Northeast Pride 15U Chambers won five straight to end their season with the Fall Brawl title.
By Rich Bevensee
Timing is everything, and the Northeast Pride 15U Chambers ballclub discovered the benefits of fully coming together as a team in its final appearance of the fall season.
Brendan Ryan produced two lockdown efforts on the mound en route to the championship game, Cash Hudson scattered six hits in a complete-game effort in the final, and the Northeast Pride claimed a 4-2 win over Colossal Select and the 15U Fall Brawl title on Sunday afternoon at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
Pride won five straight at ‘The Nation’ to close the fall season at 7-2-1.
“Throughout the summer season and into the fall, we’ve created a really good culture with the group that we have,” said Pride coach Will Kindl. “They’re starting to lean on each other and not feel like they have to be solo players out there. That’s the reason they’re such a tight ballclub and the reason they get the job done.
“It’s a lot of fun to coach these boys, to see the brotherhood and the family we’ve created. It’s a nice way to finish the fall season.”
Ryan, a freshman at Christian Brothers Academy in Albany, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
A right-handed pitcher with a four- and two-seam fastball, slider and changeup, Ryan pitched four innings and got the win in an 18-2 pool play win over Fury Elite on Saturday, and he was exceptional in relief when he returned to the mound in the Pride’s semifinal victory against Wladyka National.
Ryan entered with two outs in the second inning and the Pride trailing, 3-1. Over the next 4⅓ innings, he struck out five while allowing just one run on three hits and one walk, and the Pride came away with a 6-4 win.
“I’d say I leaned on my two-seam the most,” Ryan said. “It’s got so much movement I can throw it anywhere and it’s a ground ball machine.”
Ryan also batted 3-for-8 for the tournament with two doubles, six walks and seven runs scored from his leadoff spot in the batting order.
Brendan Ryan pitched well in two games and batted .375 to earn MVP honors for Northeast Pride.
“He held down the leadoff spot all weekend and had two phenomenal outings, really controlling his pitch count,” Kindl said. “In situations where we really needed our guy to come through, he was that guy this weekend.”
In the championship game, Hudson allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits and one walk and struck out four. He threw a tidy 79 pitches in his seven-inning complete game. Hudson employed a four-seam, sinker, slider and curveball to quiet the Colossal team.
Hudson allowed a run in the second inning and stranded a runner in scoring position, and then stranded two more runners in scoring position in the third and one more in the fifth.
“Cash is just a gamer,” Kindl said. “He gets out on the mound and doesn’t shy away from the spotlight.”
Hudson, a 5-9, 160-pound freshman lefty at Windsor Central HS (N.Y.), is a regular with the Northeast Pride National team but it was obvious to him that the Scout team has some bonafide chemistry.
“I’d say we’re coming together pretty well,” Hudson said. “I also play for the National team but it seems this team is playing well together. You like being able to rely on a teammate. You want to get a ground ball and know that your defense will make the play.”
Colossal (7-4-1), from Lindenwold, N.J., took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when catcher Jason Granela doubled and courtesy runner Ben Kite scored on an Angelo DiSilvestro base hit.
Northeast Pride, based in Albany, immediately responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame after Everett Nelson singled, Liam Dieckmann reached on an error and Quintin Bishop walked to lead off the inning. Kion Tatum lofted a sacrifice fly to tie the game and Tommy Scalisi drove a single into right center to push across two more runs.
Bishop did more damage in the fourth. Hudson and Nelson led off with base hits and Bishop delivered a one-out RBI single for a 4-1 lead.
Colossal notched an unearned run in the sixth when Danny Pullman reached on an infield error and scored on a two-out single by Granela.
For Colossal, Maximus Woodman pitched two innings and surrendered three runs on four hits and two walks. Logan Yackle yielded one run in two innings on four hits and no walks with three strikeouts. Kite pitched the final two scoreless innings and gave up just one walk and struck out one.