.”

The Florida Dodgers ST’s Bradley Hodges, a 5-foot-11, 160-pound left-hander/outfielder from Fleming Island, Fla., was named the Most Valuable Pitcher after posting video game numbers during his two appearances: He worked nine shutout, one-hit innings, striking out 19 without issuing a walk.

They also had some guys knock the ball around with a certain amount of regularity over the course of the tournament, led by Steel and Taylor. Steel collected 14 hits – 13 singles and a double – with eight RBI and eight runs scored, and Taylor had 11 hits, with two doubles, 10 RBI and 11 runs scored.

Both 5 Star National 15u and the Florida Dodgers Scout Team 2022 will now take a much-deserved week off before competing at the PG 15u WWBA National Championship July 12-19 in the north Atlanta suburbs.

“Obviously, this gives us great momentum but it don’t get any easier, brother, I promise you that,” Dobbs said with a laugh while shaking his head. “Everybody’s going to be out to get us and we’ve got to come to the ballpark every day ready to go.”

2019 15u BCS National Championship runner-up: Florida Dodgers Scout Team 2022