Forest falls to Up To Bat Titans in NABF Sophomore WS final

Not too many 14-year-old players get to play two games at Lynchburg’s City Stadium on the same day.

For Forest’s sophomore entry in the NABF World Series, the experience was bittersweet, and the outcomes of the two games like night and day.

In the morning game against the Spring (N.Y.) Renegades, which had gone 4-0 and were seeded first after pool play, Forest scored 10 runs in the first inning and went on to cruise to an 11-3 victory.

“We hit the ball well and got a solid pitching performance from Michael Carter,” Forest coach Troy Doss said. “He went seven innings and gutted it out.”

That sent JF to the championship game against the Up To Bat Titans out of Cleveland, Ohio, which also came out of its pool seeded second, beating Nothing But Baseball out of Pittsburgh, Pa., 11-2 to advance to the final.

But it was the Titans, not the Cavaliers, doing the pile-on celebrating inside the diamond as the sun set on Calvin Falwell Field on Saturday night, following their 4-1 championship victory.

After a leadoff single in the top of the first by Reed Bryant, Forest went 0 for the next 16 batters against Titans pitcher Allan Medovic, who struck out six and allowed just one hit through the first five innings.

“That pitcher was mixing up his pitches and kept us off balance all night,” Doss said. “We couldn’t get the timely hits when we needed them.”

The Titans, who improved to 57-12 on the season, came through in the clutch at the plate and capitalized on a couple Forest errors in the field.

Leadoff batter Carl Lint scored two unearned runs — first in the third after drawing a leadoff walk, stealing second and advancing to third on an error by the center fielder, and coming home on a sacrifice fly to shallow right.

Then in the three-run fourth, after Adam Vasil led off with a single and scored on a triple down the first-base line by Justin Aviles, Lint reached by error to bring home Aviles. He scored the final run on a single by Ben Szymczak to right when the relay throw home from first was too late.

Szymczak later was named the offensive player of the tournament.

The Cavaliers broke up the shutout with two outs in the sixth when Cal Hodgert and Cameron Byrd delivered back-to-back singles, scoring starting pitcher Mark Heideman, who had reached on a fielder’s choice after Bryant drew a one-out walk.

Eighth batter Ben Stanley singled past second with two outs in the seventh before the Titans retired Zach Coleman for the third time on the night to end it.

“It was just a privilege to be in the championship game,” said Doss, whose team finishes 4-2 in the tournament.

For the Titans, this was their ninth tournament of the summer and they have now won five, but this was their first NABF World Series championship.

“We’re a first-year team,” assistant coach John Vasil said, noting Up To Bat only advanced to Lynchburg after winning a five-state NABF Regional qualifier in Toledo, Ohio, last Saturday, beating teams from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsyl-vania.

Forest Cavaliers 000 001 0 — 1 4 2
Up To Bat Titans 001 300 x — 4 7 1

W: Allan Medovic. L: Mark Heideman. Records: Up To Bat 5-1, Forest 4-2.

Highlights: F — Reed Bryant 1-2, walk; Cal Hodgert 1-3; Cameron Byrd 1-3; Ben Stanley 1-3. UTB — Ben Szymczak 2-3, 2 RBIs; Adam Vasil 2-3, run; Justin Aviles 2-3, 3B, run; Carl Lint 2 runs.