#1 seed 15u Black takes 2nd in Arizona Thanksgiving Shootout NIT Championship

The 15U Blizzard Black team took second place in the NIT Thanksgiving Shoot-Out tournament in Mesa, AZ this past weekend after a hard fought battle. 15U Black was determined to play great at this tournament due to a disappointing trip to Vegas a month ago.

In their first game of the tournament they faced ASBA Arizona Blue defeating them 4-0 in seven innings. Dominic Reed was a show stopper pitching the first six innings; he pitched 8 strikeouts with 5 of them looking. Matt Fiedler relieved Reed in the seventh to secure the win and the shutout.

Immediately following the first ‘W’ of the tournament was another pool play game against Arizona Baseball Black. Alex Trierweiler made his first appearance as a pitcher for Blizzard Black and it was a fantastic way to start his Blizzard pitching career. Alex threw the first 4 innings giving up just 2 hits and was relieved by another first time pitcher for the Blizzard Black. David Goggin stepped up to the mound and closed it out for them. They threw up another win on the scoreboard, this time in only 5 innings with the offense leading the way. They had 13 hits, including Matt Kelly going 2 for 3 with 3 big RBI’s allowing the team to score 11 runs and only letting up 3.

Saturday morning got started with a bang and the Blizzard Black quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Alex Trierweiler, Brody Pitkin and Erik Monson each had a double in the first inning. Blizzard Black didn’t stop there. They ended the game in the middle of the 5th winning 10-2, with 13 total hits. Dan McInnis receives the win for the game, with assistance from Drew Durham and Mo Valenzuela.

The guys got a break for the remainder of Saturday and rested up for what became a long and hard fought battle in the Championship on Sunday. Blizzard Black started off Sunday the same as Saturday; with another big bang. Scoring 4 runs in the first inning and repeating it in the second, they got a little too comfortable with the lead and gave up 5 runs in the third to make this the closest game they played of the tournament so far. Blizzard Black quickly rallied back those runs, winning it in the 5th inning, 13-5.

Just one game away from the Championship, Blizzard Black faced the Wildfire. As it turns out, Blizzard Black were the ones on fire as Dominic Reed, Dan McInnis and Drew Durham all helped with throwing a no-hitter. Offensively, Trierweiler lead the way; he went 2 for 3 with 2 triples and 5 RBI’s.

The Championship game was sure to be the highlight of the tournament as it was Blizzard Black v. Blizzard Blue for gold rings and bragging rights.  Through out the 5th inning, it was a close and hard fought game with each team battling to keep the other from scoring. Blizzard Black got the first jump on the lead as they put 1 up on the scoreboard in the first. Through 2 scoreless innings, Black and Blue continued to battle until Blue got their first break. Blizzard Blue tied it up in the top of the 4th, but Black quickly countered that run with one of their own. It was 2-1 Black in the top of the 6th where unfortunately the dream of the gold rings quickly faded from Black’s sights. They gave up 4 runs in the top of the 6th and were sadly shutout in the bottom of the 6th with back to back to back strikeouts.  Blizzard Blue was able to knock in five more runs in the top of the 7th making it 10-2 going into the last ups for Blizzard Black. Black didn’t give in too easily though. They started the inning at the top of their line-up, driving in the first 3 batters to make it 10-5. Unfortunately from there it was 3 quick outs and Blizzard Black finished second in the tournament.

Blizzard Black had a fantastic tournament showing that they could rally together as a team and pulling out some big wins. They were top seed of 12 going into the playoffs and they came so close to winning it all.

Congratulations to Blizzard Black for a well played tournament and I can’t wait to see how well they do in their next one.

Coach Derrick Pfeffer.