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Big League
Dreams, Cathedral City – Final: En Fuego 12, Kraven
Moorhead 10
En Fuego won the 2008 PSTS “Spring Classic” tournament
championship in Palm Springs defeating Kraven Moorhead in the
final 12-10. Once again En Fuego (3-0) won with an all around
solid team effort. Good pitching and defense as well as timely
hitting enabled En Fuego to win their second straight “Spring
Classic” championship and their 12th tournament championship in
team history. Pitcher Craig Watkins
led En Fuego to three straight victories and the tournament
title. “Like last year you can really say that just about
everyone deserves to be all-tourney in this one. We played great
together as a team, typical En Fuego ball.” Said Watkins
En Fuego started off the day with an 18-11 win over Kraven
Moorhead. Leading 10-6 after five innings of play En Fuego would
have their lead vanish when KMH took the lead in the top of the
six inning scoring five runs to go ahead 11-10. The effort in
the bottom of the sixth inning by En Fuego was a prelude for the
remainder of the tourney. With focus and determination En Fuego
rallied to surprise KMH scoring eight runs on nine hits. Watkins
held KMH scoreless in the top of the seventh to seal the win and
help En Fuego get off to a great start. Jerry Langner led the
way going 4-for-4 at the plate with three RBI. Justin Shultz,
playing in his first tournament ever with En Fuego, went 3-for-3
and scored two runs to help contribute in the opening round
victory.
In the second game, En Fuego took care of business quickly. In a
shortened 4 ˝ inning mercy win they put Rock Star away 16-3.
Shortstop Corrie Willkie and
Langner each drove in three runs. Overall En Fuego would get
contributions from everyone in the lineup and all around solid
defensive play led by third baseman
Jason England and outfielder
Vince Petruzzi in the lopsided win. In the game Watkins, who
actually had a bounty taken out on him, allowed only three runs
to the heavy hitting Rock Star team. “I just wanted to get out
of there as quickly as I could.” said Watkins “Twenty dollar
bounty? Is that all I’m worth?” Watkins was referring to the
Rock Star team acknowledging that they were coming after him and
that ‘there had to be a bruise’ for the cheap bounty they took
out on him. None the less Watkins avoided being a target up the
middle and En Fuego quietly advanced to the championship game.
In the final game En Fuego would face KMH once again. KMH
battled their way through the loser’s bracket to reach the final
where they would have to beat the undefeated En Fuego squad
twice. Playing with a lot of momentum after steam rolling High
Five in the semifinal game KMH jumped out early and led En Fuego
8-2 after 1 ˝ innings. As they did in their first game of the
day versus KMH, En Fuego played with focus and determination.
They chipped away at KMH’s lead scoring one run in the bottom of
the second and three runs in the bottom of the third to trail
only by two 8-6. In the bottom of the fourth inning En Fuego
would finally catch KMH scoring twice to tie the game at 8-8. As
Watkins continued to slow down a tired KMH team playing their
sixth game of the day the En Fuego offense continued to get the
timely hits. Scoring twice in each of the fifth and sixth
innings En Fuego would go ahead 12-8 heading into the final
inning. Watkins and the En Fuego defense shutout KMH for four
straight innings and were now only three outs away from the
tournament title. KMH’s hopes ended after scoring only two runs
in the top of the seventh inning and En Fuego held on for the
tournament clinching victory 12-10.
Corrie Willkie and Jerry Langner who both batted .875 to lead En
Fuego, were named Co-MVPs. Willkie played well at shortstop and
drove in seven runs while scoring six times on the day. Langner
led En Fuego with nine RBI and played well at first base and in
the outfield. James Verdi and
Justin Shultz earned all-tourney honors. Verdi batted .625 and
had another solid tournament to help lead En Fuego. Shultz in
his first tournament batted .750, collected five RBI, and scored
four runs. He also played well defensively at catcher and first
base. Other solid contributors were Jason Hogan, who batted
.571, Mike Lorton and
Kevin Lorton who each batted .500
respectfully. |
