June 21, 2024
LA VISTA, Neb. — There’s something about getting dirty. Just ask the fine folks from Merchants Black 14U.
“I love the dirt fields and I love getting dirty,” said Merchants player Jackson Rosquita.
Why is this relevant?
Well, the Merchants, from Seattle, WA., have never played on dirt or grass fields.
So when the first-time Omaha Slumpbuster participants took the Ft. Calhoun Legion fields in Northern Omaha and La Vista Sports Complex on Thursday and Friday, respectively, they were more than happy to slide as often as possible — and keep their parents busy in the hotel laundry room late at night in the process.
“We usually play on turf,” Rosquita added. “I enjoy the travel and I like that the College World Series is at the same time. I also love that we get to see some teams we’d never play.”
Rosquita speaks with experience as he’s the only one of his Merchants squad to play in the Omaha Slumpbuster tournament previously, according to head coach Drew Holes.
“I loved playing at the rural field yesterday and here on the grass and dirt fields,” Holes said. “It reminds me of back when they were all grass fields. It was pretty awesome.”
Turns out that getting dirty is helping their performance, too. The Merchants went a perfect 3-0 in pool play including a doubleheader sweep of Midland Springfield and Summit City Spartans on Thursday and a 15-0 run-rule victory over Elite (Touhy) on Friday.
“We didn’t really know what to expect, so we’re happy to be in this position come playoff time,” Holes said.
In pool play, the Merchants went bonkers with the bats, tallying 37 runs across three games. Which, of course, is never easy to accomplish at the Omaha Slumpbuster. Not that the Merchants would know.
“It almost feels like it’s the first time all summer that our bats have worked this well in conjunction with our pitching and defense,” Holes said. “It’s nice to see the boys start achieving as we knew they could.”
Rosquita agreed.
“It feels great. We came out strong after being down early in the first game,” he said. “We came back and walked it off; it was great. The second game was a battle all game and found a way to take the lead. And we didn’t look back.”
A battle it was as the Merchants needed a two-run, walk-off single from Ryan Stevens, who drove in four runners and had three hits in the8-7 win over Midland. The Merchants also came back in the victory after trailing 5-1 through two innings and a 7-6 deficit before the sixth — and final— inning.
The other two pool play contests were a bit more manageable for the Merchants.
“Today, we were all the way and didn’t stop,” Rosquita said. “We all hit and our pitching was great.”
The Merchants opened a 6-0 lead in the first inning against Elite on Friday. They added a pair of runs in the second, four more in the third and an additional three tallies in the fourth to force the run rule. Kai Roberto collected four RBI on two hits, while Stevens added a 3-for-3, two-RBI effort. Titan Fraser added three RBI on two hits and Cohen Fee also had two hits.
“It almost feels like it’s the first time all summer that our bats have worked this well in conjunction with our pitching and defense,” coach Holes said. “It’s nice to see the boys start achieving as we knew they could.”
And there just might be more to achieve Saturday and Sunday.
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