As far as the usual preceding tournaments, the Arlington Babe Ruth Storm Black 10-under All-Stars did not play in a no longer existing district tournament and finished second in the state with a 5-1 record.
Still, the baseball team was well prepared and good enough to move on and win the recent Southeast Region Babe Ruth Tournament in Alexandria to earn a berth into the World Series.
Arlington was 5-0 in the region, finishing 3-0 in pool play, then 2-0 in the playoff round with two comeback victories by one-run scores. Arlington won the championship game, 4-3, over Bartow of Florida when the contest ended with the Storm Black turning a triple play, started when a fly ball was caught in center field, then two runners were tagged out. Arlington fell behind 3-0 in the first inning.
“They did everything really well on that triple play. Good training worked,” Arlington manager Dave Juza said.
Arlington nipped Surry County of Western North Carolina, 5-4, in its other playoff game after trailing 4-0.
“Timely hitting, good defense and strong pitching made the difference in those two wins,” Juza said. “Our team gets a lot of contributions up and down the lineup. We are 10 players deep in pitching and for hitting and there are no dead spots in the lineup. We played well up and down the lineup.”
In the region championship game, key hits by Sean Duckett, Bryce Donnelly and Christian Tallent provided the winning margin. Duckett was 3 for 3 in the win and Teddy LeCompte had two hits. Dexter Hinkle was the winning pitcher and Tallent earned the save.
Chase Langley was the winning pitcher in the semifinal and Tallent earned the save. Langley and Bruce Buczek each had two hits in the win.
Hinkle and Langley each had two wins in the region and Hudson Wilkins had the other. Tallent had two saves. Tallent, Duckett, LeCompte and Langley were top hitters.
Arlington outscored its three pool-play opponents, 31-5.
Other players for Arlington are Flynn Juza, Connor Bristow, Ryan Potter and Matthew Ryan. The assistant coaches are Andy Buczek, Jeff Hinkle and Brian Langley.
In the state tournament, Arlington finished 5-1, losing to Williamsburg in the championship game.
Overall, Arlington enters the World Series with a 19-12 record and having played in other multiple tournaments prior to the state competition.
Many of the players have been on the team for a few seasons.
The Arlington Storm Black will play in 20-team World Series in Crown Point, Ind., Aug. 8 through Aug. 15, beginning with pool-play games.
A Storm Black 8U team, with many of the players now on the 10U squad, qualified for the World Series but did not attend.
