By Sean Reilly
Grady Katyl was placed in several pressure situations on Sunday morning at Diamond Nation.
His solution was to handle each one simply as possible.
Katyl was the leadoff hitter for Grind Baseball 10U of West Pittston, Pa., in the championship game of the 10U Spring Swing tournament in Flemington.
He was also called on to pitch with runners on first and second with nobody out in the bottom of the fifth inning, with his team in the midst of a tight game against Hustle Baseball 10U.
He got out of that pitching situation despite one of those runners scoring to tie the game, and then hit a two-run double with one out in the top of the sixth in what became a 9-8 victory for the title.
Hustle scored an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth and had runners on first and third with two out, but Katyl induced a ground ball to shortstop Timothy Carroll for a game-ending force at second base.
Katyl ended the contest 3-for-3 with a hit by pitch, scoring twice and driving in the decisive two runs. He allowed two hits with no strikeouts or walks during his game-winning relief stint.
“I’d say getting the hit was bigger,” he said. “All I was really thinking was to hit it hard to one of the gaps. It felt really good to drive in two of the runs that won us the game. Pitching, I felt great about that, too. I just tried to throw strikes because I know I have really good fielders back there.”
The Grind scored four times in the top of the fifth to take a 7-6 lead. Bryce Bauman drove in the first run with a ground out to shortstop, Colston Talerico hit an RBI double, and after the second out, Santino Rynkiewicz doubled in the tying run before tournament MVP Ben Burkowski singled home another run for the lead.
Essex County-based Hustle Baseball tied in the bottom of the fifth. The inning began with Derek Berrios legging out a single to shortstop before Michael Buzza reached on an error.
At that point, the Grind made the pitching change which moved Katyl to the mound. Hustle’s Jacob Leonard was retired on a sacrifice bunt which advanced the runners, and with the lineup flipped to the top, Anthony Fragale hit a sacrifice fly to right field for a 7-7 tie. With the go-ahead run on third, the next batter flew out to right field to end the inning.
The first Grind batter in the sixth struck out, but Gavin Johnson (on a full count) and Carroll both walked.
Benjamin Borkowski of Grind Baseball 10U was named the 10U Spring Swing Most Valuable Player.
That sent up Katyl, who took a 2-1 pitch and sent it to left field for the two-run double and the 9-7 advantage. It was his third-straight hit to left, following his singles in the third and fifth innings.
The Grind took the two-run lead into the bottom of the sixth and last inning, but had to battle to hold it.
Jameson Romeo led off for Hustle by reaching on an error and he went to second when Christian Hernandez (3-for-3) singled to center. A ground ball resulted in a force at second which left runners on the corners. Jonah Leon hit an RBI single to shortstop that shaved the deficit to a single run, but back-to-back groundouts ended the game.
The Grind ended the tournament 4-0 with a 45-19 run differential. Katyl hit safely in each game, going 7-for-12 with six runs and three RBI.
“Our team played really well in those last few innings,” he said. “It’s great to win the championship.”
Burkowski was 5-for-8 over the last three games of the tournament, with six runs and five RBI. He was 2-for-3 in the final.
“We had to work really hard to come back and win,” he said. “It felt really good.”
Aside from Katyl and Burkowski, Talerico (2-for-4), Rynkiewicz (2-for-3) and Hunter Stavish (2-for-3) also had multiple hits in the championship game.