EMERSON, Ga. — The Kingsmen prospect team won two big games to keep them alive in the ABA Championships, while the varsity team dropped their first game of the tourney, putting both teams in the third round of the loser’s bracket going into Tuesday.
The varsity team was unable to stay unbeaten against the Clubhouse Commanders in the varsity winner’s bracket, dropping a battle with the top seed 8-3. A late comeback bid was not enough after the Kingsmen scored the final runs of the game.
Because both teams played at the same time, Kingsmen assistant coach Nick Osborne took on the reigns as manager in that game.
“I had fun stepping into that role,” Coach Osborne reflected. “I thought the group battled really well. It’s been the story of our season, no matter what the circumstances are, we battle hard every game at every moment.”
The varsity team drops to the losers bracket, where they will need to resume their winning ways. A matchup with FTB starts their day at 11am. A win moves them onto the quarterfinals, where P27 or Central Pointe will await.
On the prospect side of things, a Tuesday loss meant that the Kingsmen had to win twice Wednesday just to advance to the third day. They took care of business.
Their morning game got a bit close when PDG survived being down to its last strike twice to tie the game in the seventh. The Kingsmen didn’t blink, putting all four of its hitters on base in a bottom half that ended with a Mason Ritzema walk-off single.
Then, the Kingsmen turned around and played P27, a team that lost its first game but received a bye due to the tournament structure.
It was in their third game of the week, that we finally saw the Kingsmen offense truly come alive. Six runs in the second coupled with five in the third, and the game wasn’t close. They had a ten run lead after four innings, and Kaysen Young finished off a complete game by wrapping up the fifth. 12 to 2 was the final tally.
With the victories, the Kingsmen move on to Thursday’s set of games, where they’ll again need to win twice. They square off once again at 11 in a battle of the league’s top two seeds. The winner will move on to play either ECA or DSC, after Dominion lost to Central Pointe and ECA knocked out TNXL. The team that survives both games will move on to Friday’s semifinal.
The prospect games will be live-streamed. In the event that the prospect team is eliminated before the varsity team, the coverage will shift exclusively to the varsity team. In the meantime, there will be an effort to livestream both games at once.
Live Stream 🔗 ⬇️:
Prospect vs GPA: https://youtube.com/live/ZcvgmqDOtzk?feature=share
Varsity vs FTB: https://youtube.com/live/_7q4LloJASk?feature=share
Prospect vs ECA/DSC: https://youtube.com/live/yajOnKIlWiU?feature=share
Varsity vs P27/CPCA: https://youtube.com/live/aA5o3m2BA54?feature=share