By Rich Bevensee
To hear Sebastien Walker explain it, the lopsided loss from the day before was on the minds of all his Xtreme Khaos 11U teammates, and then again, it really wasn’t.
Khaos of Hudson Valley, N.Y., suffered a beatdown against Drillers Blue of Denville the day before, but the players were aware that their coaches were holding back their best pitchers for the single elimination playoff the next day.
Still, an embarrassing loss is just that, so Walker and Jackson Muhlfeld took it upon themselves to carry their team past that memory and onto a championship.
Walker pitched a complete-game gem in which he minimized trouble, Muhlfeld launched a mammoth three-run home run, and Khaos earned a measure of revenge by beating the Drillers, 9-4, in the 11U Summer Bash championship game on Sunday afternoon at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“This is exciting,” Walker said. “It’s Diamond Nation. Not many teams win too many games here, or even get to the chip.”
“We wanted to get revenge and we did that today,” said Muhlberg, who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
The Drillers earned the top seed for the four-team playoff after going 2-0 in pool play, which included a 13-4 thrashing of Khaos on Saturday.
Once the teams pushed through to the semifinals – Drillers Blue defeated Drillers Red, 10-5, and Khaos knocked out second-seeded Riptide, 5-0 – the rematch was on.
“Before the seeding this team really beat us, but it wasn’t really on our minds since everyone in our bracket made the playoffs,” Walker said. “But they have some good players on that team so we still wanted revenge.”
“Yesterday was just seeding, but they know today’s elimination day,” Khaos coach Chris Maus said. “There’s a big difference between losing and losing big, and they remember. When the light turns on, they step up.”
Walker allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and four walks and he struck out four.
Jackson Muhlfeld hit a three-run homer in the 11U Summer Bash final and was named MVP.
Walker never allowed more than two runs in an inning, and he also stranded four baserunners in scoring position.
“Sebastien didn’t even have his good stuff today and he battled through and I was proud of him,” Maus said.
Khaos sprinted out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back, scoring in each of the first four innings. In the first, Walker scored on a throwing error and Christopher Stickert slashed a single up the middle to drive in two runs.
The Drillers scored in the bottom of the first on a Stefano Bisceglia RBI single, but Walker held the Drillers scoreless until the fourth when Khaos had already built a 9-1 lead.
“There were a lot of people yelling between both teams and I tried to block that out to do my stuff,” Walker said. “I have a good team behind me. When I give up a run or two, I tell myself I gotta get out of this inning without giving up too much, because I know my team can hit and score.”
In the second, Brian McGillycuddy and Walker both had RBI groundouts to boost Khaos’ lead to 5-1. In the third, Bradley Cuadrado slapped an RBI single.
Muhlfeld unleashed his monster homer in the fourth. Paul Kassas Jr. and McGillycuddy walked but the Drillers got two outs before Muhlfeld came up, and on a 3-2 pitch he hit a towering shot over the left field fence.
It was Muhlfeld’s 22nd homer of the season.
“The pitch was middle out but I got my bat on it,” Muhlfeld said. “I missed it a little but I was lucky to hit it out.”
The Drillers tried to crawl back into the contest with two runs in the fourth and another in the sixth. In the fourth, Bisceglia struck again with a double to center to score Beau Harris, and Roman Jallabar singled home Bisceglia.
In the sixth, Walker surrendered a pair of walks before an infield throwing error allowed Bisceglia to score. Bisceglia led the Drillers offense by going 2 for 2 with a walk, with two RBI and two runs scored.