Congratulations to the 6-4-3 DP Cougars 14U squad for winning the Triple Crown March Mayhem 14U Championship on Sunday and continuing their impressive winning streak. The come-from-behind win in this weekend’s championship game sealed the Cougars' fourth straight tournament win and 17th straight victory in the early 2018 spring season.
Sunday’s championship game featured clutch performances by the 14U Cougars both at the plate and on the mound. The Cougars rallied after being down by the score of 6-2 to beat a very strong Georgia Bombers team. In the top of the 6th inning down 6-3, Wyatt Strahl led off the inning with a base hit to right field. Parker Lester then hit a double off the center field wall that scored Strahl to make it 6-4. Jae Williams contributed another double down the left field line scoring Dawson Campbell (pinch runner) to make it a 6-5 score. Williams then stole third base with Davis Hodges at the plate. With a man on third, Davis worked the count into his favor and singled to left to tie the game at 6-6. In the bottom of the 6th inning with the score tied at 6-6, the Bombers load the bases with one out. Druw Jones, on the mound in relief for the Cougars, battled through the situation and struck out two batters to end the inning. In the top of the 7th inning for the Cougars, Josh Katz led off the inning with a single to right and later scored the go-ahead run on an infield single by Jones pushing the score to 7-6. The Cougars went on to score two more runs in the 7th inning, and Jones retired the Bombers in order in the bottom half of the 7th inning to win the championship game by a final 9-6 score.
Led by coaches Jamaal Hawkins, Danny Pralgo, and assistant coaches, Chris Fusco and Blake Bondurant, the Cougars have had been lucky to participate in many tough games this season including matchups against Tri State Arsenal out of the northeast U.S., Kentucky Mustangs, 6-4-3 DP Tigers (who contributed two of the Cougars toughest and closest games), Elite Squad out of South Florida (who were ranked as the #1 team in the country by Perfect Game on 12/8/2017), 6-4-3 DP Jaguars (currently 14-4-2 with a Triple Crown Gold Championship, Triple Crown Silver Championship, and PG event runner-up finish), and the Dunwoody Diablos.
Much of the current 17 game winning streak is credited to the Cougars total team effort. According to head coach Jamaal Hawkins, “The most impressive part about this early season success is how unselfish the players are and how much they pull for one another. They also love being around each other…it’s a very close group.” In the March Mayhem tournament this past weekend, the Cougars utilized 11 different pitchers, 4 different catchers, 6 different third basemen, 5 different shortstops, 8 different outfielders, 3 different first basemen, and 5 different second basemen.
The remaining months of the season should be exciting for the talented and cohesive 14U Cougars squad. Stay tuned for more success stories!