Our Arizona State Baseball Champions, the Crush, sponsored by Oro Valley Post 132, traveled to Fairfiled, CA, near Travis AFB, to take on state champion teams throughout the west. Our young men fought valiantly, but fell to California, 6-1, on Wednesday in a very close game, until a wild and high scoring last inning.
Being a double-elimination tournament, the Crush then faced Colorado on Thursday morning in another exciting game. Down 5-1 starting the 7th (last) inning of the game, Arizona methodically loaded the bases and then…with only one out, a long fly ball to right field just missed the fence and fell foul. A homer would have tied the game, but the at-bat culminated in a strike out.
With two outs, bases loaded, the next batter slammed the ball deep into center field, but it too fell just short of the wall and was caught by the center-fielder ending the rally, and the game. The team felt bad, but watching them play with skill and all tenacity, we Arizonans in attendance came away very proud of a group of youth that simply played hard until the last swing.
Speaking with the tournament officials before the final game, I was told that Arizona was one of the most disciplined and courteous of all teams present. They were impressed by our youth, leaders, and parents. That means a lot when you have an entire group that not only plays well, but lives by the Code of Sportsmanship they promised to observe. The victory: the fulfillment of our American Legion goals to develop youth of imppecible character, with sound leadership qualities.
Team Crush, Arizona is VERY PROUD of you and how you represented our state. Tomorrow’s leaders can definitely be found in Arizona’s youth, especially as guided in American Legion programs.
