By Sean Reilly
Will Vieira loves to make things happen out of the leadoff spot for the North Jersey Heat 13U.
One of his favorite ways of doing so is to drop down a bunt.
When he came to the plate in the top of the first inning of a championship game on Sunday afternoon at Diamond Nation, he surveyed the positioning of the infield defense, and excitedly knew what to do.
“I would say I’m a pretty good bunter,” he said. “I usually drop that down unexpectedly. I just try to take advantage of my speed. I saw the third baseman playing pretty deep, so I decided to lay it down and get us started.”
Vieira was safe with a single, and Dean Conway promptly followed with a RBI triple to right field. Third batter Griffin Vidal then hit a sacrifice fly to right.
Those two quick runs, along with solid pitching from Jaxon Kufta and Vidal, powered the Heat to a 2-1 triumph over the Body Armor Titans 13U for the Pool A-C championship of the 13U Home Run Classic, Powered By Victus, on Sunday afternoon in Flemington.
The Heat went 4-0 in the tournament, outscoring their opponents, 41-13.
Vieira and Kufta shared tournament MVP honors. Vieira was 2-for-3 in the game and 6-for-12 in the tournament, with eight runs and six RBI.
Kufta pitched the first four innings against the high-powered Titans, holding the Long Island team to one run on three hits, with five strikeouts and three walks. Vidal pitched three hitless frames to close out the final, with three strikeouts and two walks.
“I was just trying to throw strikes,” said Kufta, who relied on his fastball and curve. “That was pretty much it. Getting to work with the lead was also helpful for me. It gave me more confidence to pitch.”
The Titans scored their run in the bottom of the second. Luke Kaplun singled to left field, Nathan Walker reached on a fielder’s choice and Matt Villeck walked to load the bases with two out. A base-running scramble after a pitch to Chris Mazzolla resulted with Kaplun scoring from third.
Jaxon Kufta, left, and Will Viera of the North Jersey Heat were named 13U Home Run Classic co-MVPs.
After that, scoring threats were limited on both sides as the pitchers excelled.
The Heat dodged one threat when the Titans loaded the bases off a walk and two hit batters with one out in the fifth. Vidal got a strikeout and full-count fly out to right to escape, before he pitched 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh.
On the Titans side, Tyler Austin pitched the first five innings, allowing four hits with five strikeouts and one walk. Mazzolla did not allow a hit working the sixth and seventh innings.
“This was a big win for us against a good team,” said Vieira, who was the only player in the game with more than one hit. His two-out double to left in the third inning made him the only Heat player to reach second base over the final six innings.
“Jaxon pitched great,” he added. “We got those runs to start it for us, and he and Griffin took care of the rest.”