2024 11U PG Select Festival
d then bring the gas. And Acosta will take one for a called strike. Acosta had a father who played football at FIU. Didn’t pit bull just put his name on that stadium down to that fire? Yes he did. Next five years, Pitbull Stadium. Acosta waits on the pitch and here it comes after a little hesitation. And that looked like a pretty good offering. There’s a little bit of a hover there from Rivero too. And if you’re really gearing up for the fastball and he gives you that hesitation, good luck. All of a sudden it comes out of the hand. Yeah And the pitch is cut on the miss went back to the fastball and he struck out the first two hitters. He is faced. As you can see he’s just raring back and going 22. Jace Winston Dixon I know the recruiting rules have changed so dramatically, but a young man from Tucson, I feel like calling Chip Hale in Arizona and saying, hey, get to know the Rivero family if you don’t already. Very well. Yep. He should. 80 miles an hour. Here’s Jace. Winston featured Jace as well and are open part of Cain’s National 12. You yeah Jason the Uber athlete. This should be a good matchup to see twitchy athlete at the plate against the Fireballer from Arizona. Take a good look at Winston. And these kids are so experienced in games that they play. And I want to share with you what this summer has been like because I think it’s emblematic of so many players in this game. And that pitch is a called strike. So the summer has been amazing. He went to, of course, to the select fest in USA baseball, been going at, some of the big events around the country, and there’s Ryan Klesko, world champion with the Braves. And tell you what, Ryan isn’t just part of this event. He really loves talking to these hitters and talking to these players. Yeah he he instilled so much knowledge during practice yesterday with these guys, just giving him experience that he’s kind of faced stuff that he’s done with the likes of Barry Bonds and all the all the coaches that he’s had. Bruce Bochy, World Series winning, champion manager there. Two one pitch painted on the corner. In fact, he was talking to one of the hitters yesterday and he was leaking and leaning forward. He said, hey, stay back on that back foot. Last swing, he hit one about 320ft into the trees. And I’m like, you know what? He he could see it. He can explain it. Absolutely. And then we got to see him take batting practice which was still amazing to watch. Yeah. We did. It’s a good thing there’s no parking lot or house beyond the right field fence here at East Cobb on this field. Otherwise he might have done some residual damage. Jace Winston hanging tough here in the top of the first inning, a young man who says he can speak Albanian. I don’t think I know anybody else that can speak Albanian other than Jace Winsto. What a group. Young man successful on the field and off. Good students, good kids. Right here. Tell you what. You also have to feel for Waylon Harris behind the plate. He’s got a handle, Rivera. Sure. And listen, these guys haven’t caught these guys before, obviously playing on different travel teams and stuff. And it being 80 miles an hour, so it’s a tough task for young Waylon here. Winston hanging tough. Yeah. Winston’s a tough ab. I mean, like you said, he’s played in all the big events, with the perfect game platform that we’ve created at the youth level that just continues to grow, so he’s seen guys of similar ilk, to Rivero, maybe throughout the summer. So, he’s giving a tough AB here. See what verdict we get. Here’s the three two. And it’s fouled away again. And this is one of those, you know in an all star format of slugfest. You want to come through with the big swing. But what Winston is showing me is he’s hanging tough. Yeah yeah. He’s seeing the ball out of the hand pretty well battling through the at bat, we’ll see who comes out on top here. Parents finding some shade and Winston will take ball four. He worked that walk. Yeah. Rivera went to the breaking ball there after a couple. Tough fastballs. Got fouled off by Winston. So tried to mix it up. Winston gets on first base with the walk. First base runner of the game. This is Jack the hammer Mattingly from Louisville, Kentucky. Eight home runs over the course of his PG numbers. He loved to play for an SEC school and he rolls this one to first. That’s going to be an easy play to end the inning by Elias. So a walk. But that’s it. Against Rivera. We’re off and rolling in. The 11 year slugfes. First it was just a team. Now I can’t imagine my life without them. That coach changed our son on the field and off. Hi my name is Hudson Bales. My hometown is Menifee, California. I play center field and I’m a left handed pitcher. Hi, I’m Eli Deville, I’m from Lake Charles, Louisiana. I play first, third and outfield. Hi. My name is Reuben Elias and I’m from Chino Hills, California. And my position is that I play is first, third and pitcher. Hi. My name is Gabe Gutierrez. I’m from Eastvale, California, and my positions are catcher, middle infield, and outfield. Hi, my name is William Harris. I’m from Magnolia, Texas. I play catcher, outfielder and pitcher. Hi, my name is Rocco Lamotte. I’m from San Francisco, California. I play first base catcher and outfield. Hi, my name is Maya Leija. I’m from Katy, Texas and I play short third outfield and pitcher. Hi, my name is Ethan. I’m from Texas and I play centerfield, shortstop and pitcher. My name is Carlos Navarro. I’m from Tucson, Arizona and I play third short and pitcher. My name is cash Tellez. I’m from North Tustin, California and my positions are middle infield and the right hand pitcher. My name is Joshua Park. I’m from LA mirada, California, and I’m an outfielder and right handed pitcher. Hi, my name is Christian Valadez. I’m from Eagle Pass, Texas, and my positions are third base, shortstop and pitcher. Hi, my name is Braden. I live in Tomball, Texas and I play center. Second short. Hi, my name is Alan Yu. I’m from Seattle, Washington and I’m a right handed pitcher and outfielder. Well, these young men do come from all over our country, don’t they? Let’s take a look at our starting lineups for the West team, and they are brought to you by Yeti. Each team batting 14 players today, so it may take a while to kind of cycle through these lineups. See you again from the class of 2030 and 2031. Palacios Warthen Rivero be the top three. Worthen won the Home Run Derby prior to our game today, so he’s off and rolling already. And there’s page two of our team West starting lineups. Just saw Jack Mattingly bat. Now we’ll get to see him pitch. He says he throws four pitches. Let’s see if he can do that today. And in the 70s. And an exciting young player as well. Yeah like we talked about in the opening two. He’s a two way talent. Physical type guy. You’re going to see him play the field as well. Hopefully impact the game on both sides of the baseball. Was outstanding at the, PGI in Southaven, Mississippi this summer. Yeah, he’s been at the Kentucky state tournament with the Louisville Tomahawks. The beast of the East, the PPG d Series, the Elite Eight USA Futures Invitational made the top 24. So he’s been all over the country and he’s facing Ethan Palacios, our player of the year, a young man who calls himself a gritty player from Buda, Texas. Yes, Brett mentioned the ever expanding, PG ecosystem, seeing kids from all over the country, North America, Dominican Republic, just continues to grow. So it’s awesome to see. What do you like most about Ethan Palacios when you’ve seen him play this year? He’s plays well beyond his years, the years, the approach that he has at the plate, the way he carries himself, he’s like a mini professional. It’s just awesome to see. He just goes about his business and gets things done. Palacios takes that one a little bit outside and I think at times you lose track that these young men are 11 years old. When you see him interact with each other. Maybe. But you could have adult conversations and then you see the skill set, and sometimes you think they have to be 14 or 15. Absolutely. And that’s the thing too. They play so much baseball. They train so much. Now, that they just get good advice on a daily basis from their coaches and parents and siblings and just friends, family, friends. So the advancement of that is even something to see. Palacios, part of TBT National White. And a father that played basketball ran cross country. Mom was a softball and basketball player. There’s a chopper handled nicely at second base off the carpet. That was a nifty play by Carlos Marrero, a young man from the Dominican wearing number three. Yeah, Carlos is one of those guys. He plays beyond his years as well. It’s so smooth. He works downhill through the baseball, it’s watch it like a 15, 16, 17 year old guy play the middle infield at 11. Brady Worthen, the batter from Tomball, Texas, probably no surprise he’s with the Bandidos. That’s their home just north of Houston. But, he won the Home Run Derby, and he’s not a big guy, but he provided quite a bit of juice. Oh, absolutely. Sweet, sweet little left handed stroke creates leverage, I think I saw Rey de Leon in attendance today, too. From the Bandidos. He’s here. Yes, indeed. Big Bryce Harper fan is Braden. We ask these guys, what’s their dream or desire? College and Brady Worthen says straight to the pros. He’s got it planned out. It’s funny too. Like we talk about they’re 11 years old. They like to have fun. If you look at it a little bit, the swing, it is a little bit Bryce Harper ish. Now you got me excited to see. Zero two pitch offered at one up and out of the zone. Pretty good pitch by Mattingly to make Worthen climb the ladder. And there’s two outs here in the bottom of the first. Yeah Mattingly’s going right at guys too. Working all four quadrants of the strike zone, going right at guys. All right. We’ve seen Carlo Rivero and that strong arm as he gives a fist bump there to our plate. Umpire, what do you like about him swinging the bat? Obviously a left handed hitter or right handed pitcher. Sure. Again, it’s so easy. It’s low effort. He gets the barrel there on time. It’s fun to watch. Lifted in the air to left field. It’s up out and it is gone. What a show Carlo Rivera was put on in just the first inning. He’s got the GoPro on the helmet. I can’t wait to see the shot from there. And he wasted little time of sending one into the Georgia trees. Yeah, like we talked about in the opening, I didn’t know what I was more excited to watch him throwing 80 miles an hour or that sweet left handed stroke. I think the answer is both right. Absolutely. We stayed on that pitch as well. Yeah. That’s like we talked about too, that advancement, that refined approach. I mean, he would just went backside bomb there at 11 years old, sat on the fastball, took it 280ft. Waylon two Chainz Harris next man in. Wayland’s another guy from the Bandidos, saw him throughout the summer in various events too, he’s a big glue guy. He’s as we saw, he’s behind the plate. He’s, a team leader back there, and just grinding, grinding out at bats. And he was our offensive player of the year. He was out of Magnolia, Texas, homeschooled, part of the Bandidos, a Bandidos team that, by the way, has gone 124. And oh, so that is the 12 year team. But our 11 year team, the Bandidos as well. Were finalists at the PGI, against TBT. So as we go, as we talked about Rey, with regards to another team, multiple wins, multiple tournament wins and so forth to a lot of success, and Harris is going to take a strike from Mattingly. We asked these young men, though, who motivates them and sometimes they might mention a parent or a major league player. Harris was a little bit different, and I haven’t heard this before, but he said, I motivate myself. And, I gotta tell you what, I like that, right? I mean, he takes care of all of that himself. Yeah, from an 11 year old. That’s a big statement. You know what I mean? Self-accountability gets after it on a daily basis. Hopefully in the classroom, and on the field. Next pitch is fought off a little one hopper to Marrero. Pretty smooth over there at second base. And that will end the inning. So Mattingly gets three outs, but one man touched him up. Carlo Rivero able to shoot one up and out over the fence in left. The first run of our select fest on a long ball here at East Cobb. Oh And welcome back to East Cobb. It’s time now for a turtle box game break. Let’s introduce the third member of our crew, Bri. Lasik Sticking around here with West manager Tom Flash Gordon, you’re having a great time. Obviously in the dugout. Why do you make it a priority to be here with these kids? Well, you know, I still feel like I’m a kid at heart, so I believe that just being here with the kids and seeing them play the talent and the way they represent themselves, their families, it’s no better place for me to be right now. And watching these kids 11 youth play in the game at this level. You had a great speech last banquet. What do you hope that the kids take away from that? Well, I hope and pray