It wasn’t a blood feud or family fracas that put relatives on opposite sides of Field 4 at the Atlee Sports Complex on Saturday night. Instead it was merely the championship game of the Atlee 9Y0 Invitational Tournament.

  Atlee National took on Tuckahoe National in a game that featured the two teams favored to win coming into the tournament. But the championship had more connections than just favorite teams. Atlee starting pitcher Jack Dragum and Tuckahoe pitcher Camden Gaines are first cousins. Camden’s father Rob Grimes is the coach of Tuckahoe and Jack’s father Charlie Dragum is the pitching coach for Atlee. “Those two guys are both baseball guys and married sisters,” said Atlee manager Rodney Chenault.

  To add to the close connection between squads, the coaches and many of the players from both groups are all members of the same travel team. 

  But unlike most family reunions that feature relatives one would prefer not to see, everyone was welcome in a contest that featured fans from both sides of the field cheering for the play of both teams.

  And what could be more fun in the family atmosphere than a highly competitive game came down to the final play to decide the winner.

  In the bottom of the sixth, Atlee held a 4-3 lead but Tuckahoe was threatening to pull out the win. With runners on first and second and two out, Tuckahoe’s Ben Collins stepped to the plate and delivered a shot to short that looked as if it could drive in the winning run. But instead, Dragum swooped in and made a diving catch to win the game and give Atlee the championship.

  “With all those things going on, two cousins battling each other on the mound, just so much excitement. It could have gone either way,” Chenault said. “We were just fortunate enough to get on the winning side.”

  Because he knew the opposing team’s talent so well, Chenault expected Tuckahoe to give his squad a battle. “They’re great players and we knew it was going to be a dogfight,” he said. “For nine-year-old kids, to play like that, you just can’t expect any more from a group of nine-year-old kids.” 

  Atlee jumped on the board quickly in the top of the first after the first three batters were walked. Lead-off hitter Jack Chenault stole second then third while Carson Miller turned a walk into a two-bagger. Chenault then scored on a wild pitch as Dragum was walked.

  Next up Nick Zona sent a single to short that drove in Miller for a 2-0 lead.
  On the mound for Tuckahoe, Grimes then settled in a struck out the next two Atlee batters. Though a walk of Jack Fahed loaded the bags, Grimes got the next batter to ground out to escape the inning with no further damage.

  In the bottom of the first it was Tuckahoe’s turn to strike. With his cousin on the mound, Grimes led off with a single to third, stole second then third and scored on a wild pitch.

  With one out, Scott McDonough doubled past second and when Collins sent a shot in the same direction, McDonough knotted the game at two.

  Grimes struck out the Atlee order in the top of the second and his team looked to take the lead in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Will Atkinson sent a deep shot to right and that put him well on his way to rounding the bags for an inside the park homer. But Atlee’s Gray Hart raced to the ball, fired to Zona at the cutoff who then sent a bullet home to Miller at the plate to make the tag on Atkinson as he slid.

  “That was a great relay,” Chenault said. “We work on our cutoffs, hitting the cutoff man. They hit Nick Zona and Nick Zona threw a strike to Carson Miller at home plate and put the tag on him.”

  With both pitchers dominating, the score remained knotted at two until the top of the fifth.

  With one out, Atlee’s Jack Goleski stood at first after being walked. Next up, Hart sent a shot to deep right for a triple that drove in Goleski and gave Atlee the lead, 3-2.

  “Gray Hart played well for us all tournament,” Chenault said. “And that was a big hit.”

  Next up, saw the courageous return of Cameron Smith who left the dugout earlier in the game because he was ill. At the plate, Smith laid down a perfect bunt up the first base line that drove in Hart for what turned out to be the game winning run.

  “Cameron Smith, a little fellow who hyper-ventilated earlier, came back in the game and laid down that awesome bunt and got the fourth run across,” Chenault said. “That was a huge play for him to fight back. A lot of kids would have quit and gone sat in the bleachers but he fought hard, came back and really helped us out.”

  Trailing by two heading into the bottom of the final inning, Tuckahoe turned the game into a nail-biter. With one out, Trevor Holt reached via walk then moved to second on a ground out by Grimes.

  A double into left by Joey Metcalfe drove Holt home to pull Tuckahoe within one, 4-3.

  With Tuckahoe’s power hitter McDonough coming to the plate, Atlee opted to intentionally walk him even though it put the potential winning run at first. Next up, Collins came to the plate to set up the game-ending drama.