Club baseball team posts winning record at Perfect Game tourney
Showtime Baseball went down to Georgia and put on quite a show.
The club team based in Clark County finished 4-2-1 in the prestigious Perfect Game World Wood Bat Association 18-under national championship in Cartersville, GA, near Atlanta.
Showtime just missed making it to bracket play, but still showed enough promise that Perfect Game highlighted the club with a featured article on its website.
“It was really awesome, kind of an honor. I was very humbled,” said Tyler Russell of Battle Ground, who had his picture posted on the site after he struck out seven in five innings of work, allowing one earned run in a win over the Louisiana Knights earlier this week.
It was not just Russell who got the spotlight.
“Our team did great down here,” Russell said. “It was a good experience for the whole team. We got to see some players who are above the skill level that we normally see.”
Showtime was the lone team from Washington at this event. Players and coaches agreed it was a who’s who of baseball talent from all over the country.
“Every guy was amazing,” said Liam Kerr, a Skyview Storm player in the spring. “To see we could compete with them was really eye-opening for us.”
“It will definitely help me because the competition we played against was unreal,” added Carter Sutton of Union High School. “To be able to pitch against D-I batters and hit against D-I pitchers will help me.”
Russell, who plans on playing for Edmonds Community College, agreed.
“Just the exposure to these great teams that we played will get me ready to go to college,” he said. “Lot of talent down here. It will prepare for me what I’ll see next year.”
Billy Hayes, the general manager of Showtime, called the tournament “phenomenal.”
“The boys held their own on an incredible stage,” he said.
Jeremy Hertner was the head coach of Showtime this week.
“I’ve never seen so much talent,” he said. “It was a great experience for the kids. They get to see where the bar is at, to see where they need to be to be a D-I guy.”
It was not all just playing baseball. The teammates got to enjoy the trip, as well.
“We dressed up on the way down there, like it was a business trip,” Sutton said. “Stuff like that we’ll remember forever.”
Most of the team also attended a Gwinnett Stripers minor league game.
“They had the coolest mascot I’d ever seen,” Kerr said. “A bass with a hook in its mouth. I got the coolest hat. American flag, bass, with a fishing hook in its mouth.”
Clark County players
Showtime has 10 players from Clark County on its 17-player roster for the Perfect Game event:
Spencer Andersen of Ridgefield; Liam Kerr of Skyview; Josiah Nickel of Prairie; Nick Nygard of Columbia River; Isaiah Parker of Seton Catholic/Mountain View; Tyler Russell of Battle Ground; Tommy Snyder of Evergreen; Carter Sutton of Union; Xavier Ulrich of Battle Ground; and Jaxon Woodhouse of Union.