that everybody believes that. You know, you can do anything you want to do and put your heart to that. Because remember, when you are going through a phases of your life, you know you want to compete with the best you want to be the best, but you also want to be able to have that end goal. Knowing that your goals and aspirations, you have tried the best you can keep, you achieve that two of your sons did as well. What do you have for advice for parents that are going through this process that you also went through? I tell you what to make it a little bit funnier. It gets easier. Same time right now you going to different cities all the time and for your young men, but also to, you know, some families have more than just one son, that they’re actually traveling around with. But opportunity for them to see the game at the lowest level, but also at the best pace, and then to actually have goals, like I said, aspirations of being what they want to be. How about that Cali home run to start it off? What a home rI mean, the young man hit but he also two is a really, you know, awesome little kid. But he got a good swing. So hard fastball with a better swing and that ball. You got it. All right. Thank you. Bria and flash. And this is Ruben Elias on the mound. New pitcher facing Tripp Gil from Savannah, Georgia. That life is working fast. He’s ready to go. He’s getting the ball back from the catcher, ready to rock and fire again from Chino Hills, California. Went to the breaking ball there. Swing and miss by Gil. Gil’s father, Randy, played football at Georgia Southern. Had an uncle that played baseball. Uncle Cousins. All athletes. Right here. Tripp Gil, four time PGA tournament MVP. A four time PGA tournament MVP. Pitcher And that’s the fun part about this age range. These kids, they pitch, they hit. They they do a little bit of everything. Absolutely. As we talked about they’re going to be moving all around the field. You may see him pitch one inning move to an infield position outfield. They’re 11 years old. So they’re just having fun trying to play as many positions as they possibly can. And Tripp Gil will take the walk to begin the top of the second for the East team looking for their first run. Here in the 11 you select fest. See if Ruben here can zone it in and roll a two ball. He’s going to face Ben Hamlin. Benny bombs from Palm Beach Gardens, Florid. Nice stop there by Harris, with the pick as we talked about. They don’t get to catch these guys, prior for the most part, so it’s a tough little task there for the catchers. There’s no doubt. Hamlin. Not only part of this select fest, he’s in the top 24 for team USA. Trying to make that 18 man roster that will go to Honduras a little bit later on. One, the PGI was the first 11 youth team in PGA history to win all four major events. Oh yeah. They won the Houston Super Regional Beast of the East, PPG World Series and PGA clean sweep. That ball clanks away and Gil’s going to advance to second base. Hamlin’s father, Brett, played college football at the University of Buffalo, was a wide receiver, was a free agent with the Dolphins and the Falcons. Two of his three uncles played football as well and a little rich. Now there’s a couple of runners aboard right fielder Andrew to Elias seems to be nibbling a little bit just instead of attacking the zone, let his defense work for him, so we’ll see if he can reel it in here. Andrew Smart, next man in from Athens, Georgia. He was competing just a few days ago for a chance to go to Williamsport. The Little League World Series didn’t quite get there. And of course, that is a tremendous opportunity. There’s a throw back to second and Gil able to scramble back on the throw from Waylon Harris. And I would say most of the family members can be here for this select fest. They enjoy it. As we take a look at this throw down as well. I would say though, for Andrew Smart, his father is not here today, and I would imagine for a pretty good reason, because Kirby, head football coach of the Georgia Bulldogs, probably has a practice this morning in this afternoon. Yeah, I think they have a big practice today on campus. That Kirby has to attend. Unfortunately. Pitch again just off the glove. And that will provide a free base. So does feel like Elias is really trying to kind of nibble on those corners. And he said a few too far outside and a couple of walks and now a wild pitch puts a couple of runners in scoring position. Yep. It just looks a little tentative. Instead of trying to just pound the zone and let his defense work, he’s nibbling a little bit like we talked about. This one’s popped up and it will be caught over a third base. Put away by Deville for the first out. That’s a big out with runners at second and third chance. Communication in a slugfest or an all star game always takes on a little different dimension. When you haven’t played with these guys before. Yep, you’re not used to hearing that voice coming in to call the baseball. This is Dylan McCants from Jacksonville, Florida. Pretty good pitch falls in for a strik. Also part of National as McCann’s. Yeah he’s one of those guys. He’s got an infectious personality along with being really talented on the baseball field and a straight-A student. And he’s going to stroke one out towards. Right. How about that sequence to finish off the inning. Big play there to get Elias out of some trouble. And it ends the inning with no damage done. Thank you. Good. Don’t you. Get out. One years old. You’re playing with a draw. Five, you say, and you’re not swinging this bag. You’re not in the game. Yeah, look at this barrel. Look at the design. I mean, you hit a home run, and you you you hit a home run and you bat flip it, and then you go and it’s like, oh, he’s using the tank like, okay, okay, you want to hit balls like this kid, get this bag. I mean, if you’re 13 years old and you’re not swinging this bat, you’re not in the game. We got the. Deal. Right. Here we go to the bottom of the second inning. How about that end with a line out and a double play and with runners at second and third, nobody out. East team did not score. Now the West, ready to bat in the bottom of the second. Got a new pitcher as well. New pitcher every inning. Yep. Cooper run here. East Cobb Astros guy guy that’s going to pound the zone. Mix it up and try to disrupt timing, has been has pitched some of the bigger games for East Cobb Astros throughout the summer circuit. So let’s see what he can do, get ahead, stay ahead. And, maybe a quick inning here. You know, these pitchers are used to throwing multiple innings in their starts. It does take a little different mindset when you know you’re going to get one inning. Sure. They come out amped up a little bit. Obviously it’s a select festival. They’re only throwing one inning. They’re trying to keep up with the velo, perhaps, and let it all hang out. So you might see some command issues from these guys. Remember, they are 11 years old. Christian Chino Valdez from Eagle Pass, Texas. He’s come a long way down there near the border in Eagle Pass. Yeah, Newton’s a guy, who I’ve seen multiple times throughout the summer. Just fills up the strike zone. Little arm side run and too much run. He looks like he lost his, grip there on a breaking ball. Number 99, Rocco Lamas took that between the one and the three to Christian. It’s a little more about Christian. Many bats later on in the game, teams again batting 14. So we’ll see these guys multiple times over the course of this seven inning contest. And this is Rocco LaMonte from San Francisco batting from TBT National Wine. Yeah. Christian’s a guy I saw at PGI. He had 1718 hits. Led the top. Us. So we’ll go. Son of Chris and Dana. Got an older brother, Rio, as well. Offered at a high one and fouled it right back. He tried to attack the fastball there, saw something up and tried to go right at it. Lamont says he has a hitting routine. He does every day, and it starts with several drills on the tee, progresses to some front toss drills, works with beans and corn kernels to improve hand-eye coordination. I’ve never heard that one before. That one’s out there to left and it’s going to drop. And Valdez did not try to advance thinking there was going to be an out. Lamont is going to reach for Milo Leja. High sky here in Georgia. That’s one of the amazing things too. Like you just said, with Rocco having a hitting routine every day as an 11 year old child holding himself accountable to get better, it’s just to say the advancement of the game as we kind of see it in front of our eyes, it turns on the jugs machine, cranks up the velocity. I’ve never heard of something using corn kernels. How about that play at third base, though? Valdez was going to try to advance and Winston behind the plate had another idea. Watch this. Peg, who came out of the crouch right there with an absolute liner, to catch the runner. And Lamont did not follow to second base. Milo from my neck of the woods. Katy, Texas. Going to drive one in the air to left field. This ball is hit well. Does it have enough? It’s off the fence. Played nicely in left by Asher Mitchell and Lamont will go to third in the double from Milo. Leah from the Houston area. Nice swing there. Got leverage out in front and showed off the athleticism and the power there. Maybe got that a little bit off the very end of his bat. He thought right here he had himself a home run. It’s 265 all the way around here at the East Cobb Complex. He thought he got it but he got out of the box, got the second obviously. So he didn’t, watch it too long. Brings up Joshua Park, another Californian. There’s a ground ball and it’s up the middle and it’s into center for a base hit. It’s going to provide a run and maybe more. And all the way to second base is Park. He never stopped running and gets a pair of RBIs to add to the West advantage. Like we talked about in the strike zone for the most part, and Park was ready to go and shot it right back up the middle. There Now batting number 45 Eli Deville. Little bobble and center I don’t think it was going to matter for a play at the plate. Harris was trying to gun down another. Really simple approach there from Park. Like I said he attacked it first pitch there and, shot it right back up the middle. Now Blum out there for a conversation. One of our coaches with Kyle Tucker and Charles Johnson for the East team looking good in their pink unis here. This afternoon. Yeah. The new colorway. We’ve kind of went away from the prior one. And the new color wave. Obviously the 11 year old kids, love that, that neon pink and mint. Mr. Eli Deville going to get a chance to add to this three nothing Team West advantage. He’s from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Brad Kress, one of my, former minor league players, the Diamondbacks. This is travel coach Eli has a unique little hitch in that swing, and he kind of his bat in a manner I don’t think I’ve seen before. But watching him take BP yesterday, when he catches it, I’m not sure there’s a hitter in this group that hits the ball. Any harder than he does. Yeah, he kind of presets himself, gets a little bit of arm bar and gets in the slot. But like you said, I mean the physicality right there, he was hitting the ball as hard, if not harder than everybody else when he got the barrel there. And to that point, at the conclusion of the season, Deville had hit 25 home runs with 17 of those coming during perfect game events. Have yourself a summer. Absolutely. And that’s the thing too, as we are able to see these guys across the country just with that expansive youth platform, there’s so many opportunities for them to play in our events now, and that’s a testament to obviously perfect game in itself and our, our regional directors running tournaments throughout the year. One goal on this inning, and that was on the caught stealing at third. And that’s a big hack from Deville. Yeah, yeah. He tried to go deep there. But, like we talked about he got in the slot, got on plane, just missed it. Deville said developing mental resilience was an area he diligently worked on over the course of this year. That’s a nice pitch from Mouton, able to get the swing and a miss for the second out of the inning with a couple of runners in scoring position. Yeah, went to a little wrinkle there. Almost, hybrid cutter, little slider to the outer half and got Deville to wave through it. Ruben. Skittles Elias is going to shoot one out into right center. And this ball in the carpet is going to go all the way to the fence. He’s going to hold with a long single, but able to knock home some runs and do some more damage for Team West. Canalis came in attacked fastball, outer half, stayed on the baseball and shot it to right center field. Gap really really, really good approach there. SAT back on that breaking ball. What’s a nice job taking that pitch on that outside corner though to right hitting it well. That’s a thing too with these guys with you talk about hitting routines and so forth too. There’s so much involved with it. Whether they’re hitting