Despite playing their pool play games in high 40 degrees and heavy rain (at points), the O.C. Sun Devils won out and took first in their pool on Sunday during the Triple Crown Sunday One-Day Qualifier. Their first opponent, the 10UAA AABC Eagles, had just come off a pool play victory over the 10UAA Desert Baseball Academy and might have come in over-confident facing a 9U team, but the Devils quickly set them straight as they pounded out 13 runs on 7 hits and 6 walks to beat the Eagles 13-3 in a time-shortened game. Despite the very cold and wet conditions, pitcher Jake Nadley held the Eagles to 3 runs (only 2 earned) on 2 hits.
That brought up Desert Baseball Academy and after the first inning it looked like the Devils might have their hands full as they only led 2-1, but after knocking in 5 runs in the second inning, the Devils were firmly in control as time expired. Will Rudy allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and pitched valiantly in very cold, wet conditions. This win gave the Devils the top seed in their pool and earned them some time off before their next game. Fortunately, the sun decided to make an appearance and despite being a bit chilly, the Devils were drying off as they prepped for their game against the GSA Mayos, another 10UAA team.
Trevor Klein took the mound for the Devils and did a good job keeping the Mayos in check, but the Devils made five errors behind him and gave up the tying run in the top of the third inning. Aidan Klimon led off the bottom of the third and became the first base runner as he was hit by pitch on the first pitch thrown to him. The Mayos proceeded to walk Jake Lappin and Hunter Cope to load the bases with no outs, but Klein hit into a fielder's choice and Rudy struck out to bring up Nadley with the bases loaded and two outs. Nadley worked a 7 pitch walk-off walk to win the game and propel the Devils into the championship.
The Devils sent Hunter Cope against the Eaters BBC (10UMajor) in the championship game. The first inning ended with the Eaters up 2-1 on the strength of a ground-rule double, a sac fly and three walks. The Devils scored their lone run as Jakob Ho came home on Klimon's sac fly. The second inning was a different story as the Devils got three outs without giving up any runs and then pounded the ball as they batted around in the bottom half of the inning. Rudy kicked off the inning with a six pitch at-bat which led to a single up the middle and the gloves were off as Nadley laid down a bunt single, Matthew McClure followed with a single, then Ho hit into a fielder's choice with no out recorded which scored a run. The first out came on Connor O'Brien RBI groundout, but then Klimon worked a walk and Lappin followed that with an RBI single. Cope followed with another walk before Klein and Rudy struck out to end the inning, but the damage was done as the Devils had put up 5 runs and had a commanding 6-2 lead. The Eaters were held scoreless in the third as Lappin came on in relief of Cope and they added another run after Jakob Ho doubled, then stole 3rd and home. Things got a little dicey in the top of the fourth as the Eaters scored two runs on two doubles, but Lappin shut them down and the Devils took home the hardware with a 7-4 win over a 10UMajor team.
