As a former major league player, Chet Lemon knows the secret to winning: strong fundamentals. But there’s often some luck, too. “So many things have to go your way,” Lemon said. “In a lot of cases in this tournament, the ball bounced our way. And we capitalized on those breaks.”

Chet Lemon’s Juice used both strong fundamentals and some luck to win the U13 AAU world championship Saturday evening, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Juice dispatched the New England Firebirds of Peabody, Massachusetts in the finals, 11-4. The national title was the second straight for the squad, which won last year at U12.

The Juice used a combination of favorable bounces and strong pitching and hitting to pull out two close games to advance to the semifinals. The squad won a 4-3 nailbiter over Nokona USA in eight innings in game one, getting the biggest favorable bounce on a sacrifice bunt that brought home the winning run.

A solid pitching performance by Kenny Burkhead helped save The Juice in that one. Burkhead came on in relief in the second inning in a 3–3 tie and pitched 7shutout innings to gain the win.“Burkhead was really phenomenal and we needed that,” Lemon said.

The Juice needed another strong pitching performance in the next round against the Hartford Sox and got it. In that one, Mike Flaherty won a pitcher’s duel, getting a complete game shutout in a 2-0 win. The Juice then used a combination of strong pitching from Dylan White and strong hitting in an impressive 10-0 semifinal win over Brooklawn Baseball.

The Firebirds struck first in the finals, taking a 1-0 lead on Rylie Maceachern’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first. The run ended a remarkable 21 inning scoreless streak by The Juice pitching staff.

Undaunted, The Juice tallied nine runs in the third and fourth innings off seven singles and three Firebirds errors to break the game open. The Firebirds then cut the lead to 9-4 in the fifth on Tom Buonopane’s two-RBI single and a wild pitch. But the Juice padded the lead with two more in the seventh, for an 11-4 lead and the final winning margin.“This creates great memories for the kids,” Lemon said. “They’ll remember this for the rest of their lives.”

The win capped off what could be the best season ever for the Chet Lemon’s Juice organization, which won national titles with four different age groups. Also picking up titles were the U10, U12 and U18 teams.

The Firebirds’ loss ended an unlikely run to the finals. The Firebirds entered the tournament as the number 14 seed, but then won three straight games to win their pool in the first round. However, the Firebirds quickly picked up two losses in the championship pool.“We thought we were out of it then,” said Firebirds head coach Bobby Buonopane.

But The Firebirds had new life when rain on Thursday cancelled the final day of pool play. Under the circumstances, tournament officials decided the best move was to place all 12 teams from the championship pool into the championship bracket, instead of the usual eight teams.

The Firebirds in came in as the 12th and final seed, but advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4 win over the South Shore Seadogs. The squad then won a wild one in 10 innings, 9-8 over Team Connecticut. Buonopane said his squad was able to hang on and win both games because of stellar defensive plays. He also cited team leader and catcher Rylie MacEachern as a big key.“Our defense was phenomenal and that’s what kept us in it,” Buonopane said. “And Riley was phenomenal all week. No one stole on him and he probably had 20 hits in the tournament.”

The Firebirds then capped off their underdog trail by knocking off the number one seed, The Rambler Baseball Club. Cam Johst stymied the Rambler squad with a complete game, 6-0 shutout.“He did a great job for us,” Buonopane said. “He threw all strikes and didn’t walk a batter and threw just 74 pitches.”

In the finals, though, the defense, which had been so strong throughout, betrayed them. The Firebirds committed five errors, leading to five unearned runs. But Buonopane said his team has no regrets.“This was a great experience for the kids and we’re all humbled by it,” Buonopane said. “The kids came back and showed that anything is possible. They played with a lot of heart.”

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