Results: USSSA State Tournament, June 28th
6/28/2009

USSSA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
East Cobb Trojans Topple East Metro Titans 15-6

Leadoff batter David Chabut walked to first and never looked back, stealing second and third and being brought home by Austin Richards to take a 1-0 lead after the first half inning. East Cobb Trojans starting pitcher Anand Pappu's right leg was larger than the East Metro Titans leadoff batter who, no big surprise, was able to pick up a walk and ultimately score. Despite a well-pitched inning the Titans were able to score three runs on one hit and take a 3-1 lead after one inning.  In the top of the second, hits by Cameron Gregory and Devin McCleskey were turned into runs by a deep shot to right field by Tyler Heinrichs and the boys turned the deficit into a 4-3 lead. Anand then took 7 pitches to retire the first Titans batter and strike out the next two batters in a 1-2-3 inning.  Coming to bat after hits by Tanner Schneider and Taylor Giles, Austin Stanley rocked a two run triple to the wall and the Trojans took a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the third. After struggling a bit and walking in a run, the Big Pappu was helped out of the inning by an unassisted double play by Anand's new best friend and Trojan third baseman Devin McCleskey.

Going into the fourth inning, the Trojans held onto a slim 7-4 lead, after a foul was called on Tyler on a hard slide into second that would have broken up the double play - but the ump saw it differently and called an out, ending the fourth for the Trojans. Not known to be a hothead, Coach Giles nearly got himself thrown out of the game for saying absolutely nothing after the slide call. Blue must have been "projecting" some angst at his own terrible call...  Relief pitcher Austin Richards did a song when Marky Mark Ankerholz picked up a barehanded throw out and he blanked the Titans in the fourth, recording the third out with a beautiful strike out. Mark kept the groove and hit a rocking triple to score Kyle Garrard and then stole home to give the Trojans a bit better 9-4 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning. After giving up one run in the bottom of the fifth, the Trojans brought in closer Tyler Heinrichs who collected two outs and recorded the third out with a strike out.  Staying hot, the D-Train Devin McCleskey rocketed a blast past third and was then brought home by an in-the-park home run by Austin Stanley. Trojan fans were unsure if "Speedster" Stanley was going to make it home, but he did - standing up!!  After a walk and a fielding bobble, the Titans put two runners on base but Tyler struck out the next two batters. A bunt brought in one run and the bases were loaded but David Chabut caught a fly ball to end the inning and the game, with a 15-6 victory by the East Cobb Trojans who advance in the winners bracket of the tournament. 


East Cobb Trojans Are Zapped In Extra Innings By The Elite Shockers

In the second game of the day, the top of the visiting Trojans order decided to ring up and knock out the starting Shockers pitcher before any outs were recorded. With the Trojans leadoff and two hole hitters - David Chabut and Austin Richards - on base, Tanner Schneider jacked a double to right field and scored two runs. After a couple more walks, Devin McCleskey came up and hit a two RBI single to take the score to 4-0 after the top of the first. The Shockers were able to pick up some runs after a series of booted plays in the field and despite Jonny Spratt's diving catch in right field taking the score to 5-4 on starting pitcher Austin Stanley, who needed to throw for six outs to get three recorded and shut down the inning. The Trojan bats responded and Tanner was able to ring up two more RBIs on a nice triple and the boys took the lead back scoring two more runs and took the score to 8-5. Reliever Taylor Giles came in and blanked the Shockers in the third inning. In the bottom of what was supposed to be the final inning, the Shockers giant cleanup batter ripped a shot to the wall and brought the score even and got the winning run on third with only one out. In a game saving throw and tag Anand Pappu and Austin Stanley recorded the second out and Devin McCleskey rang up the final out with a strikeout. Going into the first extra inning, leadoff batter David Chabut was again at the top of the order and smacked a single to left, stole second took a passed ball to third and was brought home in a fine at bat by Tanner. This run gave the Trojans a 9-8 lead going into the bottom of the inning. With two outs in the bottom of the final inning, the Shockers cleanup batter again put the electrodes to the Trojans and had a two run single scoring the winning runs and taking the victory, 10-9.

Tough loss for the Trojans, who could not seem to put it together for more than one inning at a time in this game. The loss puts the Trojans in the bottom bracket and back on the field in the 100 degree heat for a must-win third game of this sweltering day.


East Cobb Trojans Fizzle Against Southern Stars

For the third time today, leadoff batter David Chabut got on base to start the game and scored a run for the Trojans. David then took the ball as the starting pitcher, but a couple of nice hits by the Stars and a few tough breaks in the field gave the Stars a 3-1 lead after the first inning. The Trojans could never put it together and despite keeping the game within one run pretty much the whole time, in a rain delayed game the Stars were able to get a 6-4 win against the Trojans in a time limited game.

The Trojans, who had a great regular season with four championship game appearances, are looking forward to charging into Cooperstown next week and making a nice run.

GO TROJANS!!!!!



The Trojans will be participating in our last tournament before our season ending Cooperstown trip.  The team will be at Sawnee Mountain Park in Cumming participating in the USSSA State Tournament. 

This event was a double elimination tournament with NO POOL PLAY.  Teams were seeded into the bracket based on their season to date USSSA points. 

Seeds are...

#1 - Elite Gamers Red
#2 - East Metro Titans
#3 - Blazers
#4 - Southern Stars
#5 - Diamond Dogs
#6 - Shockers
#7 - East Cobb Trojans
#8 - Druid Hills Bombers
#9 - Shiloh RoughRiders

Schedule and Bracket can be found by clicking here.