breaking balls off machines, hitting fastballs at higher lows, just as they continue to advance their game. This is Alan. You and talk about these players coming from all over the country. How about Everett Washington for you? Yeah. Member of Seattle select baseball out there in Everett. He has really become quite fond of Blake . Yes. He gets to see him frequently during the off season in Seattle. And, of course he’s just coming off a no hitter recently. So not a guy to look not a bad guy to look up to. No. He’s had a couple pretty good, string of starts here. 15 K’s. Prior to that, Seattle select black to is Blake Snell’s part of that organization with Mitchell Dooley. We ask these young men what they love to eat. First time I’ve ever heard of something called galbi or galbi. Korean marinated grilled ribs. He says his mom makes the best in the world. We didn’t have that last night at the banquet, however. But I wish we did, though. I. Pitch behind the head of Allen. You He’s going to take ball four. Now batting ladies and gentlemen, number 22, Kash Kelly. All of a sudden there’s a couple of runners on base with three runs on this inning. And this is cash money to let’s whose little brother threw out the first pitch before the game. Cash from North Tustin, California, takes one for a strike. Part of ZTE national prospects. Cash is the little brother has been, kind of in the journey with cash and hanging out with the boys and stuff like that, just like we talked about infectious personality, always smiling. That one shot out to left. And how about the catch? It was a little bit of everything in left field for Mitchell, but he may have saved another run or two. But the West team adds three runs to their lead. Ruben. Ethan I’ve had a ball on both of you guys. I’ll g. I’m gonna hit a bomb off you like I did last time. My. When the Derby. Then I’ll go two for three to go, three for three. Two doubles and a home run. Going three for three, one home run and two doubles. Tonight I. Tell you what. These young men, they could bring the confidence and swagger when they’re asked to do so. Oh, absolutely. They’re they don’t, search for words there and like you said, all these guys play against each other or teammates, so there’s some some camaraderie there, but some good banter and friendly rivalry. Easton. Boomer. Metzelaars ready to lead off this third inning. New pitcher as well for the West squad. Yep. Hudson Bills, it’s going to take the mound for the West squad. Another kid we saw at PGI, with the Titans Madrigal team, another guy throws a bunch of strikes. You’ll see he has a little bit of deception with this high front glove side. And, was able to go probably get ahead and go to that breaking ball that, I liked so much at the PGI. Now, batting number 88, Easton Nicolaus. Metzelaars one of our top two fundraisers for the charitable arm of this event. So. Well done for Easton. Charlotte Christian is the name of his school and even played some pop Warner when his coach was Greg Olson. And I’m guessing that’s the former NFL player and broadcaster Greg Olson. Yep. Absolutely is, Greg two also helped with the SBA program a little bit, was one of the coaches for them, so Greg has been at East Cobb. We’ve seen him throughout the summer circuit. Giving back some to the game, with the SBA team. Now, Easton says, and I love this from an 11 year old. He says he loves all babies. His aunt’s had babies a couple of years ago and calls himself a baby hog. So this is an election year. If he was a baby kisser, he might be a guy. If he was old enough, that would make a pretty good politician. Yeah, Easton is one of those kids. He’s always, saying thank you and saying, yes, sir. He’s he’s one of the guys that every time you see him, he’s got a smile on his face. Garcia to Grandfather Pete, that played in the NFL for 16 years as a tight end and went to four Super Bowls. Now he lost all four. So you know he was part of the Buffalo Bills. But he later coached and got a ring with the Indianapolis Colts with Tony Dungy. So he has some great bloodlines from multiple sports in his family. As Bill throws one to the backstop. This could be a tough match up left on left with that high high front side, so it’s tough lefties here. Basin bills. I was thinking the same thing. This can’t be a lot of fun. Little leg lift and hang and that one’s outside. And Metzelaars will walk to lead off the third inning. The East team, they had runners at second and third. Nobody out last frame did not score. So they’re trying to get on the board and not fall too far behind the West. Absolutely. Yeah. That that glove side he builds a little bit deliberate with his kind of his motion. And then that glove comes at you. And then all of a sudden that left hand keeps flying out. There. So let’s see if he can reel it in. Levi Rose from Helena, Alabama. Next man in. And a baseball is anything like football, which I’m a part of. You know, when you’re in the South, you kind of feel like you’ve got the, the world cornered, so to speak, and those kids from the West Coast, they can’t beat you. But those West Coast kids can play as well. And, you know, they have an opportunity to make a statement today. Absolutely. And it’s that that’s the thing it’s to it’s that little rivalry, that camaraderie they played against each other, East Coast versus West Coast. Who’s the better baseball player? Tell you what, Levi Rose has a pretty good travel ball coach. And Mitch Moreland. Yeah, I got to talk to Mitch a little bit at the PGI in Southaven, Mississippi. And what he’s able to kind of instill on that the show team, is obviously experience and knowledge of him playing in the big leagues. But the way he kind of delivers that message, is a fun, exciting, with some accountability, too. So there’s a little bit of, both involved with how he kind of delivers the message. Of course, Levi’s father also played baseball at UCF, and, dad’s a college baseball coach, so I would say he’s got some pretty good options. So he takes ball four to, learn this game and keep learning. Yeah, it’s probably a cool situation. I’m sure Levi hangs out at practice, gets to hang out with the guys that are on his dad’s team and just learn little tidbits and just work out with them. So it’s an experience that, some guys don’t get to take advantage of, but I’m sure he does. And, continues to grow, in the game. Quick mound visit from Flash Gordon. His coaching staff, Ryan Klesko, Rico Billups, Asher Mitchell. Next man in. He has the shortest commute of anybody. Got a kid from Seattle we’ve just seen in the Dominican.t Asher comes from Marietta, so, right here from where the East Cobb complex resides. How cool do you think it is to have a mound visit? Regardless of it being a mound visit with Tom flash Gordon? It’s a wonder flash can get everything done in the, the time frames needed as Mitchell Mitchell bats and he’s wearing number 15. I thought that was interesting. I was waiting to see if indeed he was 15. As he takes one high, he said everyone in the family wears 15. It was his mom’s number in high school. Her jersey was retired there and in college, sisters both wore it. His birthday is the 15th of May. He hit 15 home runs this year, so it’s his lucky number. So do you want to hit 16? I get maybe you do. You got to hit 16. But right now it makes for a great note. Absolutely. It’s always good to add to the home run total. I think you come here and you’re playing for a select fest and you’re worried they might just throw you any old number. Not for Asher. Wear number 15. Yeah, that’s the thing too. They’re coming from all over. They’re playing for different travel teams. Might have some guys with good luck numbers that are the same. Played 72 games this summer. His team went 62 and ten for the East. Cobb Astros 11. You won eight championships, including the Georgia Florida Showdown, runner up at the World Series and Beast of East. It’s no doubt played a lot of baseball this year and he takes one down and in. So that’s three walks now to begin this third inning. And the East team had runners at second and third. Didn’t score last frame but they’ve loaded them up with no one out in the third inning. Yeah like we talked about it looks just looks like Bill’s rushing a little bit. Comes out a little bit extra amped up with the situation. Just needs to slow the game down. Like I’m sure Tom said. And flash said, and just do what he normally does. Easton. Biggie Maguire from Lexington, Kentucky has a chance to do some damage. Pretty good pitch there. And for strike one. Yeah Bill’s looked so much better there. He stayed over the rubber longer, allowed his arm to get up and work downhill to get it through the strike zone. Over. But a little bit low. Christie’s his mom played college basketball. Jason. His dad college baseball. Uncles and cousin, college baseball. And, Mike McGuire, a cousin, is the current head coach at Winthrop. Yeah. Bill’s is just missing now. He’s doing a better job here. See if he can, roll a ground ball to get himself out of a little bit of a pickle her. He would love to do that. He gets a strike over the inside corner. I got a kick out of McGuire, though. He said he’s the second best hitter in his family behind his sister. Now, I have a daughter and I have a son, and my son would never admit, even if it was the case, that his sister was a better hitter than him. But Easton does. Hey, listen, sometimes it happens. This is how it works. I got two little girls at home and everybody always asks me, hey, what are you going to do? You go play softball and so forth too. I got teased all over my house. I just let them go, hit when they want to hit. Bases loaded, nobody out. And that pitch is up and out. So Bill’s put him in position maybe to finish off McGuire, but Easton will take the walk and get an RBI and the East team is on the board. And this is the difficult part when you know you’re going to get one inning, you’re kind of fighting a little bit from Bill’s and he’s just trying to slow things down and go, maybe go pitch by pitch. Yeah. And that’s the thing. Forget about what happened the pitch before and just win the next one, slow it down, get over the your backside and just go pitch to Cooper Hutton, Ringgold, Georgia. Another member of that East Cobb Astros team talking to his dad last night. I think they came from Ohio and they were making that drive periodically. And then they decided, you know what? Maybe maybe we should just move to Georgia. Yeah, definitely will help on, the mileage there with the car.o doubt. He’s a big lad, de la Cruz fan who is it? That one is high. He’s exciting to watch. We all should be. Elly De la Cruz fans. He’s another guy. You see these 11 year olds with that infectious personality enjoying the game. He does it on a big stage every day. Newton couldn’t resist the highway. Bill seems to find reeling it in a little bit. He’s missing a little bit up, just like we talked about. Slow it down, get over his front side, work downhill. I think that’s the key. And maybe he did it there. You know, these mounds are a little bit unique. And sometimes you don’t quite get that plane down in the zone. You leave some pitches up. Trying to get the first out of the inning may get it here. Skied in the air to shallow right, and the play will be made. Hutton is going to fly out. So well done. Able to get that first out and not let Rose tag and score from third. Yep. He did a good job there too. With that high front glove side. He’s going to have to time it up. Make sure when he gets the front foot strike and be on time with his arm. So just a little bit of timing issues there to get find himself in the strike zone. But he did a good job there to kind of come back and get that first out of the inning. We have seen Marrero at second base, young man from the Dominican Republic and he fouls one back and out of play and just had a young man in Mitchell who came from Marietta a few miles down the road. But Marrero, a little more difficult travel route for him. Absolutely. And as we saw that play in the top of the first two, he’s so silky smooth with the glove. Whether it’s that short second to the backstop. And it will indeed provide a run, then the throw gets away. So Rose scores. It’s the second run of the inning. Right here. Gabriel Gutierrez getting a workout behind the plate. Waving a miss by Marrero. And Gabriel caught Hudson at the PGI as well, typically plays for MVP hustle, but it was at the PGI with TC Titans madrigal. So there’s some familiarity there. Hopefully you can reel it in here. Skied in the air to right field back towards the wall. And that is gone. And APO three run bomb from Carlos Marrero from the Dominican to East Cobb. And he’s got himself a three run shot. Another backside bomb just a testament to what these kids that approach he didn’t try to do too much and shot it the other way for a three run homer. You know, just impresses me when these young men can hit an opposite field home run and a 265 foot field, and he kind of sliced at that one, but he stayed on it