The Steel Select Falcons defeated the Long Island Jr. Ducks to win the 16u All-American Invitational behind a strong pitching performance from right hander, PJ Daniels.
It seemed as if Daniels may be in for a rough start, after allowing a lead off double to the opposing pitcher, Jordan Goldstein. A sacrifice fly moved him over to third base. With one out, Daniels then proceeded to walk the following batter. He then escaped trouble by inducing an around the horn double play.
The Falcons gave their pitcher some run support early on. After a quick first out, the next two batters walked. Cleanup hitter, Nicholas Capazzola then reached base on a fielder’s choice, which brought in Trevor Zanderzuk for the first run of the game.
In the following inning, Daniels again looked to be in trouble, issuing a pair of walks to start the inning. He escaped trouble after getting a batter to line into a double play. A groundout to third base then ended the inning.
The Falcons extended their lead in the bottom half of the third. Zanderzuk walked, and then proceeded to steal second, putting himself in scoring position. Freddy Forgione then hit a solid line-drive single to center field to bring Zanderzuk in to score.
In the top of the 4th, the Ducks again had a great opportunity to score. Dominic Lafroscia hit a ground ball to the shortstop, for what appeared to be an easy out at first. An errant throw resulted in Lafroscia making it to second base. He then made it to third base on a sacrifice fly, although he would advance no further. Daniels struck out the next batter, followed that up with a walk, and then induced a weak ground out to third base.
On how he was able to consistently work out of trouble, especially in the fourth inning, Daniels said “It’s about competing. You’ve got to work down, throw strikes, and compete with the batters”.
The game was broken wide open in the fifth inning, when the Falcons put four more runs on the board. After getting the first out via ground out, Goldstein then proceeded to walk back to back batters, and was then taken out of the game. The new pitcher, Connor Ruland, did not fare much better, walking and hitting a batter to bring a run across. With the bases loaded, Aidan Hutchins hit a triple to left-center field to give his team a 6-0 lead.
Goldstein struck again in the top of the fifth inning, hitting another double against Daniels. Pitching yet again with a runner in scoring position, Daniels worked out of trouble without allowing the runner to score.
After 5 shutout innings, Daniels’ day on the mound was done, allowing only a pair of hits, with five walks and one strikeout. He was replaced by Capazzola, who also did not allow a run in his two innings of work, securing the victory, and the championship, for the Falcons.
