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Juniors Title Is All-Plant City Affair

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By DAREK SHARP

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 21, 2008

PLANT CITY - It looks like Plant City has a good shot in the upcoming Little League District 4 Juniors tournament, too.

A week or so after Plant City had both finalists in the 9- to 10-year-old Tournament of Champions, it happened in the 13-year-old Juniors group as well. In the championship game June 13, the Mets defeated Marlins 8-6.

Appropriately enough, the Juniors Tournament of Champions was played at Plant City.

Finishing as the top two teams during the regular Plant City Little League season qualified both the Marlins and Mets for the "TOC" where they competed with nine teams, the other seven from Polk County. The Mets cruised into the championship finals with three blowout victories, but it was a much tougher road for the Marlins.

After they lost their opener 4-3 to the North Lakeland American League champs, the Marlins had to fight through the loser's bracket. They did so with great success, starting by defeating Auburndale 7-0 and then blanking Lakeland City Orange 13-0.

In a rematch with the North Lakeland American team, the Marlins won 4-2 and that put them against the Mets needing two victories to claim the title.

The Marlins won the first meeting on June 13, by a 9-3 score, forcing a rematch that night for the title which the Mets won 8-6.

"I was proud of the Marlins, they did a great job," said Mets coach Joe Bowles. "I told my kids early this season, our two goals were to win the league and then win Tournament of Champions."

Travis Cannoles and Sebastian Ray led the Mets' hitting attack and A.J. delValle was the team's ace pitcher.

"We hit well all season long. We averaged about 10 runs a game," said Bowles. That held true in their first three tournament contests, where the Mets scored 11, 17 and 13 runs.

During the regular season, the Mets finished with the best record, 14-6, and the Marlins went 12-6.

The other members of the Mets were Evan Bowles, Kenneth Floyd, Josh Harrelson, Michael Hash, Ricky Lara, Ethan Locke, Taylor Schulte, Cody Smith and Mike Wilson.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampatrib.com.

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