Lake Shore Marlins Defeat Angels For 10U Best In House Championship

Posted Thursday, July 12, 2018 10:15 am

Colin Murphy

Following a challenging regular season, the battle-tested Lake Shore 10U Marlins went on an inspired playoff run to capture the Best In House tournament championship.

The No. 5 seed Marlins notched playoff wins over the No. 4 seed Red Sox, undefeated No. 1 seed Dodgers and No. 2 seed Angels, capping the playoffs with a 10-4 victory over the Angels in the Best In House championship game on June 14 at Lake Shore Athletic complex.

Marlins head coach Jesse Pratt said the team learned to have each other’s backs through a season of trials and adversities.

“I am proud of how they pulled together as a team,” said Pratt. “We really supported each other by the end of season.”

The Marlins, who are Sal Anello, Levi Brannon, Evan DiGiorgio, Dylan Gonzalez, Blake Harris, Grady Kernan, Dylan Pratt, Roman Riggleman, Hunter Strevig, Alex Thomas and Julian Vega, faced many hurdles throughout the regular season while playing to a 4-5 record. Key player Dylan Pratt suffered a severe injury in a bike accident and had to have emergency surgery and spend two days at Johns Hopkins Hospital, missing three of his team’s games.

“The team stepped up when he was out and some played different positions,” said coach Pratt. “One of the games we had to play with only eight players. Our team kept working hard so that we were able to pull it together at the end of the season.”

PHOTO GALLERY: 6.14.18 Lake Shore 10U Best In House championship, Marlins vs. Angels

Pratt returned healthy for the playoffs, and the Marlins caught fire. They avenged two regular-season losses to the No. 4 seed Red Sox by run-ruling the Red Sox 18-8 in five innings in the first round. The following day, the Marlins faced the undefeated No. 1 seed Dodgers, and, after a mid-game thunder postponement, trailed the Dodgers 5-2 in the top of the fourth inning when play resumed three days later. They battled back from that deficit and ended up going into extra innings tied 9-9 before busting out for five runs and holding on for a 14-10 win.

In the championship against the Angels, the Marlins again trailed late when they faced a 3-2 deficit in the fifth inning. But the Marlins exploded for five runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth to go on to win 10-4.

“I was proud of our team for excellent defense,” said coach Pratt, who coached the team with assistant coaches Bruce Brannon, Anthony DiGiorgio and Tim Kernan. “To hold the 2-seed to only four runs in six innings at this age group in a 10U recreational league is quite impressive. I am also proud of how they pulled together as a team, how they all did what it takes to help our team, how they all contributed to our success, and how they believed in themselves enough to be able to come back against an undefeated 1-seed team to win in extra innings.”

The runner-up Angels closed out a fine season of their own. The team of Austin Hammack, Carson Koreck, Ryan Lentz, Camryn Roe, Chase Hartlove, Liam Thomas, Rylan Knipp, Carmine Cresta, Wade Lonergan, Dusty Steinheim and Tim Bates, coached by head coach Greg Hammack and assistant coaches Justin Ebling, Matt Lentz and Ray Bates, went 6-2-1 in the regular season to finish second behind the 10-0 Dodgers. Almost half the squad played together on a fall-ball squad last fall that didn’t win a game, but they were resilient and came back this spring with renewed energy and marked improvement. In the postseason, the Angels won the first game of the Best In House tournament before coming from seven runs down in the fourth inning of the semifinals to win, 14-11.