Vernon Cyclones 15U win Backyard Baseball tourney

The Vernon Cyclones 15U travel baseball team traveled to Cooperstown, N.Y., on July 26-28th to participate in the U16 Backyard Baseball tournament.

As one of the top ranked 15U teams in the state,the team is comprised of two 14-year olds, eight 15-year olds and two 16-year olds. The Cyclones won the championship playing “up” against a host of teams from New York and Canada that consisted solely of 16 and 17 year old players.

After dropping the first game of the tournament, 5-0, to the Lake Shore Cardinals at historic Doubleday Field, the Cyclones came roaring back to win the next four games, including three in a row on championship Sunday and avenged the earlier loss to the Cardinals by defeating them in the finals by a score of 7-5.

In order to get to there, the Cyclones defeated scrappy opponents in the North County Bombers, 4-0, the New Rochelle Knights, 5-2 and the Montreal Titans, 6-3. The Cyclones pitching, led by Justin Pecoraro, Hunter Kitchell, Justin Bell, John Kowalski and Derek Lazier, was stellar all weekend by striking out 31 batters and only allowing 10 earned runs in 35 innings of play.

Offensively, the weekend was a total team effort with different players contributing with each victory. Bobby Baumann led the team in hits (5) and RBIs (5) for the weekend with three players, John Kowalski, Ryan Dunbar and Zach Reading leading the team in runs scored with three each.