Building Champions Navy 13U (pictured above) from Overland Park, Kansas, won this past weekend’s KC Sports USSSA Fall State Championship by going 4-0 and tearing down the competition by outscoring them 44-9 overall. This was the first USSSA tournament of the fall season for Manager Jamie Oakes’ squad, although this group did win three USSSA tournaments last season. They actually defended their title at this event to go with a championship at the Global World Series in Des Moines. Building Champions finished the 2018 season with a 22-20-1 overall record.
This past weekend in Kansas City, 91 total teams participated in the Fall State Championships across several age divisions and classifications. In the 13-Open division there were 10 total teams: seven from the host state and three from Missouri. There were two Major classified squads that could be seen as favorites – Building Champions and the Mac N Seitz Blacksox – the rest all carried AAA tags. The format of the tournament was straightforward. Each of the ten teams would play two pool games, then were seeded based on record and average runs allowed. The top five seeds would advance to a single elimination Gold Bracket while the bottom five would compete in the Silver Bracket which was also single elimination.
Building Champions Navy got off to one of the hottest starts we’ve seen in a tournament all season. They destroyed their first opponent, Adidas 3-Stripe Prospects, 15-2. Caleb Truelove started on the mound and threw 2.1 innings before giving way to Owen Avery who completed the final 1.2. The boys from Overland Park would follow that performance with one that was equally impressive. They throttled the Wichita Braves 14-1 to essentially clinch the top overall seed. Against the Braves, Oakes only needed to use two pitchers, Easton Rogers for 3 innings and Jackson Harding for 1 in this mercy rule shortened game.
The two Major teams earned the top seeds after pool play as K4 Stealth was also 2-0 and proved to be a tough team halfway through the tournament. By virtue of their top seed, Building Champions took on the winner of the “play in” game between Minsky’s Orioles and the aforementioned Braves. The Orioles would double up the Braves 10-5 and face the top seed in the semis.
In this contest the Orioles (AAA) would somewhat surprisingly push Building Champions. The favorites would emerge victorious but only by the slimmest margin possible, 6-5. Three pitchers toed the rubber for Building Champions: Benjamin Labella started and pitched three innings before Davion Harris came in and threw 2.2 IP and Owen Avery recorded the final out in this tense game.
In the other semifinal Mac N Seitz took down the previously-unbeaten K4 Stealth 8-4 to set up an “all-Major” championship game. Unfortunately the title tilt did not live up to the hype as the Building Champions Navy handily defeated Mac N Seitz 9-1 to defend their KC Sports Fall State Championship crown.
We’ll keep tracking Building Champions Navy as they look to build momentum from this title in the early part of the season.