USA Prime National/Detroit Tigers Scout Team 5, CBA/Orioles Scout Team 4

An incredible 17U Champs NC set the tone for the rest of the summer with non-stop drama, from shootouts to shutouts and everything in between. A championship showdown was set between CBA and USA Prime National. Each squad had to fight tooth and nail for their spot, as both were runner-ups from their respective pools and played in the first round of bracket play.

CBA finished their pool play with a 2-1-1 record and earned a matchup against the 2027 Franklin Scout Team. Taking care of business when it mattered most, CBA earned back-to-back victories on its way to the Championship. CBA’s semifinal ended dramatically, with a nine-inning, extra-inning win against the East Cobb Astros, 8-6.

USA Prime National/Detroit Tigers Scout Team finished pool play 2-1-1 as well, with their first-round matchup against Performance Baseball. In semifinal action, USA Prime National/Detroit Tigers Scout Team took care of business in a tightly contested game against Canes National 17U, winning 4-3 to book their trip to the championship.

Getting things started early, USA Prime National/Detroit Tigers Scout Team took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a passed ball. That lead wouldn’t last long as CBA struck back with two runs of their own in the bottom half. Mac Morris continued his impressive tournament, notching an RBI triple followed by a sac-fly by John Hucko to take a 2-1 advantage.

Striking back massively, USA Prime National’s/Detroit Tigers Scout Team Frank Thomas III blasted a solo homer to right field over the scoreboard to knot the game at two. Going into the third with runners on second and third, Thomas III struck again with a two-RBI ground rule double, retaking the lead for USA Prime National.

Yet again, CBA got runners in scoring position after Leyton Guhl doubled down the left field line. Morris continued to be one of the hottest hitters for CBA by smacking a line drive single to left field, scoring Guhl, and shrinking the deficit to one in the third.

The game took a complete turn as no runs were scored again until the sixth frame. USA Prime National pitchers Noah Milburn and Chase Fuller kept putting up zeros. As for CBA, the sixteen-year-old phenom Colton Small went three innings, only giving up two hits, surrendering no runs, and tallying four strikeouts.

CBA struck back with a sac-fly in the bottom of the sixth, Hudson Riordan tied the game at four heading to the finish line. USA Prime National used a single and a hit-by-pitch to get runners on first and second with two outs. Lash Henderson came up to the plate in the biggest moment of the game, and he delivered a line drive to center field, scoring a run to take a 5-4 lead. Fuller kept going until the end of the game, totalling a line of 2.2 innings pitched, giving up just one hit, no runs, and striking out four. Fuller got the win and crowned USA Prime National/Detroit Tigers Scout Team as the 17U Champs NC champions.

“It's amazing. This has been our goal for a few years. I've come here for three years and never made it to bracket play, and this year we came and won the whole thing. It's an awesome experience, I'm just grateful to be here,” said Frank Thomas III of USA Prime National/Detroit Tigers Scout Team.