long enough to get it out. Absolutely. Yeah. Like you said, he stayed on the baseball. Just stayed short to the baseball. Got the barrel there on time and provided enough bat speed and was able to impact the baseball that it got out of here. So down four nothing now up. Five four Carlos Marrero enjoying his opportunity to get a select fest home run. I’ll tell you what. If I got a select fest home run, I’d be dancing around these bases. But for these kids, it’s kind of old hat because they’re used to having so much success. Yeah. And that’s the thing too. You see them kind of let their hair down when we’re in the players lounge, but then when they get across those white lines, it looks like the seriousness or that thought process of all right, now it’s time for business. And then they go about it a different way. So Alan Yu is going to come on to pitch. Mentioned again from Seattle, select baseball. The connection with Blake Snell. You a right hander but, he’ll be asked to get the final two outs this inning. He’s another guy. Two way talent. Saw him at the PGA. Traveled out there from Washington and, he’ll be another one where we kind of see him hopefully work down hill, throw a bunch of strikes, get his team out of this inning there, and then we’ll see him different spots throughout playing. He’s an outfielder as well. So we’ll see him throughout the game. Interesting story with you, though. He says his eyesight isn’t great. He plays sports without glasses or contacts. But at night he uses some special night lenses called dream lenses to improve his daytime vision. Now there’s no problem. Today, in the bright sunshine of Atlanta. But he said despite having poor eyesight when he was younger, these lenses kind of help out. Great for play and sports, so it’s not just the equipment and the technology and the training regimen. There’s so many aspects of the game, so much different than when you and I were trying to play. Yeah. Back then it was it’s like, listen, let’s go to the ballpark with a bunch of friends and do our thing and now it’s like you said, hitting routines and special instruction and hitting coaches, pitching coaches. Nutrition, sleep, all that, the advancement of it and just the continued advancement as they kind of have to have self accountability with everything they do. Back to the top of the lineup for Ryan Spann, you also says he has an extra bone in his foot learning something. Every time I come to a select fest for these young men. But here’s Ryan Spann, who struck out to begin our game. Put a cop on that stance with those hands for me, I’m trying to run through my mental Rolodex and looking at some of the, the big league guys that hae had kind of a stance similar to this. It’s almost like a left handed version of Eric Davis. Okay. All right. Really athletic. Ryan’s really athletic too. So maybe we’ll see that in the future. And as we know, Eric could pretty much do anything he wanted to on a baseball field. One ball, two strikes. Big sweeping curve stays upstairs to span. And Joe went to the fastball early and then tried to flip that in there to disrupt Ryan’s timing. And, just a little high. Spence, also a football player, last year, he was the offensive player of the year in his league. And he’s going to wave and miss. So that’s a big strikeout for the second out here in this long third inning. And Joe’s attacking the zone commanding i. So a little bit of ride there. Through the strike zone. And got Ryan to swing and miss there. It feels like maybe you see that pitch but it doesn’t finish where you think it’s going to finish. It looks it makes your eyes light up. No doubt. This is Acosta going to wave and miss. Same thing to Joe’s. Got a real easy delivery and a kind of explodes out of his hand. So as it’s coming it’s riding through that zone, so it looks enticing, and then like you just said, it doesn’t end up where it started. Hitters hate that. I. Mean, you got such little reaction time to begin with. And in this era of spin rates, when we talk about guys who can stay on plane or whatnot, when that ball doesn’t quite finish where you think it’s going to finish, usually the pitcher’s having a lot of success. Yeah, that’s the thing too. As you said, if you’re around the zone and you kind of can throw that wrinkle in and then all of a sudden you go there and hey, I thought it was going to be here. My eyes lit up and it wasn’t. Tell you what, Allen was able to enter this game in a tough spot, get a couple of strikeouts. Well done. But we did see one big swing this frame. Carlos Marrero wild pitch kept him from getting a grand slam. Couple of runners on base elevate to celebrate a three run Oppo Taco for the East team. Who. Came back here with East manager, four time Gold Glove winner and two time all star Charles Johnson. Charles, thank you so much for doing this interview mid-game, what’s your best favorite part about being here with all these players? Well for me, it takes you back to when I was a young kid coming up, and. And what a great opportunity to be able to come and play with and against some of the best talent at your age. And, it’s just so inspirational to me to come back and really give back a little bit of my knowledge to these young kids. And for me, it’l about them having fun and enjoying themselves at this age. Have you seen the talent level just continue to increase throughout the years? I truly has. I mean, you’ve seen from year in and year out how these kids grow. I mean, you look at when they’re 11 now, but I mean, I’m looking over the other field and see 12 year old kids and they look like night and day almost. And so this is time where the kids grow really fast, they mature really fast, and they learn a lot. And so this is a good time to start pouring into these young kids. And, and really teaching them the fundamentals of the game of baseball. What do you see on that home run from Carlos Moreira? Oh, man. I tell you what. That was a that was a pretty good shot right there. You know, he really stayed on that ball really well and you know, and drove it out of the ballpark to right field. But we really needed that boost right there. All right. Thanks coach. Back to you guys in the booth. And Charles Johnson won four consecutive Gold Gloves between 95 and 98. And in between of course he won a World Series with e Florida marlins in 97. So, what a stretch. Absolutely great career. Obviously big time catch and throw guy. Had a bazooka for an arm. Hudson Bill’s batting. Easton McGuire, the new pitcher. As we work here in the bottom of the third inning in the West team for the first time today behind as Bill’s the kid out of Menifee, California bats. Going to work himself free base. Yeah. McGuire seems te the reoccurring theme. A little amped up there to start. Just missing up in the zone, we’re yanking the ball to his glove side, just like we said. Just needs to slow it down, do what he’s normally does, and fill up the strike zone. Gabriel Gutierrez and, you know, I just love the excitement for these young men to be part of this event. And I think Gutierrez took it to an even different level when he was talking about what this select fest meant to him. He’s been waking up with his dad every day at 6 a.m. to hit. For the last year, he’s been working six days a week with the intent and the purpose of one goal to make the select fest, and here he is. Yep. And that’s the thing that I kind of see all throughout the summer circuit. And it’s like, hey, how can I make this select festival game? How what do I need to do? How do I get that bubble boy, it’s just it’s a it’s an awesome thing to see their work ethic and then they get to achieve their goal, here at East Cap. Yeah. It’s exciting. As McGuire delivers a pitch that is tapped foul by Gutierrez. Gutierrez also a 4.0 student, and Mathis’s favorite subject. His favorite teacher is Mrs. Ford, and he says, Mrs. Ford, if you’re watching, you’re my favorite. She makes learning fun. I tell you what, when you’re getting up at 6 a.m. every day, though, to take your hacks with dad, baseball’s fun too. Yes, absolutely. And that’s a cool thing. A cool experience that he gets to do with his dad every day, and just continue, obviously, as we said, to get better at the game of baseball. Snap throw there from Rose, who, is a teammate of Easton McGuire. So we should see some familiarity here with, pitcher catcher. This inning. Boy, that does help. How about a ground ball to short? Maybe a chance for a DP, a step on second to throw to first. Nicely done by Mattingly. And that walk is erased with A63 DP. Yep. There we talked about it to Jack. Was the starting pitcher hitting in the middle of the lineup. And now he’s playing shortstop rolling a double play. It’s one thing about this type of field in the bases. Not always easy to turn those double plays but got one there. And we’re back to the top of the lineup for Palacios, who bounced out to second his only time in. Yeah, it’s tough with those 70 foot bases. And you kind of have to make a quick decision, get it and get rid of it and, tough to see some double plays on the smaller field sometimes. So Palacios our player of the year, also a member of the National Junior Honor Society at all A students. So he does a little bit of Courtney all the wins. Jack. They don’t ever gotta get a no power on the crease. Yeah. Gotta keep on moving no matter how that I’m back in my bag now. So I need that goal. Y’all got hits when he throwing the fast ball too much I been through. So I put it all in that rearview. Clean money in the black whip. Got old problems with a friend’s new. Yeah. Brett Dolan John McAdams. Got some youngsters watching as well. They’ve seen a good game. We go to the top of the fourth inning. John Little back and forth. First four runs for the West, last five runs for team East. Yep. Like we said yo came in there in a big spot and kind of put out the fire. And then McGuire came in a little bit amped up and then went to the breaking ball. Got a double play ball there. So the tides are kind of settling now after a couple innings hopefully here. And continue to see some good baseball. Also getting second time through this lineup. Each team batting 14. So a different pitcher every inning. Tomorrow for the 12 you select fest here on perfect game TV will play eight innings. A few more players on the roster, but, it’s a little bit harder to make this the 11 you select fest with a smaller number of players. Yes, sure. 28, 28 guys get selected, like we continue to talk about just that ever growing platform that we have from the youth space, your perfect game. So there’s more and more players playing in our events. So to narrow it down to 28, after the PGI is definitely a tough task. And it’s ever growing to, the amount of players that we get to see and make our selections. Is it agonizing at times to make those final selections, it’s, you know what? It’s enjoyable. I enjoy it a lot. I actually do. It’s awesome to see these guys continue to grow and see them in early in the season until the end of the season, as they’re vying for these positions. So it’s very enjoyable to, kind of watch them mature even over the course of the summer, and just continue to get better. It’s amazing the number of kids I’ve had either write in their bios or tell me that they’ve watched these games when they weren’t a part of it, just to kind of take the temperature and see what this talent looks like, and then dream and aspire to get to this point. Wanting to be part of this select fest. Yeah, you start to see guys too, like Dylan Cruz making his major league debut. That was part of the 14 new event, as we do these both from 11 through 14, you. So it’s kind of cool to see now guys matriculating themselves up to the big leagues. So as they aspire to continue to be festival goers and continue to go no doubt. Even this young man, Acosta, facing you here in the fourth inning says, I have a will and desire for greatness. I’ll never stop till I achieve it. I train four hours a day. And he says he has eight pack abs. You and I would settle for a fraction of that. But, a will and desire for greatness. What was the last time you heard in the 11 year old? Say that? That’s a he said that’s a yeah. Today probably. Yeah. To just have that thought process, and then go about it like he said, he’s got routines he does hitting stuff, he does fielding stuff. And then to be able to kind of say that that’s what his goal is and then work towards it is pretty crazy. From an 11 year old leading off the fourth inning. That’s a pretty good breaking ball. And that is going to be a called strike three. So I’ll tell you what. Three batters faced three strikeouts for this writing. Absolutely there. And he went to the breaking ball. And as you see if we watch last inning he came in. He threw a little bit firmer breaking ball. And he kind of manipulated spin and the break on that, so just to have that aptitude at 11 years old to, vary the, the kind of the spin and the break on it is, is something to be said. How about a right handed Blake Snell I know