Vaughn Sports Academy wins prestigious Cooperstown tournament
Abriel Torres tied an all-time Cooperstown tournament record by going 4-for-4 with four home runs in the game to lift the Vaughn Sports Academy 12-Under team to a victory over Southern Nevada Baseball in the most prestigious youth baseball tournament in the country at Cooperstown Dreams Park in New York.
Torres, 12, a Loxahatchee resident, has been playing baseball since he was 4 and is a catcher and outfielder for the squad. The seventh-grader at Osceola Creek Middle School said he believed his team was going to win Cooperstown.
“It was so much fun,” Torres said. “We absolutely went in thinking we could win, but thinking about it and then it happening for real, that was mind-blowing. Everyone goes trying to rack up those home runs and the team totally did it.
“Baseball is everything for me,” he said. “I can’t remember nor imagine ever not being part of a team. I would say right now what I like is all the friends and memories I have made with all my travels.”
The Boca Raton-based team dominated, winning all 10 of its games and outscoring the opposition, 177-36, hitting a combined 62 home runs collectively as a team in the tournament that was played in upstate New York. The championship win over the nation’s No. 17-ranked Southern Nevada Baseball capped off both their summer and their 12U career.
“Cooperstown is a tournament every team plans for when these kids start playing T-ball at 4 years old,” VSA 12U coach Rob Weihs said of the tournament that featured 96 teams from across the country. “Every kid dreams of winning this tournament.
“It was a dominant team performance to finalize a very impressive year that each kid, parent and coach will remember forever,” he said.
VSA’s ace, Brian Bechtel, and his 75-plus mph fastball and an arsenal of off-speed pitches picked up the victory as he tossed a complete game and struck out 11 batters. Bechtel allowed only three earned runs and seven hits against a potent Southern Nevada offense, which also entered the final with a perfect 9-0 record. VSA proved to be no slouch at the plate either as they racked up 16 hits of their own.
Bechtel, 13, who lives in Boynton Beach and is an eighth-grader at Woodlands Middle, also played third base in addition to pitching.
“I like third base because it’s the hot corner and pitching because I can control the game,” said Bechtel, who started playing T-Ball at Phipps Park in West Palm Beach when he was 3. “In Cooperstown, the team did great, and it was a great experience. It was thrilling to pitch the championship game and be on TV. The pressure didn’t faze me.”
In addition to Torres, Nelson Velazquez (two), Alexander Cipolla and Sam Vatterott each homered in the game, while Torres, Velazquez, Vatterott and Trey Weihs each had multiple hits in the title game.
Coach Weihs said the team’s toughest game came in the semifinals where they edged the nation’s No. 7-ranked team, SC Prodigy Supreme (South Carolina), 3-1. The Lions rode the arm of Vatterott and his 80-plus mph fastball to the win as he tossed a complete-game 2-hitter, striking out nine batters, while only allowing one run against one of the top offensive lineups in the country.
Vatterott, 12, a seventh-grader at Polo Park Middle School and a Wellington resident, has been playing ball for about six years. Vatterott started at Okeeheelee in West Palm Beach when he was almost 7 and has played the past year with VSA.
“I really just started pitching seriously this year, but love it,” said Vatterott, who also plays catcher, third and first base. My brother Cole (age 14) always played baseball. I spent so much time at the field playing Wiffle ball on the sidelines, that I thought I’d give it a shot.
“Cooperstown was amazing, and my team really came together to give it our all going undefeated,” he said. “Everyone supported each other on and off the field for victory. I was able to pitch against some really good kids and one that took me yard last year. This year, I was able to bounce back and gun them down. The whole VSA team really came together, and everybody played their part. It was this summer to remember.”
VSA navigated through the Cooperstown tournament defeating the NorCal Warriors (California), 36-1; the Wayzata Trojans (Minnesota), 12-5, SC Prodigy Supreme (South Carolina), who was ranked No. 7 nationally, 7-5, Long Island Dodger Nation (New York) 14-0, and the Middletown Lions (New Jersey), 34-0 in their seeding games.
In bracket play, the Lions downed the LVBA Lightning (Nevada) 12-6, and the Orchard Park Bombers (New York), 23-11.
VSA started the summer by finishing in second place in the Perfect Game World Series in Atlanta. in June. This tournament consisted of 88 of the top 12U teams in the nation. VSA battled through 10 games and lost Torres to an injury in the first game of the elimination round. VSA fell in the title game to the SBA Bolts out of North Carolina
The team followed that up by falling to the Sarasota-based Prime Lujan (ranked No. 8 in the nation and No. 1 in the region) in the gold medal round of the invitational-only, 36-team Perfect Game National Invitational in Mississippi.
The Lions finished the year with an 87-14-3 overall record playing in 12U major national tournaments. During that span, they finished ranked No. 12 in the nation and No. 2 in the Southeast/Puerto Rico Region.