The FW Rebels who had been off for a couple of weeks returned and had a very successful pool play winning both games and earning the #1 seed in the TSB Season Finale Tournament in Grapevine.  Saturday's success did not lead to a deep tournament run however as the Rebels lost their first bracket game 10-5 and were eliminated by a team who ended up in the championship game.  Here are the tournament game recaps:

Game 1

FW Rebels 5

Dallas Nationals White 2

Both team's pitchers came out throwing strikes and hits were scarce to open the tournament.  The Rebels got on the scoreboard first with a run in the bottom of the 2nd to make it 1-0.  Brady Franz singled, stole second, and then went to third on a passed ball by the catcher.  Cade Crow hit an RBI ground out to score Franz. 

Evan Smith & Coleman Peck only allowed 1 hit in 4 innings of work for the Rebels and it was 1-0 heading to the bottom of the 4th.  With two outs, Karson Symonds hit an infield single.  Quentin Enos was hit by a pitch sending Symonds to second.  Franz singled to center to score Symonds to make it 2-2.

Devin Hood came on to pitch in the 5th and had a 1-2-3 inning.  In the top of the 6th, Hood allowed a 2-out bloop liner to left that enabled the Nationals to tie the game at 2.

In the bottom of the 6th, Jack Dalton led off with a bunt single.  After Dalton stole second, Coleman Pick grounded a ball that skidded off of the first base bag into right field scoring Dalton to give the Rebels a 3-2 lead.  The Rebels tacked on two more runs and time expired with the Rebels winning 5-2. Devin Hood was the winning pitcher in his Rebels debut.

 After earning the #1 seed with 5-2 & 8-0 victories, the Rebels talk about the rest of the tournament.

Game 2

FW Rebels 8

Canes SW 13U Hardee  0

Once again, the pitching was dominant for the Rebels who did not allow a run in 6 innings of work.  Brady Franz (2), Quentin Enos (2), Cade Crow (1), and Alex Stumm (1) combined for a shutout and allowed just 5 singles while striking out seven and walking three.

This time, the pitchers had plenty of offensive support.  Devin Hood got the scoring started with an RBI double in the top of the 2nd to give the Rebels a 1-0 lead.  In the top of the 3rd, Christopher Calabrese laced a triple down the right field line that went to the fence.  When the relay throw wasn't properly executed, Calabrese scored on the error to make it 2-0.  The Rebels put three more runs on the board in the 4th when Karson Symonds singled in Evan Smith who had singled.  Symonds then scored from third on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.  Cade Crow's RBI single that scored Brady Franz made it 5-0. Smith, Franz & Crow would add additional RBI singles in the game to finish off the victory and the shutout at 8-0.  Brady Franz was the winning pitcher.

Game 3

CCBA Pastrana 10

FW Rebels 5

Devin Hood's smash to short in the 1st produced two runs for the Rebels who narrowed the lead to 5-3

The #1 seeded Rebels had a poor first inning defensively and with some bad luck and fell into an early 5-0 hole they never got out of.  Brady Franz started on the hill for the Rebels and allowed seven runs on five hits and three walks in his two innings of work.  There were also a couple of costly errors made in the field behind him meaning four of the seven runs he allowed were unearned.  

Down 5-0 though, as they usually do, the Rebels fought back.  Coleman Peck had a seven pitch at bat and drew a walk to open the bottom of the first.  With one out, Alex Stumm walked and was followed by Karson Symonds who singled to score Peck.  Quentin Enos then walked to fill the bases.  With two outs, Devin Hood smashed a ball right at the shortstop who then threw the ball past first for an error that enabled Stumm & Symonds to score and made it 5-3. Evan Smith hit an infield single in the bottom of the 2nd that enabled Jack Dalton to score who had previously singled when the Pastrana thirdbasemen through the ball away.

The Pastrana team was able to score three more runs off of Coleman Peck in the 4th to take a 10-4 lead.  In the bottom of the 5th, with time expired, the Rebels attempted one of their magical comebacks.  Jack Dalton opened the inning with a perfectly executed bunt single.  The next hitter, Coleman Peck rocketed a ball but right to the thirdbaseman for the first out.  With two outs, Alex Stumm crushed a triple to right to score Dalton to make it 10-5.  The rally ended there however and the Rebels were eliminated.

With key Rebels Drew Horstman, Jackson Jordan, Jace Franke, and Charger Nguyen all absent, the Rebels had Cade Crow, Devin Hood, and Alex Stumm not only fill in admirably, but they all contributed as well.

 Alex Stumm's scorching triple in the last inning produced the Rebels final run in what turned out to be a 10-5 defeat.