By Ed Muniz- Photos By Renee Kaspar
**Additional Photos are available for purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p362319788**
The Elgin Slugfest saw numerous baseball and softball teams showcase their skills against others.
Teams in ages 8U to 14U took to the diamonds trying to capture the Slugfest title during the May 19 through May 21 tournament.
Among the teams, the Rockford Baseball Academy and the Cary Grove Trojans were fielding squads in the 10-Under division.
Playing a Round-Robin format, teams would play initially two games and advance to second day play where it was win and continue, lose and your tournament time has expired.
The Trojans had displayed a lot of scoring ability after winning the first game 24-6 while the RBA was taking the field for the initial time in the Slugfest.
Behind the Pitching of George Maier, RBA would gain its first win via a comeback 5-3 score.
The Trojans jumped ahead in their second at bat. Logan Grant would score the first run after being hit by a pitch. He maneuvered around the bases and scored on Owen Frangiamore’s Sac Fly.
Singles by Nick Osadzinski and Ethan Rivera kicked started the fourth inning. Both would score later on a Sac Fly by Will Valaitis and a ground out by Grant.
Lead 3-0, the Trojans were in cruise control, but that all changed when RBS took their swings in their half of the third inning.
Valaitis held RBA scoreless in the third inning, gaining four strike outs, yes Four! One batter struck out but reached base after the ball got away from the Trojan catcher. He faced just four batters, striking out all.
“I’m comfortable on the mound,” said the first-year travel pitcher. “I feel when I throw hard it makes for quick outs and I can help my team better. I just try to get the ball across the plate. I feel we get more control pitching from the stretch; it works for me. When things don’t go my way, I need to improve staying calm.”
As good as that went, the fourth inning wasn’t as smooth for the Trojans. Valaitis began with another strike out and ended the inning with another, but in between, RBA scored three times to tie the game.
A double by Brode Weber, a walk to Maier and a single and a steal of home by Nate Henderson saw all three cross the plate.
The fifth inning saw RBA extend their lead pushing across two more runs for the 5-3 advantage. Walks by Logan Catalani and Carson Huels and an error off the bat off Carter LaMay help extend the lead, all after two outs.
Key to limiting success for the Trojans was the pitching of Maier. In his four innings on the mound, he allowed just two hits and retired the side in order three of the four innings.
“I was trying to show a lot of confidence and focusing on throwing strikes,” said Maier. “I was really happy when I picked that guy off, that got me pumped. We worked on pickoffs in practice. I want to improve my slide-step, so we have a better chance at throwing guys out at second when they try to steal.”
“I’m happy with the guys behind me, its nice know they can make the plays. We can get better as a team by getting more bats on the ball but still, pretty good.”
Nate Henderson was clutch at the plate providing a key hit in the comeback driving in two runs and extending the inning.
“I was trying to make contact, I didn’t want to strike out,” said Henderson. “We were down by three so you gotta get a hit. Everyone on our team can hit, we’re not always in those situations. I was confident I would put the ball in play. I think I can be a better fielder and make the easy plays. Our team is pretty good.
Several other RBA players contributed to the win. They include Zayne Anderson, Luke Locsmondy, Maddux McCloy and Hunter Stern.
“George (Maier) pitches a lot of innings, is very quick and throws a lot of strikes for us,” said RBA Coach Matt Weber. “The best part was this was an hour and 12-minute game at 10-year-olds. We had a couple hits, they had a couple hits, there was couple miscues, and we were able to capitalize, these are the types of games that keep kids interested and continue playing.
Adding to the Trojan efforts in this game were Cooper Klimek, Bronx Borscha, Carter Kehler, Braylen Landwick and Mason Berdeaux.
“We are growing, we are a part-time 10-year-old team, this is a big step up for us coming a long way,” said Coach Kevin Fragiamore. “We are trying to coach these boys in the fundamentals and it’s showing how they keep improving. We need to improve in getting the ball up, we didn’t have a lull, they were a good defensive team and we played pretty well overall, they made some nice plays on us especially their centerfielder. We had two double-plays, so we played well.”
