The Magnolia Baseball Club (MBC) 14-and-under Sandy Koufax team on July 9 defeated the Brew Crew by a score of 8-2 at Arthur Wright Field in Kent to win the Sandy Koufax Washington State Championship.
Joe Throckmorton pitched a complete-game five hitter in the championship match to go along with his 2-1 victory earlier in the tournament, earning him Most Valuable Player honors for the tournament.
Wilson Orr provided the key hit of the game in the top of the first inning. With the bases loaded, Orr doubled into the left center field gap, scoring Ryan Rakita, Connolly McHugh and Andy Lang to make the score 4-0. Hutton Moyer led off the game with a single. Throckmorton singled Moyer to second base. Rakita hit in to a fielder's choice forcing Moyer at third.
After the second out, McHugh and Lang drew back-to-back walks, forcing in Throckmorton for the game's first run. Orr then came to the plate and delivered what turned out to be enough runs for MBC to win the game.
MBC added two more runs in the second on a sacrifice fly from Throckmorton, scoring Danny Thompson, who had walked and then moved to third on Moyer's double. Moyer then scored on a balk.
MBC scored two more runs in the third inning on an RBI double by Brayden Gray, scoring Lang.
Seventh seeded MBC started off the eight-team state tournament beating the second-seed Brew Crew 5-1. Drew Patton threw a complete-game six hitter with the only run scoring on a first-inning balk.
Moyer and Throckmorton each scored two runs. Rakita and Lang had two RBIs.
Throckmorton worked his magic in the second game, out-dueling the third-seeded Auburn Reds 2-1. Throckmorton struck out 10 batters and gave up only five hits in the seven-inning game. Charlie Barr led off the top of the sixth inning with a single. The win put MBC in the title game of the championship bracket.
Lang pitched the final three innings in the next MBC game, a 6-4 victory over the Stampede. Thompson scored the first run of the game on another RBI by Moyer. Rakita and David Woodbury scored in the third inning to put MBC ahead 3-0. McHugh and Scott Brownlee picked up RBIs.
The Stampede scored two runs in both the third and fourth innings, leaving MBC down 4-3. With two outs in the sixth, however, Moyer walked and took second on Throckmorton's single. Moyer then scored from second when the pitcher tried to pick off Throckmorton. Throckmorton scored on Rakita's double and Rakita scored on Woodbury's single to make the final score 6-4.
MBC ran in to a fired-up Brew Crew in the next game, losing 12-2. Cameron Breen and Moses Goldfarb made nice defensive plays, but the Brew Crew was just too much for MBC.
After a night's rest, MBC and Throckmorton showed a lot of character, reversing the fortunes of the night before in an 8-2 victory that led to a trip to West Covina, Calif., to play in the Sandy Koufax Western Regional Tournament.[[In-content Ad]]