right. Jack Mattingly was busy out at short last inning and gets to bat here in the fourth. Yeah. And like we said, Jack’s continuing to impact the game on both sides of the baseball. Let’s see what he can do at the plate this inning. Chopper back to the mound. Can you recover. Shows off that arm and gets the out at first base. Nice stretch by Elias there. Oh, this is the worst run, but don’t be in a hurry. Does that apply for that? That play I mean, you know, you need to react quickly on that ball in the carpet starts to roll away. But he didn’t risk throwing it away after he calmly picked it up and made the play. No, that’s a tough play too. As he goes towards the third base line, the angle becomes a little bit more difficult for him to make a good throw, at that young of an age. Is something cool trip Gil out of Savannah, Georgia. He’s Cobb Astros, orange. Think these kids have been busy just this summer he’s been to super nit Houston beast to the east, Georgia Florida showdown, peachy World Series 11. You peachy. World series 12. You PGI. And now select Fest. Yeah, yeah. He just I trip as a guy. I’ve seen, numerous times throughout the summer. And another guy that always comes and says hello, but just gets after it on a weekly basis, continues to perform in our events, and then obviously achieved one of his goals of making the 11 youth festival. Took a big hack there trying to bring the East squad to get ahead again. Ronald Acuna Jr, Carter Holton, some of the players he really enjoys following. Yeah, with this being Braves country, I mean, Acuna is probably the guy that both a lot of guys are going to say. Big swing and he fouls it right bac. Another thing there you with the left handed hitter. See Gil’s just missing. He’s used pounding that inner half trying to get him to over rotate and kind of lag the barrel there. You need to pull Tripp aside and talk about, one of the young men he really enjoys. A guy by the name of Justin Thomas who came out of the, same Benedictine military school class. Thomas will be with the Razorbacks this spring. Somebody I’m going to get to see. And he works out with him. Looks up to him. This one’s popped up. Foul ground. Just enough room to make the play. How about facing five batters and getting five outs? Yep. Like he did. He came in kind of calmed the storm, threw strikes, went and attacked hitters. Great job by him. Hanging out here in the East Jordan Acosta your team’s up 5 to 4 here. But last night at the banquet, you were honored because you raised the most money for elite development Academy, over $3,500. How did you do it? How did you go about raising all of that money, a bunch of family and friends donated, and I texted a lot of people, so they can donate. So, yeah, that’s about it. What’s another cause that you would want to raise money for in the future to help the kids in need? What kind of kids in need, like the kids that don’t have the same gear as us and like, I don’t know, that’s all. Yeah See, last year a lot of fun stuff has been happening this weekend. What’s been your favorite part? Probably this game. The best part? Your friends Jalen McCants is on the mound. You’ve been with him since you were six years old. Also, Brett Hamlin, what’s it like to share this weekend with him, there’s a bond between us. So it’s like we connect when we pla. So yeah, that’s about it. Awesome. Thank you so much, Jordan. Good luck out there. All right. Here we go. Bottom of the fourth McCann is on to pitch. Braden Worthen who won the home run Derby is in the box. Here’s a look at McCann center Jacksonville Florida. Yeah he’s a guy who’s going to try to pound the strike zone, mix speeds and get ground balls and weak contact here. Another tought on left matchup here. He’s thinking the same thing. Worthen out of Tomball, Texas. Tomball High School by the way, won the state championship in that state. And Kate Arrambide CJ Sampson a couple of those guys part of that team. Meanwhile, this was the Home Run Derby earlier today, and there were a lot of balls lost in those trees. Absolutely. As we talked about earlier, a little bit of Bryce Harper and him right there and obviously winning the Home Run Derby, something that Bryce does on a pretty consistent basis. So I’m sure it was fun. To kind of win that home run derby and mimic, one of his idols no doubt gave it a miss. Left on left battle. McCants wins it with the K. Yeah, but Kent’s a little bit lower arm slot. Getting some sweep on that breaking ball. As we said. That’s tough. Left on left, as it starts at you, you got to wait on it and then see what’s going to happen. Of course these pitching rotations are predetermined what inning you’re going to throw, but that’s almost like you would design that if you were mixing and matching in a game. Bring on the lefty when you got back to back. Lefties here for the Westie. Absolutely. Of course, Rivero hit a home run back in our first inning, and John, we’ve had a couple of long balls. Both have been opposite field shots in this game. Yeah. And that’s that’s what we talk about with these guys just continuing to be advanced in their approaches and so forth. To be able to go backside for both, and jt stay on that baseball is something to be said for an 11 year old player. Big chop off the carpet caused some problems and Rivera was going to reach. You don’t always have to hit it hard to get on base, Perez. He did a nice job, actually, of sitting back on the breaking ball. Just kind of rolled that top hand over, that tough slot like we talked about left on left a little bit lower, but he did a nice job actually sitting back on that breaking ball. Waylon Harris bounced a second. His only time in. See if Waylon can do some damage here. Our, 11 new offensive player of the yea. Nice pitch from McCants there. Outer half fastball trying to get that ground ball. Double play here. Fouls one right back to the screen. Now to me I’m watching Harris. And he’s not a tall kid. So maybe I’m I’m leaning into that for a cop. But I think about, Tommy White at LSU and the stance he would get into in the ground. Perfect depiction of what it is. He widens out, and just tries to get that barrel there with some velocity, and if he’s on time with that barrel, he’s going to hit line drives and so forth. But that was a perfect comp, actually. I was going right there. And you know, you have bat speed when you’re going to get into the squat. You know, you’ve got the hand and bat speed to make it work. Yep. And that’s the thing. You trust your hands trust your bat speed and able to get the barrel there on time. Pitch from the lefty bends down and out Stephen got a little bit of that little bit of flow in the back like Tommy he does now. If he smokes one into the gap and drives in a run, we’ll really be on to something. Yeah. He’s got the chains to Tommy, Waylon, two chains put up the first back in standing goes Rivero. And Tommy’s a guy that kind of adopted that wider stance. He goes to it in two strikes. But even from initial before he gets two strikes, he’s wider, stays in his legs. Well, and just trusts his hands. McCants trying to shield or hide that baseball and misses outsid. Levi rose behind the plate, working with him. Levi’s a guy to another Uber athlete. Plays a middle infield when he’s not catching, so a nice job there to kind of push his way out, make sure that didn’t get past him. Haven’t seen a lot of running in this game yet. We will now wave and a miss throw to second base is late and it was stopped. But, Rivero able to swipe the bag. But down on strikes goes Harris. So McCants gets his second K of this frame. Yeah, McKenzie’s doing a good job. He’s working that outer half with the fastball and then sweeping that breaking ball across the plate. Just disrupt disrupting timing just enough. Valdez was hit by a pitch his only time in. And I think when you see those sweeping, breaking balls, that might be an invitation to try and run. And Rivero takes another. Yeah. Dylan went to the breaking ball again for strike one, but Rivero with a good read and took the bag there. You think Rivero might be peeking to see the signs of whether he was getting a breaking ball and took off? Would he be that advanced? It’s possible, you know. I mean, we’ve seen some things we talked about that Homer, his pitch ability, in the low 80s and just being able to spin that breaking ball. So you never know. Let’s go. Break popped up, caught behind second base and the inning ends. So no damage done. Nice job by McCants. We played four innings. Well played. Game five for East in front. Of. The. Let’s take a look at our local cookers. Delivery of e game I’m talking to you John but let’s Alan you who I would say was, really impressive on the bump. Yeah. He came out there, in relief of bills with some runners on base and went right at it and got out of that inning, with a big play and then came out for his inning and one, two, three, five up, five down. Did a real nice job of disrupting timing, and throwing strikes because he probably wasn’t expecting to pitch the third. He was fully expecting to throw the fourth. He had to come on and get a couple of strikeouts. There he is. And then finish off that inning and then come right back out and faced five retired. Five the young man from the Pacific Northwest really put forth a nice performance today. Yeah, he’s another one two. He always smiling enjoying the game. Appreciative of all his opportunities that he’s had, so it’s just an infectious smile and a great kid. That’s Joshua Park on e mound for the Western. Yeah. Joshua Park from California. Another guy seen him numerous times as well. He’s going to come out and throw a bunch of strikes and hopefully, limit the damage for his squad, and he’ll be a guy. Throws multiple pitches, tries to disrupt timing a little bit, lower three quarters slot, so we’ll see what he’s got. Still working our way. Second time through this East lineup, all five of their runs came in the third inning. Outside of that, they not produced a hit in the other three. So they had the big inning. Marrero had the home run as well. Every once in a while, you can get some high scoring games or maybe some noncompetitive select fests. We’ve had a little different story today. For the most part, Pitching’s been pretty good. A couple of home runs, one big inning for the East. West had that early four nothing advantage and it’ll be Hamlin, smart and McCants in the fifth. Yeah last year if anybody tuning in remembers our 12 view game with the East squad down nine going into those last couple innings and came roaring back and ended up winning it in extra innings. Ladies and gentlemen, Ben Hamlin walked back in the second. Himmler, Benny. Bombs palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Obviously part of the select festival. Also in the top 24 for team USA. Not sure if you could find Tegucigalpa on the, map and Honduras, but. Or the globe. But that’s what Google is for. Yeah, Brett’s a member of that TBT team that won all four of the big events that we host. It was last year, though, he broke his foot at the end of the school year when he was in the fourth grade, had to sit out six weeks of baseball, but, use those six weeks to kind of strengthen his body. When he came back, played in PGE in Mississippi, his first at bat after being off for six weeks, hit a bomb to dead center field. And he said it was one of the best feelings. And I got to believe it was. Sure. And you kind of say, oh, look, I have a broken foot. I can just sit back and not do anything. But he worked hard and made himself stronger and it paid dividends. Strokes one out to left, dropping for a base hit. So Hamlin’s been on twice a walk now a single and a good beginning for the East fifth. Number three. Yeah, we talked about it. The continuation reoccurring theme of these guys, just their advanced approaches and like we said, he hit that the pitch where it was pitched and shot it to left field for a single. Here’s Andrew Smart. He popped a third. His only time i. No doubt when you live in Athens, you couldn’t help but follow the incredible year of Charlie Conte and what he did. Yeah. Yep. Golden Spikes Award winner, ended up being drafted in this past July’s draft, had an amazing season. I mean, unprecedented season, broke the bbcor era home run, for single season as well. Think about the draft. Did the Colorado Rockies need someone who could, hit home runs 100ft beyond the fence? When you’re in that thin mountain air? Well, he hit them 150ft beyond. Exactly. And that’s the thing, too. I mean, they almost picked the perfect guy, with that thin air as we talked about. Just elevate the baseball and see it fly. Andrew played in Cooperstown this year. Spent a week in Savannah. This little league team won the state championship. Been a fun summer. He says. Learned about baseball and its ups and downs and trying not to get too high or too low. And I think if you can learn that at 11, more power to you, because there’s a lot of guys in the major leagues that still fight that in a day to day basis. Sure. And