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 PrimeTime
Patriots (Millard South) became the first Nebraska team in eight years
to win the prestigious Decker Sports CWS Tournament with a 12-4,
six-inning pounding of PI Midwest (Creighton Prep) in an all-Nebraska
championship Sunday afternoon at Westside.
The last Nebraska team to win the tournament was Grubb & Ellis
(Westside) in 2003 against Edward Jones (Omaha Gross). Edward Jones
went on to win the Class A state championship later that summer.
Forty-five teams from thirteen states competed in the five-day event,
including last year’s tournament champion, Chico (CA) Nuts, and the
reigning American Legion World Series Champion, Oklahoma Outlaws.
A total of thirteen Nebraska teams, including eight Omaha host teams,
played in the tournament and made a strong showing against out-of-state
competitors, going a combined 29-12 (.707) against visiting teams.
Six Nebraska teams claimed top honors in their respective pools and
advanced to Saturday evening’s quarterfinals: the Patriots, PI Midwest,
KB Buildings Services (Westside), Roof-Tech Wildcats (Millard West),
Associated Fire Protection (Papillion-LaVista South) and Deeb Mustangs
Millard North. Those six teams won twenty-one games against
out-of-state teams while losing only three for an .875 winning
percentage.
The Patriots (22-4) won seven straight games in the tournament,
including four pool games in which the Pats outscored opponents 40-4.
PrimeTime was paired with Roof-Tech Wildcats in the quarterfinals where
they defeated their crosstown rivals, 10-4. In that game Kyle Honeycutt
doubled and tripled in support of Reagan Fowler’s complete game
performance.
The Patriots advanced to the championship game with an 8-0 semifinals
win in five innings Sunday morning over Sioux Falls Cyclones in which
righthander Austin Reid held the Cyclones to just two hits.
Against PI Midwest in the championship, PrimeTime blistered the ball for
eight first-inning runs, led by Blake Headley’s two-run triple. Fowler
doubled and tripled in the inning and later added a solo home run to end
the day just a base hit short of the cycle.
After the Patriots added a run in the second, PI Midwest rallied for
four runs in the third as Kale Dineen drove in two runs, and Kyle Kubat
and Dallas Schramm each drove in a run to make it a 9-4 game. But, that
was as close as the Prep team would get as PrimeTime added three more in
the top of the 6th on Fowler’s solo home run, an RBI double by Headley
and a run-producing single by Matt Sich.
Recent Nebraska signee Quentin Urban went the distance on the mound to
earn the win while PI's Kevin Connolly, who didn’t make it out of the
first inning, took the loss.
PI Midwest won three pool games by a single run and reached the
championship game with a fourth one-run victory by scoring four runs in
the bottom of the seventh to overcome a 6-3 deficit to Chico. Derek
Petrich drove in Connolly with an opposite field base hit to win the
game, 7-6. T.J. Wood earned the win with three solid relief innings.
On Friday, PI clinched its pool with a 4-3 win over the Oklahoma
Outlaws. Tied at three in the bottom of the seventh, Aaron Goynes laid
down a bunt on a successful suicide squeeze as Zak Leighton dashed home
with the winning run. Kubat pitched very well in a no-decision outing
with Connolly earning the win in relief after striking out the only
batter he faced in the top of the seventh with two on.
It was the second straight year that PI Midwest defeated the Outlaws by
a single run in the Decker Tournament. Last year Kubat earned a 6-5
win over the Outlaws who went on to win the American Legion World Series
with a 66-10 record. En route to that title, the Outlaws from Midwest
City, Oklahoma ended the season of Associated Fire Protection in the
Mid-South Regional in Grand Prairie, Texas, defeating the Nebraska state
champs, 8-6.
The Decker Tournament has been hosted since the late 90’s by the
Westside summer baseball program and has developed a reputation for
drawing top caliber teams.
The Metro’s other jumbo CWS Tournament, the 42-team Battle of Omaha,
will conclude Monday morning with an 8:15 championship game at Werner
Park where a pair of out-of-state teams, Chaffey Baseball (Seattle, WA)
and Las Vegas, will vie for the title. |