SVL 15 and under Tigers win state

By Todd Bryant

Front row kneeling from left, Ozie Parrish, Darren Skawienski, Hunter Parrish, Clif Bryant, Brooks Parrish, Kolton Mims, Stephen Smith, and Brandon Stone. Standing in second row from left, Todd Bryant, Corbin Wiggins, Jonathan Rowe, Hunter Williams, Roy Williams, Jonathan Smith, Cedric Stokes, Justin Crown, and Shannon Smith.

Suwannee Valley Leagues 15 and under Tigers traveled to Ft. White to play in the Babe Ruth - Florida Small League State Tournament on June 11-14.
In order to qualify, an organization can have no more than 45 players in that particular age group. There were 16 teams in the tournament from all over the state and were broken up into 4 brackets. There were - Bracket A (Union County, Merose, Lafayette County and SW Florida/Naples) - Bracket B (Bradford County, San Souci/Jacksonville, Densmore/Jacksonville, and Jefferson County) - Bracket C (Ft. White, Eagle Lake/Polk, Manatee County, and Chiefland) - Bracket D (SVL, Whitehouse/Jacksonville, Taylor County, and Lakeland Highlands. The format consisted of three games within each bracket (pool play) with the winner of each bracket advancing to the semi-finals for single elimination play. The SVL team consists of the following players - Clif Bryant, Justin Crown, Kolton Mims, Hunter Parrish, Ozie Parrish, Jonathan Rowe, Darren Skawienski, Jonathan Smith, Stephen Smith, Cedric Stokes, Brandon Stone, Corbin Wiggins, and Hunter Williams. Brooks Parrish is the equipment manager/bat boy, Shannon Smith is the pitching coach, Roy Williams is the 1st base coach, and Todd Bryant is the 3rd base coach/manager.
In the first round of play SVL drew Lakeland Highlands. Kolton Mims took the mound for the Tigers and controlled the games from start to finish. Mims threw a 5-inning no-hitter, walked only 2, struck out 8 and gave up no runs. The Tigers’ defense played great, committing only one error behind Mims. The score was 3-0 going into the bottom of the 5th when the Tiger bats got hot and added 7 runs to its lead to end the game early at 10-0. Stephen Smith went 2 for 2, Darren Skawienski had one hit and 2 RBIs, and Jonathan Rowe went 3 for 3 and 2 RBIs with a double and a tremendous home run over the right center wall. The Tigers were the only team with a shut out in all the brackets after round 1.
The second game matched up Whitehouse and Suwannee Valley. Whitehouse had lost to Perry the day before and were looking to get back in the mix against the Suwannee Valley All-Stars. The Tigers were home team again and started Corbin Wiggins on the hill. Wiggins pitched 2 innings, walked three, but only gave up one hit. Hunter Williams pitched the third and fourth innings, walked three, struck out one, and gave up no hits or runs. Justin Crown pitched the fifth inning, striking out two, walked none, gave up one hit and no runs. The Tiger defense once again had only one error. The Tigers pounded out 13 hits and 10 runs in five innings, again shortening the game after five innings - winning 10-0. Cedric Stokes, Hunter Parrish and Kolton Mims each had 2 hits. Hunter Parrish had 3 RBIs with Stephen Smith and Hunter Williams adding 2 RBIs each. Suwannee Valley now had a solid grasp on Bracket D and was actually the #1 seed in the entire tournament thru Round 2. Suwannee Valley would face Perry the following day. However, Perry lost to Lakeland Highlands in the second round and had a player sustain a hip injury while swinging at home plate. Perry was down to 8 players and would not be able to finish the tournament. Suwannee Valley won Round 3 via forfeit, moving on to the semi-finals as the #1 seed.
In Bracket A, Union Co defeated all three teams to become the #2 seed. In Bracket B, Bradford County beat Jefferson County and Sans Souci, Densmore beat Sans Souci and Bradford, and Jefferson County beat Densmore and Sans Souci. After the scores and records were compiled it was determined that Bradford County should be the #4 seed due to their “lowest total runs allowed” in pool play. Ft. White won all three games in its bracket, narrowly beating both Eagle Lake and Chiefland, both in 8 innings, to become the #3 seed.
The Championship Series paired Suwannee Valley (1) vs Bradford County (4) and Union County (2) vs. Ft. White (3). Ft. White pitched their ace, Brandon Sharpe, but he wasn’t able to get enough run production from his team to win. Union County won 8-5 and would wait to see who the Suwannee Valley/Bradford winner would be.
Since Suwannee was the #1 seed, they were given the home team dugout once again. Suwannee Valley put Darren Skawienski on the mound. Skawienski got the first batter to ground out, but gave up a single and a double before an error on a line drive let two runs score. Bradford was out to a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 1st, the Tigers went down in order - 1,2,3. The top of the second started with a lead off walk and then a fly ball to right field for the 1st out. However, the Tiger coaches decided to bring Kolton Mims back to the mound after only 2 days rest to try to keep the score close. The next batter reached on an error and a third run scored. Mims managed to retire the side with Bradford leading 3-0. In the bottom of the second, the Tigers got things going. Clif Bryant drew a walk and Hunter Williams laid down a bunt to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Brandon Stone became a pinch runner for Williams and Justin Crown then squared to bunt and pushed a ball past the pitcher and advanced the