that’s the thing we talked about Coach Klesko was talking about to the boys and try to win that next pitch. Forget about what happened, win the next pitch, move past it, because there’s going to be a lot of failure in this game. Smart, able to work the walk from park. Good beginning for the East team. Couple of runners on base and nobody out. Dylan McCants was batting with a couple of runners in scoring position in the second hit a liner to second base that was caught. Ended up being a double play. So he comes up with a couple of guys on again. Yep. Just, we just saw him on the mound. Impressive inning there, where he came away unscathed. The cancer said he’s tried to embrace the mental aspect of the game. This year. He says if you could meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two just the same, you’re on to something. And again, when was the last time you heard any 11 year old say something like that, just now. And that’s the thing, too. I mean, I think these guys see success so much. But then start to realize as they mature and what coach Klesko, to go back to that, that if you fail seven out of ten times, you’re in a Hall of Famer. Say what? He comes from a track family. His uncle Adrian, five time All American, nine time NCAA team champion at Florida. His aunt is in the 2012 Olympics medaled in the 100. The 204 by 100. Currently, the head track and field coach at UNLV. So, there’s got to be some speed in his game. Some. Yeah, just a little bit. But that’s an impressive, impressive list there from, family members for Dylan. I get to see a little bit of that speed on the carpet, up the middle, into center for a base hit. Hamlin around third, will slam on the brakes. Coach Tucker, put the stop, sign up with nobody out. Now. The bases loaded after the single from McCants. Nice piece of hitting there for McCants. He just hit it where it was pitched. Simple swing and shot it back through the middle. Didn’t try to do too much. There. Metzelaars walked back in the third. That was the beginning of that five run frame. Houston now bats with the bases loaded and nobody out. Nice pitch there to get ahead from. From park. Lifted to shallow left. The catch will be made. Hey, they’re going to try and send the runner. That’s a 20 hopper to the plate. It’s still in time. I wasn’t sure if that throw was going to make it, but it did. No, it didn’t kick up on the turf. It got there in time to get the runner. Nice play. Now batting. Number seven, second baseman Levi Rose. Nick, this is Gutierrez. And laughed. Nice tag applied by Lamont. It looked like Gutierrez came and got it then. Didn’t know if he was going to run and. I think Coach Tucker at third base told me he lost a Georgia state championship, had the winning run at third base, couldn’t get him home. I think he wanted to get that run home there from third base. And it didn’t happen either. Levi Rose walked his only time in going to have an advancement, though, on the steal by McCann’s. So runners at second and third now with two gone East doesn’t want to waste this opportunity. Bases loaded. Nobody out can park walk that tightrope. Park’s doing a good job with even the traffic on the bases running that two seamer in there, try to get out of here a little bit unscathed. As well. Yes Pop up. And that ball was handled by Park. So a single a walk and a base hit to load the bases. But A72 DP and a pop up ends the inning and Team East does not add to its lead. Wisely is going to raise up short and we will try to cut it. I can show you how to be strong. Come on, follow me. Are you looking for a hero? Well, I got. I’m on a journey. Got up on me. But I ain’t giving this up I got the heart of a champion. If I get knocked down I get. Up. Take your. I know where to I got my feeling I will see you through I will. Mother nature is definitely still up. Take two. I’m going to take you. Down Having some fun here Glenn Harris. The 11 year offensive player of the year. Waylon, you got that award last night at the banquet. How did it feel? Really exciting. It was. Just I had the chance to talk to your sister Hadley. And she said that you would do anything for baseball, that you work hard all year long. And she sees it and appreciates it. What have you been working on the past year? Since I’ve been shoot the Gaps. Awesome. Very impressive. Now a little bit more fun here. A lot of your teammates are messing with you, who’s been really fun to play with this weekend. Carlos, real. He’s pretty good on the mound and also hit a bomb. What’s your prediction for the end of this game? Ten five. You’re gonna win. You heard it here. West dugout. They’re going to win. Back to you g. Yeah we went through a few paper cups in that interview. Yeah I remember a couple of years ago Zac Gallen was in the dugout for UNC when his. I think that whole thing started. Now we see it regularly, like you never, never stop. Easton Metzelaars going to work on the mound this inning where number 88, Nick Luis Robert wears number 88 for the White Sox. But it’s not a common number. But, he’s going to wear it and work here in the fifth. Yeah, I think it’s more like a hockey number. I think so. Christian Valdez will bat here in the bottom of the fifth inning. Team West built that early four nothing lead. But since then, I don’t believe they’ve had a hit in the last couple of innings. Well, that was a big old breaking ball. Or is this Rocco Lamont’s going to lead things off? Yes, sir. All right. Here we go Rocco Lamont. Now he reached on an E7 earlier in the game and did come around to score. Did that nice tag to get that runner on home for that double play last inning as well. So we have 88 pitching to 99. Pretty good pitch to hit and a wave and a miss. Yeah Metzler is comg out going right filling up the strike zone trying to get weak contact here. But doing a nice job early. Fouled back and out of play. We talk about it again and again. That tough left on left matchup. And he’s got that little rock rock back at the top of his gathering. And probably creates some deception. And for that left on left matchup and just trying to locate the baseball Metzelaars thought he had strike three. That was a good pitch right there. Just missed. Rocco says his father inspires him because of all the things he does for himself and his brother. And he says he can always count on him to go to the fields and cages to work on our game. He says, I know he must be tired, but he’s always willing to train with me and a really look up to him because, never thinks about himself and does everything he can to make things better for my brother and myself. Well said. Absolutely. That’s one of the things we continue to talk about. Talk to the players about too. And that message of all the sacrifices and the opportunity that their parents give them at such a young age, to be able to do the things that they do, just day in and day out. So we, we make sure we kind of pound it home to the players, to the parents to thank them on a regular basis just for everything they’ve done lately. Agree. This is Milo Leja, who doubled off the fence and left, takes a big hack there from Katy, Texas in the western Houston suburbs. Great location for high school football and softball and baseball. Yeah, Milo just missed that homer there in his first day. Be a little bit out front off the end of the bat. His father was drafted by Oakland out of high school in 2008. Selected in the 15th round and played for five years. That Nino mother, Megan really nice breaking ball there from Metzelaars to drop it in. See if he might double up. Looks like this pitch is requested outside. And then it came way in. Wow That was looking to go out outer half and just pulled it across. He sure did. Hamlin’s thinking I’m up and out and now I has to lunge down and in. But he made the reception. There’s that big bender. Good pitch to run on, though. And that is a stolen base standing by LaMonte. Yeah. Went there right. Pitch. To run on there with that breaking ball. It’s going to be fouled back and out of play by Leon. This young man just looks like an athlete with that frame doesn’t he. In the box. Yeah yeah we’ve talked about it. He’s Uber athletic. He’s also a quarterback on the football field. Watched some video on social media too. Just good footwork. Really athletic fast twitch guy. All right. Yeah He still loves to watch Fernando Tatis or Mookie Betts. Mike trout, Francisco Lindor among his favorites. Metzelaars gets a mile high pop up if this ever comes down, it’s going to result in the first out of the inning. It’s a pretty good quartet to watch on a runner bases and look up to. Levi Rose had to wait for that thing to descend, but he made the catch. There’s no shortage, though, in our game of outstanding young players to kind of watch. If you’re 11, 12 years old. Yeah, absolutely. That’s the thing too. There’s so many players coming from all over the place and all over the country and world. Nowadays we see guys like Fernando Tatis and Elly de la Cruz and Ronald Acuna and Shohei, and it’s just something to be said to that continued kind of expansion of guys coming from all over and playing the game the right way and having fun with it. And I know he’s got Mrs. Park. We saw him pitch earlier and he’s a young man that, has been a four time PG MVP, three times this year. So he not only goes to events, he goes to conquer. Oh yeah, he’s part of that ZTE National Prospects team, that I got to see at the PGI. And just was a guy who always kind of in the mix with making plays, whether it was in the outfield, on the mound, at the plate, another kid that’s going to be exciting to watch over the next couple of years. So he’s learned how good players are across the country and he’s learned how to compete with them. This year. But he also mentions he’s grown to be a better teammate and leader. And those are also words I think that kind of stand out to me when you talk about not just what these kids do in the classroom or on the field, but how they understand how important it is to be a member of a team. Sure. And that’s the thing too. We try to preach to them when we’re just talking to them, whether it’s just in the players lounge or during, lunch and so forth. He was like, listen, you guys are leaders now. Be part of that. And become that because kids are going to look up to you. We see little kids here at the game watching and so forth to, become a leader, be a good teammate, want to be that role model, kind of as you move on and move towards your, your goals. Eli Deville went down on strikes in his only at bat. He takes one in there for a strike. Yeah, well placed fastball there by Metzelaars on the outer half. The curious to know if Eli will be a barbe high school product. He’s from Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Barbe is one of those, I don’t know, 5 or 6 high schools in the country. When you think of high school baseball that pops into your brain, yeah, you got the Cecchini family. Obviously there’s like baseball royalty. Year in and year out, so and it’s always a thing where it’s like the facilities are great. The coaches coaching staffs are incredible, you’ve had former guys there get drafted, go on to play at the biggest programs in the country as well, so it’s one of those things where if you’re in Louisiana, it’s probably a good choice for high school. And if it isn’t in your district, move, right? Yeah. Move across town. Exactly. And we talk about these young men in their athletic families. You think about a guy like Deville. He had an aunt Paula averaged 30 points a game at Grambling before becoming part of history in 1979. Houston Angels, behind 36 points by his aunt, claimed the first ever women’s pro title championship. She was known as the Moose affectionately, he says, and there’s a wave of the Mrs. Deville goes down on strikes. So, so many, outstanding bloodlines in their families. Deville, I think, was hoping to get something he could launch, and it was at his neck and he couldn’t resist. That’s that pitch we talked about a couple innings ago where it’s so enticing, your eyes light up, and Besler is doing a good job of changing eye levels, and mixing speeds and so forth. So he’s doing a really nice job here, and he’s not a big guy even coming down off that mound. You know, you’re waiting for that pitch to be in the zone. It just never did. And yes, he hit a two run single back in the second. That’s the last time the West team scored. Yeah, that’s the thing too, as we talked about spin rates and data and analytics and all that stuff too, there’s something to be said where he’s probably vertical approach angle creates some lift or jump to that baseball where it’s tough to kind of square it up on a regular basis. Shoots another one out to right center field. That one’s down off the turf. Lamotte around third. He’s going to come home to score. That’s three RBIs for Ruben Elias. Yeah really nice job again to stay on that outer fastball and shoot it to the other. Shoot it the other way to right center field, that’s a two at bats in a row that