Mechanicsville American got strong pitching performances from Austin Morris and Elijah Elliott to get a jump on Huguenot National, then a brilliant four pitches by Jack Rettig to seal a 10-7 win in the championship game of the 20th Annual Atlee 9 Year Old Invitational Tournament on Saturday.

  Coach Mike Morris attributed the title to a theme his team adapted leading up to the tournament. “They practiced for two weeks with practice shirts that had ‘No Excuses’ on the back,” he said. “If something happened they’d say, ‘Look at your shirt. Look at your shirt’.”

  Morris also got a boost in the bullpen when Lee-Davis assistant coach Trip Metzger, Mark Jones and Mike Caler helped with pitching practices. “It was a full Mechanicsville effort,” Morris said.

  The championship game matched up the top two teams coming out of pool play with Mechanicsville as the number one seed.

  The game lived up to the billing of teams of equal caliber, even though Mechanicsville came into the game short-handed.

  Prior to their semi-final game against Atlee National, the team lost the services of assistant coach Patrick Haller and his son Matthew who were out of town due to a death in the family. “I lost a coach and probably one of my top three players,” Morris said.

  Despite the fact that they were missing essential elements to their team, the player rallied, filled gaps and never hung their heads even when faced by adversity. “Their hearts are bigger than their uniforms,” Morris said. “They’ve never looked at the scoreboard until the end of the game, they’ve always knew they had the ability to come back and play and hit.”

  Mechanicsville started the game with Austin Morris on the mound despite the fact that the right-hander was battling soreness. “I didn’t have a choice,” Morris said. Austin Morris told him the coach he could pitch despite the injury. “He was like, ‘I’m here for you’. That’s the attitude of every kid, whether it was a cut, get hit in the back (by a pitch) or their arm was hurting, they were here for the team.”

  In the first inning both teams went scoreless with Morris only giving up a walk. Mechanicsville loaded the bases but could not push a runner home.

  Then in the top of the second the offensive dame broke. A lead-off single by Huguenot’s Ian Murray was followed by a single to right by Brandon Miltenberger. A sacrifice bunt from Will Michael then moved the pair into scoring position and a double to center by Thomas Jackson drove them home.

  Drew Buckley then doubled to right center to drive in Kyle Brumbaugh who was pinch running for Jackson and Buckley pushed the lead to 4-0, scoring when Matthew Nelson grounded out to the mound.

  Though they faced a huge hole, Mechanicville dug in its heals when they came to bat as they had done all tournament. “They never felt like they were ever defeated…ever,” Morris said. “I’m telling you from the first day of practice this team had a mission and they were focused and they set the goal and achieved it.”

  In the bottom of the second, Huguenot’s Murray struck out the first Mechanicsville batter then loaded the bases on consecutive walks to Alex Wright, Rettig and Nolan Caler. 

  The walks prompted Huguenot manager Bryan Miltenberger to make a change on the mound and he went with Nathan Bahen. But Morris singled to third to drive in Wright and put Mechanicsville on the board.

  Then with Cameron Harris at bat, Bahen threw wild pitches that allowed both Rettig and Caler to score and trim the lead to 4-3. Harris then sent a looping shot over the second baseman allowing Morris to knot the game a 4-4.

  Mechanicsville’s next batter Cole Hicks reached base after being hit by a pitch then Garrett Jones single loaded the bags once again. A wild pitch to Elliott then allowed Harris to score putting Mechanicsville ahead 5-4.

  Huguenot went scoreless in the top of the third and went to their third pitcher, Joe Hunt in the bottom of the inning. But Caler pushed the Mechanicsville lead to 6-4 after being walked then scoring on a third strike to Harris.

  In the top of the fourth, Morris put Elliott on the mound to replace Austin Morris. “He got us through with the lead in three innings and he had done all he could do,” Morris said.

  Though one of the smallest players on the team, Elliott gave a Goliath performance on the mound using a different pitching style than Morris that unsettled the Huguenot batters.  “They kept us off balance a little bit and that was a big adjustment as well,” Miltenberger said.

  Huguenot trimmed the lead to 6-5 when Timothy Meador scored on an RBI by Matthew Nelson but Mechanicsville found the answer in the bottom of the inning. After Jones led-off by being walked, Huguenot went to its fourth pitcher Buckley. Buckley struck out one before giving up a walk to Seth Hall.

  Wright hit a safe single to third but was caught at second when he tried to push the hit into a double. However, the action at second allowed both Jones and Hall to score pushing Mechanicsville lead to 8-5.

  The lead later jumped to 9-5 when Rettig scored on a RBI single from Caler.

  But Huguenot was not about to throw in the towel. In the top of the fifth, both Bahen and Miltenberger scored to trim Mechanicsville’s lead two but Jones pushed the margin back to three, 10-7 in the bottom of the inning.

  In the top of the sixth, it appeared Mechanicsville had the game won before Huguenot rallied. To lead off the inning, Meador sent a shot to deep left but Wright, who was playing out of position due to the absence of Haller, ran the ball down to make his second brilliant catch of the game and keep the bases empty.  When Nelson grounded out to Elliott, Mechanicsville was one out from the championship but the Huguenot players knew the game was not over yet. Hunt singled to short and was joined on base by Bahen on a single to left. When Murray was walked, Huguenot had bases loaded with the potential winning run at the plate in Miltenberger.

  With a 1-0 count on Miltenberger and the game on the line, Morris turned to Rettig to close out the contest.  Rettig stepped to the mound and only threw four pitches, three of which were strikes to win the championship.

  For Bryan Miltenberger, defense was the difference in the game. “They made one or two more plays than we did,” he said. “For the most part they did a great job and you’ve just got to give it to them. (My) kids adjusted there at the end but (Mechanicsville) just made some great plays.”