12U Warriors Take Tourney Title

Deerfield’s 12U Warriors baseball team kept coming from behind and coming from behind recently until they won the West Chicago Midwest National Championship.

Playing five games in three days in pool play to earn their way into the semifinals, the Warriors won three and dropped two, both to Illiana. Who was Deerfield’s semifinal opponent, Illiana?

Despite 11 strike outs from a combined pitching performance by Mark Mahoney, Matt Fang and Miles Powell, the Warriors trailed 6-1 going into the bottom of the final inning before Mahoney’s heroics sent them into the title game.

Danny Siegel singled to start the rally but two outs quickly followed. The Warriors were down to their last strike when Frazier Robbins was hit by a pitch. Ryan David and Jordan Feinberg drew walks to load the bases. A base hit by Ben Sodikoff made the score 6-4. After Aaron DeLisle walked, Mahoney doubled three runs home for the 7-6 victory.

In the title game against Illinois, Deerfield had to rally once again after trailing 6-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth. Base hits by David and Sodikoff ignited the comeback narrowing the score to 6-5.

This time, with two outs, Danny Weinstein put the ball in play with an infield knock to drive in what proved to be the tying and winning runs but some solid defense was necessary to secure the victory and the first-place trophy.

Strong glove play by Hunter Roberts, DeLisle, Powell and Sodikoff got the Warriors to within an out of victory before Mahoney closed out the game by fanning the last opposing hitter.

During the pool play contests, Tommy Stark and Adam Magnetti made solid contributions to give Deerfield a chance to stop Illiana in the semifinal after falling to that team twice in pool play.

“Every kid contributed throughout the tournament at bat, on the bases, and on the field," Coach Steve Downs said. He was assisted by Scott Sodikoff. The Warriors are part of the program.

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