he’s done that. We asked Ruben what he’s learned this year and obviously the kids had a lot of success he’s done. So today he said no days off and it feels like a Bill Belichick. Tom Brady saying right to get up there at the parade. No days off. And that’s the thing too. It’s kind of we’re seeing all these statements from these 11 year old guys of just how hard they want to work and how much they do work, and all the things they kind of do to make themselves better players, too. Yeah talent is inherited, but the will, the desire, the willingness, I think to continue to get better is something that I think these kids, at least the really good ones, learn at a very young age. Fly ball to center field, playable, and it’s caught. So fly out to center ends the frame. The west team gets their first run and a long time. We’ve got a tough and tight game through five tie to five. Time now for the launch. Hi. Great Game summary five five contest East and west through five innings here in the seven inning contest. It’s back in the first inning. One of our featured players, Carlo Rivera, liftg one up and out. John, this was a fun way to start our scoring today. Yup, he started the game on the mound. Low 80s fastball and then did what we talked about and shot it the other way for a homer. Jumping ahead of the second team. Westwood tack on three more runs. Leah had a double hit it off that high fence in left set up what would be a big inning. Joshua Park had a single in the center, knocking home a run. Then Elias, we’d hear from him later on, but his hits have been similar, just low liners into the gap. This played at a couple of runs as the West built what was a four nothing lead. Jumping ahead to the third, though, Team East would come back in the fray. This is Carlos Marrero lifting one over the fence in right. A three run homer that was part of a five run inning. And, East maintained that lead until the West got a run last inning. So here we go. Five five heading to the sixth. Yep. Let’s see who comes out on top. Christian Valdez from Eagle Pass, Texas on the pitch here in the sixth. Leading off playing catcher. Number 15 Asher Mitchell Asher Mitchell gonna lead things off. He walked way back in the third and scored. So he said to wait a long time to get a second plate appearance. Asher said, you know, just transitioning to larger fields was something that took a while to get used to. Started playing third base, put a lot of effort into playing third. In addition to what he does, catching. Had an uncle that played baseball in the, Giants minor league system. His mother was a four year starting pitcher at Valdosta State, and his sister, Ellie, plays for the Birmingham Thunderbolts, one of the outstanding travel softball programs in the country. And, he says she’ll be playing D1 softball at some point. But Mitchell, down on strikes to begin the sixth. Yeah, Valdez comes right out with the fastball. Just pounded the zone for a quick strike out there to start his inning off. Let’s go. This is Easton McGuire from Lexington, Kentucky. Saw Easton earlier on the mound. See what he can do at the plate here. Near. Walked with the bases loaded back in the third inning. Valdez looking to pound that outer half. Get weak contact. Doing a nice job. So far. Spiked into that carpet. Yeah. How will this game end? Who’s going to take this lead? That pitch had some tremendous run. Yeah, arm side run Valdez got a little bit of a shorter arm action, so he gets some nice natural arm side run there. Kind of exploded those last 5 to 7ft right there. Gonna watch this arm angle on this pitch to McGuire. It’s almost like that ball kind of comes out of your wrist and not your fingers. Yep He went to the breaking ball there, too. He kind of. He repeats it. Well, like we said, he’s attacking the zone and just tried to disrupt timing there with the little breaking ball. Poke foul down the line and right. At. Lexington Kentucky native. Pretty good college baseball season there for the Wildcats this season as well. And that one’s down and out. Ball four. Yeah. Coachman did a great job there. They were top three. Top five in the country for a while. There Time now for our diamond cast. Plus stat of the game. We’ve had 11 total strikeouts. Got the Skittles. That as well. I could use some of those. Bring those up here 13 total walks. So the one thing though that strikes me, John, with the exception of maybe one inning or one half inning, these pitchers have been able to navigate some of the traffic they’ve put on base. Sure. And like we talked about to listen, they’re coming out there throwing one inning. It’s a heightened situation there a little bit amped up. So the command is a little bit crazy right now. But I mean, again, they’re 11 years old. But to kind of get out of that, those jams and that traffic is, something that we look forward to as they kind of move on. Cooper Hooten flew out to right field and is only at bat. Ga couple of younger siblings, Kiley and Kinsley. Said his parents inspire him. They work to provide for him and his sisters. Certainly a strong work ethic that they have passed along and said. The one thing, though, that, he said to deal with is just kind of coming out of a hitting slump for the first time in his career and kind of sticking with his plan and hard work. And I, you know, I think that’s great advice because sometimes when things go south, you tinker and when you tinker, sometimes you get further away from the solution, which might be to kind of just stay with your plan and just keep working and, and find a way to get through it. Yep. And that’s a good advice too. I mean, you, you’ve you’ve seen success with what you’ve been doing. And listen, like we talked about, baseball is a high failure game. So just stick with what you’re good at and you’ll come out of it. With that pitch was right on the outside corner, just probably exactly where Valdez wanted to put it, but couldn’t square it up. He continues to pound that outer half with the fastball. That’s a wave of the miss throw down to second base. It’s close, but see, McGuire gets the bag. Shortstop number 32 Carlos on the strikeout. Pretty good throw by LaMonte, though. Here’s Marrero last time in at a three run homer. All right. So as this young man a switch hitter. Yes he is. You thought I wasn’t paying attention, right? No no, no. And that’s the thing too. We talk about his kind of advanced skill set in the infield, too, just to be able to switch, hit and produce from both sides. I’ve seen it throughout the summer. And even last year, as a ten year old, just being able to produce from both sides of the plate, which is amazing. All right. If he would homer from both sides of the plate, he would go into the select Fest Hall of Fame immediately. Absolutely And he. Let’s gok to the third inning. This is our tech home run of the game batting right handed to right field. And now Marrero batting left handed in the sixth. O2 and he’s going to wave and miss. So Valdez got three strikeouts worked around that walk and a stolen base. Go to the bottom of the sixth. Still tied here on the select fence. Wow That’s crazy I feel no pain. Nothing. That’s like crazy zero zero. That’s crazy dude. Like I can’t feel my traps anymore because they’ve been going and they’re super loose now. But my legs, it almost feels like somebody just like boom, boom, boom. It feels like you’re getting a massage. Three massage, two microbes. No matter where you go. The weather is warm and it’s the perfect time of year to cook outside. Loco smart temp Griddles provide precise and controllable griddle surface temperatures ranging from 250 degrees, all the way up to a sear, setting the cooking temperature always stays exactly where you set it, so your meal always comes out just right. Cultivating great experiences is part of our DNA, and everyone has a seat at our table. So pull up a chair, cook faster and party longer with loco cookers. Rawlings the number one glove of pro players. Rawlings the official baseball glove of Major League Baseball. Let’s take a look at, this play. Johnny Nothing like A72 DP. Absolutely. Yeah Gutierrez like we said, he kind of didn’t think Hamlin was going to run. And then he came up firing and he got the home plate just in time. Hey, we’re deadlocked here. One of these teams is going to have to find a way to score at least one more run. Yeah, we’re going to see who who blinks first. New pitcher. This is Tripp Gil out of Savannah, Georgia. Number 22. Yeah, Tripp’s another guy from that East Cobb Astros team, a guy who’s, well seasoned. Been through the entire circuit, at the big events, too. So expect m to throw strikes and compete here, to try to keep the score tied. Cash. Tellez. First pitch swinging chopper to short. That was smooth. And the out is recorded to begin the bottom of the sixth inning. Number 44, Mr. Marrero making it look easy. Cash. Tellez isn’t going to give me a chance to tell the story about how he’s related to Nap Lajoie, the Hall of Famer. Going back to the 30s, the rival of Ty Cobb back in the 30s. So let me have to save that one. They’re up there hacking early. Yep. Like we said to Gil, just pounding the zone early, filling it up, hoping to get some weak contact here. And the hitters are ready to go. Hudson bills the batter, walked his only time in. We’ve seen some pretty good left handed arms today. And you know, it’s one thing you pointed out a few times. It’s not fun left on left. But even some of these righties have come in waiting for that pitch that they can hit. And they’ve done their best to keep pitches away like that. Yeah, and that’s what they are. They’re kind of letting that natural left handed arm side run, take it to the outer half and then trying to backdoor that breaking ball in there as we saw the pitch before. Phil’s a big Ohtani and Snell and Trout fan I got to kick it. You look at him right there and that’s a good shot. I mean he is not a big guy. You know there’s a lot of growing left to come for Hudson Bills. And he said even at 105 pounds I could eat more than most people. And all day. So that alone tells you he’s going to get bigger at some point. Oh absolutely. They’ve had plenty of opportunity to eat throughout the weekend. They’ve been here too, so that’s a funny part of what we kind of see where it’s like, hey, this little guy, he just continues to eat. Gabriel Gutierrez bounced to short his only time in. He got that, left handed pick play at first. Tomahawk to left. That’s down. Cut off nicely. Bills will go to third. The throw comes in that way and Gutierrez has himself a double. And now the West in business second and third with one out again nice. Really nice job of staying on that pitch and shooting it the other way. Keeping Palacio’s can see right there it was a little bit up. Gutierrez did a nice job getting the hands on top of the baseball, shooting it that other way. Second and third here with one out a spelling bee champion and the double in the, select fest for Gabe Gutierrez. So multi-talented and back to Palacios, who was our player of the year at the banquet last night. Yes, absolutely. Steve, with runners in scoring position here, we talked about earlier that advanced approach, see kind of how he goes about his business here to, get his squad ahead. Yeah. Palacios there too, with the, matching shoelaces. It’s a cool look right there. Very calm in the box. Takes that pitch outside. He calls himself a gritty player. Ethan Palacios. Yeah, he’s one of those guys. He’s got a low heartbeat where nothing really fazes him. And he just kind of produces and goes about his game. Through that bat aside, the pitch was called a strike. I might have been throwing my bat aside to. And there Palacios with a big wave of the miss. So he thought he had himself a four pitch walk. And all of a sudden this At-Bat has become much more competitive with runners at second and third and one out. This is where we see that heartbeat that we talked about, see if he can slow down the game, do a job here, get his team ahead in fields in trying to cut off that run. Big pitch. Wave and a miss. How about the job done by Gil to come back and get the K after he was down three and zero? Yeah, it’s one of those things. We were talking about him pounding the outer half, and he kind of tied Palacios up there with a good fastball right at the belt. He’s trying to launch to. So he had the player of the year with second and third and one out. Gil was able to get the K. Now he’s got the home run Derby champion today. And Worthen and another tough lefty lefty battle here. Yeah that was a nice breaking ball there to get ahead. Left on left right there. Fades that pitch outside. Yeah he went to it again there. And as you see Gil well-seasoned there he kind of changes his leg kicks. Go slide step there to try to disrupt timing a little bit. Lifted to left down the line. And it’s going to drop. And Worthen didn’t hit it hard but he hit it in the right spot. And he’s going to chase home a pair of runs. Let’s see what happened here. It’s not an easy sky today. There’s