OLDS — The U16 Olds Spitfires AAA baseball team won the Rawlings Cup baseball tournament held Aug. 22-25 in Sherwood Park.
The Spitfires beat the host Sherwood Park Athletics 4-2 in the final.
The tournament brings together some of the top U14 and U16 baseball talent in Alberta.
Its purpose is to showcase that talent, hopefully get the attention of some scouts and give a chance for a chosen few to play for Alberta in the Western Canada Prospects Series, held during the Sept. 1 long weekend.
Thomas Hill from the Olds Spitfires was selected to be on that Alberta team.
Jamie Campbell who hosts Toronto Blue Jays games for SportsNet congratulated the Spitfires on their win.
On the social media platform X, Campbell posted a video of the final out and wrote, "Love this, well done, Olds Spitfires!"
Spitfires U16AAA head coach Jason Lucas chalked up the win in the final and the team’s success through the tournament to an all-around game: good pitching, strong defence and timely hitting.
Lucas noted that in the final, starting pitcher Dylan Robinson went the full seven innings.
“Pitching was one of the things that obviously helped us. We played a really good defensive game and we got some timely hits when we needed them. That's for sure,” he said during an interview with the Albertan.
“And we didn't panic, right? The boys kept their composure. We didn't make any errors.”
The final was hard-fought.
The Spitfires went up 1-0, after the first inning, but the Athletics tied it 1-1 after the second.
The Spitfires scored two runs in the top of the fifth, but the Athletics got one in the bottom of that inning to close the gap to 3-2.
The Spitfires padded their lead with one in the top of the seventh and hung on for the victory.
The Spitfires went 1-1 in the round robin, second in their pool. That propelled them into the quarter-finals.
They won that game 3-1, then beat the Red Deer Braves 8-7 in the semifinal in another nail-biter that went into two extra innings.
Lucas gave a shoutout to Ryder Persson who pitched the team’s first game in the tournament which also went nine innings. Persson was on the mound for eight-and-a-third of those innings.
"He pitched 105 pitches, and the last three pitches he threw, he struck the guy out," Persson's mom Mary Marshall added in a statement to the Albertan.
“He did a phenomenal job and it was the opening game of the tournament, so I mean, it was kind of important for us to try and get a win, right off the bat,” Lucas said.
Unfortunately, the Spitfires were hammered 15-4 in their second game.
Lucas is very proud of the team’s performance.
“You know, we definitely were the underdogs of the tournament. I don't think anybody really expected us to win,” he said.
Lucas said 11 of their 12 players were 15 years old, whereas at least half, if not more, of the players on other teams in the tournament were 16-year-olds.
“So we had probably the youngest team,” he said.
He also loved the cohesion of the team.
The nice thing about this team is we had six players that have played together since the second year of U13 AAA, so they all moved up (at the same time),” Lucas said.
They played together for the past three years and it's honestly like a family. They just get along and connected so well and I think that definitely adds up to our success.
“Nine of the players were from our U15 AAA team and the three kids we picked up to fill our roster fit in as if they played on our team all year.
“There's was no one who played like an individual and I think that's what contributed greatly to the success of these kids.
“You know, over the course of the years, we've had ups and downs. And so to be able to win this tournament, I’m super proud of them.
“They were very deserving and it was an absolute honour to be a part of this team.”
