By Rich Bevensee
At this early stage of the season, one of the best characteristics which can be attributed to the Elite Baseball 14U Sugar Kings is that they have developed short memories.
A tournament-opening, 15-run blowout loss on Friday night could have submerged the entire weekend, and lesser teams may have allowed that to happen. But not the Sugar Kings.
The Ocean Township based club ran off three straight victories Sunday while scoring 45 runs in the process. The crowning achievement to their bounce-back weekend was an 11-8 victory over Energy Baseball 14U Fire of Wrentham, Massachusetts, in the Battle at the Turf 14U Silver Bracket championship game on Sunday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“We know how to succeed in tough times,” said Sugar Kings center fielder and leadoff man Jonathan Kim, who went 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI in the final. “At first our team didn’t coordinate right. We didn’t know what we were doing. Nothing felt right. But the next day we started to figure it out, then we started to win games. Our hitting started to get better, we scored a lot of runs, we started to come up with the W and it feels amazing.”
The Sugar Kings began the tournament Friday with a 16-1 loss to Diamond Jacks Super 14U, and a 16-15 walk-off loss against Diamond Jacks Gold.
Despite going 0-2 in pool play the Kings qualified for the Silver bracket playoff on Sunday. They earned a 10-8 defeat of 14U Fuel in the quarterfinals, then knocked off top-seeded Flores Baseball Braves 2030 Scout, 8-4, in the semifinals.
“We’re a little younger and playing up,” Sugar Kings coach Eric Alvarez said. “We played a Super Jacks team which was unbelievable, but that’s something we talked about from the beginning, being able to bounce back. We ended up getting walked off against another Diamond Jacks team, and we talked about bouncing back today, taking it one pitch at a time, and we succeeded.”
In the championship game, the Fire (1-3) rallied to tie the game at 4-4 with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
That’s when the Sugar Kings took over the final, scoring seven runs in their next at bat. Parker DeCarlo was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Everett Hoffman had an RBI groundout and Ayan Yadav walked with the bases loaded for a 7-4 lead.
The Kings probably thought they were putting the game out of reach when Zachary Racz, Aiden Patterson, Jack Lamendola and Frank Johantgen rapped consecutive RBI singles for an 11-4 cushion.
But the Fire didn’t leave New Jersey without creating a little late inning drama. Rocco Pacella led off with a walk and eventually scored on an infield throwing error. With two on and two out, Jackson Rolince cleared the bases when he singled to drive in a run and raced all the way home on an outfield error, which made the score 11-8.
Kim, who came on in relief in the fifth, got the final out with a strikeout looking.
DeCarlo was superb in his second start of the season, going three innings and allowing one run on one hit and three walks with three strikeouts. He departed after reaching 60 pitches and allowing a walk to lead off the fourth.
Sugar Kings Jonathan Kim, left, and Parker DeCarlo were the catalysts in the 14U Silver Bracket final.
“I think he was amazing today,” Alvarez said. “He’s been an all-around great player.”
“My location was pretty good. I was throwing strikes and that’s good,” said DeCarlo, who kept it simple by mixing a fastball and curveball.
DeCarlo, who walked twice and was hit by a pitch, said the team will gain some confidence from this weekend because of how the team rebounded after its miserable Friday evening doubleheader.
“We put the bat on the ball, got motivated and just worked through it,” DeCarlo said. “It’s pretty satisfying.”
The Sugar Kings built a 4-0 lead over the first three innings. Kim scored on a wild pitch in the first. Dondero walked with the bases loaded and Kim drove in a run with an RBI single in the second. And Damato added a sacrifice fly in the third.
The Fire fought back to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth against Sugar Kings reliever Nicholas Seymour. Rolince began the rally with a bases-loaded single before Carson Hirsch, Andrew Griffin and Jason Gonsalves all walked with the bases full.