runners. Bradford attempted a play on Crown and threw the ball into right field scoring Bryant and Stone. Crown made it to third and scored when Corbin Wiggins lifted a pitch to right field. Jonathan Rowe came up with 2 outs and hit his second home run of the tournament over the center field wall, putting the Tigers ahead 4-3. The Tigers changed pitchers again, going to Hunter Williams in the 3rd inning. Williams put the first three batters to rest in the 3rd. The Tigers got some offense going again in the 3rd when, with one out, Stephen Smith singled. Clif Bryant was next up and ran the count to 3-2. On the pitch, Smith attempted to steal and Bryant ripped a line drive into right field - straight to the waiting outfielder - who double up Smith at 1st base and ended the inning and Tiger threat. Williams went back out in the fourth and got the first batter to ground out but walked the second batter. The third batter struck out but Williams walked the fourth and fifth batters. With a 0-2 count, Bradford’s shortstop Yowell hit a line drive into center field scoring two. Williams got the next batter to line out but Bradford now led 5-4. Williams was due up in the bottom of the fourth and led off with a long drive that bounced off the center field wall but was quickly handled by the outfielder, holding Williams to a single. Justin Crown sacrifice bunted Williams to second, Skawienski moved Crown to 3rd on a fielder’s choice and Crown scored when Rowe’s high fly was mishandled by the Bradford 3rd baseman. Suwannee Valley and Bradford were tied 5-5 going into the top of the fifth. Williams remained on the mound and got the first batter to ground out. The second batter singled but was caught stealing by Rowe on a pitch out. Williams walked the next two batters but settled down to get a ground ball and the 3rd out. In the bottom of the fifth Cedric Stokes doubled, was bunted to 3rd by Hunter Parrish and scored when Stephen Smith ground out to the pitcher and he was not able to look Stokes back to the base. Stokes broke to home on the throw to first and slid under the tag at home to make the score 6-5. Going into the sixth Williams was tired, but reached down to give his team one more inning. He got the first batter to line out to center, walked the second batter, and struck out the third. The Tigers intentionally walked Kendall Norman; a big right-handed hitter who had hit three consecutive drives earlier in the day. Williams also walked the next batter and with bases loaded and a 1-2 count Bradford’s catcher hit a bullet that would have scored two runs but Kolton Mims made a diving stop to end the inning and protect the lead. Williams left the mound with the Tigers leading 6-5. Williams again led off the inning, hitting a single to set up the Tigers. Justin Crown laid down a great bunt moving Williams to second. Crown was safe at first and Corbin Wiggins sacrifice bunted Williams and Crown to 2nd and 3rd. Jonathan Rowe hit a fielder’s choice to second to score Williams making the Tiger lead 7-5. The Tigers would need one more defensive stand to make it to the Championship game. Wiggins replaced Williams on the mound. However, after walking the lead off batter Crown replaced Wiggins. Crown struck out the next batter and got the second batter to fly out to center field. The runner moved from 1st to 2nd on a wild pitch, putting the tying run at the plate. With two out, the batter hit a hard line drive into center field, the runner rounded third but was held up due to Stoke’s rifle throw to home - a perfect shot. The batter rounded first and headed to second on the throw home - Rowe caught Stoke’s throw and gunned the runner out at second - ending the Bradford threat at 7-5. The Tigers were advancing to the finals to face Union County.
The Championship game was touted to be a close one. Union County entered as the 2nd seed, defeating Ft. White in a semi-final 8-5. Union County was undefeated through the tournament and was very confident. Suwannee Valley put Justin Crown back on the mound. According to Babe Ruth rules he could pitch as many as 6 innings in the final game. Union’s first 3 batters went down in order. In the bottom of the first inning Suwannee Valley’s lead off man, Cedric Stokes, put a 1-2 pitch in play to the short stop and beat the throw. Hunter Parrish laid down a perfect bunt with runners at 1st and 2nd. Stephen Smith laid down another perfect bunt and loaded the bases. Clif Bryant, hitting clean up, came to the plate and with a 1-1 count hit an outside fastball into the left center field gap, clearing the bases. The score was 3-0 and Suwannee Valley wouldn’t need any more runs. Crown continued to pound the hitters with strikes, staying ahead of the Union hitters. He threw five innings, gave up only 2 hits, had 3 strike-outs and no walks. Crown’s great pitching, coupled with his fielder’s defense led to another Suwannee Valley shut out. On offense Stokes was 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs, Hunter Parrish was 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs, Clif Bryant was 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs, and Hunter Williams was 2 for 3. Suwannee Valley pounded out 16 hits in five innings to win 17-0 and become State Champs.
Suwannee Valley will play in another state Babe Ruth tournament in Lake City starting June 26th to try to advance to the Large League State Tournament in Sanford in mid-July. Come out and support this team of young men representing Suwannee Valley Leagues and Gilchrist County.