2013 25+ National
So Cal Buzz 3, L.I. Black Sox 0
Buzz hurler Gschwender throws six-hit shutout for the victory
By Steve LaMontia, Executive Regional Director
Battle of the coastlines ironically took place in the middle of the desert when the So Cal Buzz met the Long Island Black Sox at Maryvale Stadium for the 25 Wood Bat National title.
When the dust cleared, the So Cal Buzz emerged as 6-3 winners over the Black Sox.
Chalk another one up for the avacados and wine.
The game was also seemed to prove the old maxim that good pitching can beat good hitting.
The Buzz out muscled the Black Sox 9-2 during round robin play, but the big difference in the final game came from 60-feet, six inches away from the batters box in the form of Buzz lefty Chris Gschwender who masterfully shut down the Long Island bats with a six-hit shutout.
Gschwender hails from Las Vegas and was brought on board for one thing: pitching brilliance.
“I just had all of my pitches working today and there was a lot of great defense behind me,” said tourney MVP Gschwender. He was also crafty as the game went along as he went to many more breaking balls at different speeds as the late innings arrived.”I continued to show them the hard fastball once in a while to make the breaking stuff more effective,” Gschwender added. “I guess it worked.”
The Buzz scored two runs in the second inning and one in the fifth and that’s all they needed. Black Sox pitcher Noel DeLeon did his job in holding the Buzz to three runs as he threw a complete game in the loss. He held the Buzz to only nine hits. Unfortunately, the Black Sox had six 1-2-3 innings at the plate and couldn’t produce anything resembling an offensive.
The Buzz were led by shortstop Juan Carlos Garcia, whose left handed stick sprayed the ball all over the field on his way to a 3-for-4 day while scoring one of the three runs.Gilbert Miranda also kicked in a 2-for-3 day and a walk to help the Buzz from the three hole.
Chad Jeffries belted a double in the sixth inning for the Black Sox but got caught up in a line drive double play to end the threat . In the seventh inning Long Island had runners on first and second with only one out but Dan Pembroke struck out and Chris Degennaro grounded out to end the threat and keep the shutout intact.
The Buzz dispatched the historically tough SoCal Snappers, 6-3 in the semi-finals to earn the right to play in the big game against the Black Sox. The Sox were a worthy adversary having won World Series MABL titles in 2006, 2007, and 2010. They lost a title game in 2005.