a little more cloud cover built up. And this thing I don’t know if he saw it out there in left. Yeah, he was tracking the pitch, got in on Worthen a little bit, and it was slicing away going towards the line. So that’s a tough read obviously. So yeah tough play there for the outfielder. Not sure if he lost it. Wonder if McCants at one point just kind of looked up and that ball wasn’t where he expected it to be. And then had to find it. Charles Johnson on the way back to the dugout. West team has regained the lead here in the bottom of the sixth. They are the home team, the top of the seventh. And the disappointing part is for Gillis. Now you got to face Rivera. Homered back in the first. Let’s check in with Bria downstairs. Hanging out here with Gabe Gutierrez in the west dugout. He’s catching his breath a little bit. He was running pretty hard all the way to home after his double. You said when you first found out what the select fest was, you said, I want to make the bubble gum guy. Now you are the bubble gum guy. How does it feel playing here, it feels great. It’s an amazing opportunity. You know, ever since, ever since. Sorry. Ever since the luck fest even starte, it’s. It’s been my dream to make it. So when I figured out I made it, man, it was like a dream come true. And then I worked my butt off twice as hard to get here to play hard here. Part of that work was waking up every single day at 6 a.m. with your dad. Take us through that. So I’d, go to sleep. I’d have an alarm set on my phone. I put my favorite song on the alarm so it’s easier to wake up, go to my dad’s room, wake him up, and then we’d hit for an hour, and I get ready for school. Where do you hit at? In my living room? Okay, tell us the setup. Where’s dad at? Where are you at? Dad’s in the kitchen pitching to me that way. And I’m in the living room on the carpet, hitting back towards him, towards the kitchen, towards the microwave. Okay, so what happens if things get damaged? What are you hitting with, I’m hitting with Mini Wiffle, so things shouldn’t get damaged. But I technically have broke three lights, so all of that work paid off. Thank you so much for talking with us, Gabe. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Hitting from the kitchen to the living room, I feel like I need to hear more, but we’ll have to let that one pass. We’ll come back as we go to the seventh. One. Well, Team West got a couple of runs to take A75 lead. As we go to the top of the seventh inning. And here comes Mr. Palacios on the pitch. Got him close in this game today, I guess. Yep yep yep. We saw him lead off the game for the West squad. And now he’s going to try to close it out. It’s a chanceo end this game right here. So Team East knows what it has to do. Two to tie three to take the lead. Although we have in store for us with Palacios on the mound. So another guy is going to run it up there into the to the mid 70s. And like we talked about, he’s got a low heartbeat, so he should throw strikes and try to get his squad out of here with a victory. So to say. And we’re back to the top of the lineup. So a good test here span Acosta and Winston. Top three in the seventh against Palacios leading off. Ladies and gentlemen. Number two Ryan Span. Well it’s always a hot day here in Marietta on the carpet I think we got a little bit of a break this week. I mean it’s not up near 100, but, the feels-like temperature is 94. So you got a guy out there on the mound who has a chance to get a few outs. I know they’re rooting for him. Behind him defensively. Spanish struck out twice. Here we go. Span’s a big Michael Harris fan. Also Jack Gaglione how could you not be a Jack Caglione fan after what he did this year? From a power standpoint? Yeah, Cags just running it up to 100 from the left side and hitting all those bombs. Absolute bombs. Kegs had like three doubles all year, maybe four. And somebody said, how could they have three doubles? I said, when they play four outfielders on the warning track, you’re not gg to get many doubles. No. And he hits the baseball so hard. What good pitch that thing had all kinds of movement from Palacios. Yep. Nice little wrinkle there to kind of disrupt timing. He was pounding the outer half there early with that fastball and then tried to, bring that breaking ball into the back foot of, span. A quick reset there as Ryan Klesko, I might ask Mr. Palacios to take off that wristband off his left hand if I was a hitter just to kind of get into his mind. And he’s got that thing right outside of his glov. Oh, another big bender. But a nice job by span to spoil it. See another? Yep. Continuing to compete within the bat to try to get, some base runners for his, team here. How many wristbands does he have between the glove and that, sleeve? I don’t know, it looks like he’s got an arm sleeve and then some. There’s got to be about 20 wristbands on there. If they asked him to take those off, he might never get them off. That pitch is high. Yeah, I don’t know if we’ll have enough time for him to get off. Check in on that left wrist. How many wristbands does he have outside of that glove? One, two. Three. Four. Five. Six. And we might be double figures. Yeah, we might be. Big pitch though here in this game. In this inning. What a nice job by Spann to spoil another difficult breaking ball. Yeah he’s doing a nice job here. Just sitting back reading it out of the hand and fighting to try to get on base here. If he earns a walk, it’ll be because he’s spoiled a couple of those breaking pitches that I think a number of hitters might just either take or swing through. Absolutely And then he does get strike three. Spend a little bit frustrated. I’m not sure if he thought he had checked or whether he, got the non breaking ball that he couldn’t quite pull the trigger on. Yep Palacios went back to the fastball there and got Spann to swing through it. There Oh yeah that’s a swing. Team East down to its final two outs. Here’s Acosta. He struck out a couple of times for the Miami native. Lifted out to left. Tell you what. Left Field’s been a little bit treacherous today for whatever reason. But the play is made for the second out. Yeah, it looks like. I don’t know if it’s that high sky, but it seems everything kind of going towards the line and tough read there for the outfielders. And Deville made the catch. I mean this was up there a long time. He’s got some traffic around him, but he had to kind of lunge back to his left to make the catch. Yeah, he came back. He was slicing towards that line and maybe a gust of wind got it and pulled it back. It’s up to Jace, Winston. Poked in the right for a base hit. It’s going to continue to roll all the way to the fence and Winston is not going to stop until he gets to second with a two out double to keep the East team alive. Really nice piece of hitting there from Winston. We talked about the open. Upper athlete really, really hit that ball hard. Just cruising into second base. This is Mattingly. It’s grounded out a couple of times. A long ball here with tie things up. Or throw back to second base. Took a big bounce off the carpet where it was handled by Warthen. Each team has had a homer in this game. Palacios just continuing to pound that fastball in the zone. Two out, double by Winston. Mattingly with a count of one and one. Pitch missed. Not by much, but a pretty good take by Mattingly. Fouled away. Now team East down to its final strike and out in the seventh inning. Let’s go. Ken Mattingly keep things alive. That pitch is going to get away. So a free base for Winston. He’s going to go to third. That’s not a big concern right now with the two run lead and two outs. However he’s 70ft away. Big pitch swung on and missed. The West is best. They score early and late to win the PCE 11. You select best and a bath for Palacios who gets the safe. What a well played game John. Absolutely. And that was we saw back and forth. We saw Fireballers home runs. It was a great great kind of, exhibition of talent. That’s across the country now, from our PG platform here. Well, that’s well said. And Team West, they had an early four nothing lead. Then they fell behind, got a couple of runs in the bottom of the sixth and made those stand part of A75 win for the West. Seven runs on eight hits. We’ll step aside and come back and wrap The players want to maximize their potential. They are chasing the wrong thing. Being better is personal. What works for one player doesn’t work for all players. Players need to be told what they’re good at, what they’re not good at, and what they need to work on. They need to be given a personalized plan to help them get to where they want to be. That’s how players get better. That’s how they maximize their content. That’s Their daily. Welcome back to West Cobb. These teams have had their celebration. The West pulls out A75 win over the East in the 11 you Select festival. 12 News on Tap tomorrow with a 1:00 eastern time. Start here from the same complex and the same field. But, again, John, just a well played game. I think a good exhibition of talent and these two teams. Yeah, we talked about it in the beginning, just as we continue to grow perfect game across the country and even near and far throughout the continent and internationally, which is a great exhibition of, of talent amongst everybody. The amazing part is that he scored all five of their runs in one half inning today. I know, I know, they thought they had it. They got that big inning and then the West got kind of scratched and clawed their way to victory. Flash Gordon is holding the trophy for the Most Valuable player of the game, our most valuable player of the contest will be speaking to him in a moment. And, maybe not a surprise. Ruben Elias is, the winner. And of course, he drove in three runs with two singles. And I loved his approach at the plate. Driving line drives to right center. Yep, he did a nice job. The first time was a fastball on the outer half, and then he sat back on a breaking ball, shot him both to right center field. Just that kind of refinement of his swing and able to ability to use the whole field. What a beautiful trophy. Looks like. He’s conquering the world, holding that thing above his head. He got the ice bath when he couldn’t defend himself, but Bella Otero brings us our most valuable player of the game. And I believe he’s going to be standing by with Bria once he douses himself off as we take a look at, his swings today. And that’s what we mentioned, too. Just driving the ball the other way. Yeah yeah. He did such a nice job staying on that. Both pitches, hitting it where it’s pitched using the whole field, just that continued thing that we kind of talked about, the advanced approaches, the refinement of their game. All right, let’s check in with Bria down in the field with our MVP. Here with Ruben Elias. The MVP for perfect game. The MVP from the West squad representing California Ruben how has this experience been so far especially winning that MVP award. You know it’s I’m very grateful for it, I just want to thank God you know, I want to thank my parents for making all the sacrifices, you know, it’s not much to say. I’m speechless right now. I want to give a shout out to coach Mike, from tbt Omar Avila, Carlos Davila really pushing me out. Ella Gambo, my hitting coach. You know, I’m grateful for us. Your dad was fitting you Skittles before the game. Middle of the game. When did that tradition start? It started in Houston. The Houston 1000. And my dad gave me a pack of Skittles. And then coach, x Xavier Medina from TBT wanted some, and I’m like, oh, well, just go a nickname Skittles, because I like them. Well, you’re upgrading from Skittles to a steak dinner. I talked to your parents and they said that that’s what you’re getting because you’re an MVP. How do you feel about that, you know, I like it. You know, steak is really good, you know, a lot of protein, yeah. A meal for a champion and an MVP. You’ve also been really successful this summer with two national. You won all four perfect game major events. The first time in 11 you team has done that. How does this rank more above it, you know, this is probably the biggest achievement that could happen, to win MVP and selected this is a privilege, you know. Well, congratulations, Ruben. Thank you. Back to you guys. I’m hungry for some Skittles now. Well spoken, young man. Well played game today team West with the win they take it 7 to 5. In our 11 you select fast. And again Johnny and I’ll be back tomorrow when the 12 news take over here from East Cobb. And that will be at 1:00 eastern time. So that’ll wrap up the 20 2411 new Perfect Game Select festival for John McAdams and our entire crew. I’m Brett Dolan. Thanks for watching. Be sure to catch the All American Classic from Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona next Sunday, August 18th, 8 p.m. Eastern Time on PGT TV. This has been a presentation of Perfect Game and good afternoon so long from Atlanta. Team West wins the select best.
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