The 10U Bullets Blue traveled to Kingsport, Tennessee last weekend and won the Super NIT Tournament to qualify them for the Elite 32 this summer.

Pool Play

The Bullets won their pool games easily against the RBI Rangers and the East Tennessee Renegades, both by the score of 13-0. Great defense by Bobby Selby, Jared Rodriguez and JD Urso, as well as strong hitting performances by Cameron Diaz and Bryce Fisher paved the way for the Bullets to have the #1 seed entering Sunday’s elimination round.

Early Bracket Rounds

As the Bullets started the bracketed championship rounds on Sunday, Diaz started on the mound in the first game vs. the Knoxville Stars.  The speed at the top set the tone as Kyle Kramer, Colton Olasin and Justice Thompson hit the ball all over the field and stole 9 bases combined to lead the team to a 9-1 victory. 

Semi-Finals
The semi-final game vs. the Knoxville Fire was one for the ages. Dylan Wood started on the mound for the Bullets but came into some trouble in the 3^rd, giving up a homerun and the lead 3-2. Nathan Gustafson came on and really held the Fire in check until the 4^th, where Cameron Diaz hit h is 2^nd homerun of the tournament to put the Bullets ahead 4-3.  Some uncharacteristic base running errors left some insurance runs on base for the Bullets and it came back to haunt them.  Gustafson pitched great until the 5^th where he gave up the lead and the Bullets fell behind 6-4. The time limit ran out on the game so the 5^th inning was deemed to be the last one unless the Bullets had some magic up their sleeve. Base hits by Cam Diaz and Bobby Selby made it 1^st and 2^nd for Dylan Wood. With the count 3-2 and 2 outs, Wood smoked a line drive down the 3^rd base line and both runners scored to tie the game up at 6! Bryce Fisher, who came on to relieve Gustafson in the 5^th, shut down the Fire in the 6^th with no runs crossing the plate - even though a runner started on 2^nd base due to the Texas Tiebreaker rule.

In the bottom half of the 6^th, with Gustafson on base, Kyle Kramer laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt down the 1^st base line and his speed and placement of the bunt got him on 1^st base! Colton Olasin hit a deep fly ball to Center Field and Gustafson scored from 3^rd on the walk-off Sac Fly. What a game! The Cardiac Kids do it again!

The Championship Game

The Bullets faced the South Carolina Cyclones in the title game. This team was full of energy and they were fired up for this game. After 3 scoreless innings to start the game, the Cyclones scored 2 unearned runs off of Fisher to give them the lead.  Kyle Kramer gets a base hit and after a Justice Thompson walk, Bryce Fisher drives them both in to tie the score at 2.  Before the crowd could sit down, Cameron Diaz strokes his 3^rd Homerun of the Tournament to put the Bullets ahead 4-2. Justice Thompson came on in the 5^th inning to relieve Fisher and shut down the Cyclones. He added a 2 run single in the bottom of the 5^th to give the Bullets some insurance runs. The Cyclones would not go down without a fight and battled Thompson to a 7-6 ballgame in the top of the 6^th. They had runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with a 3-2 count and 2 outs. But this was Thompson’s game to close and that he did. Strike three looking on an inside fastball. The Bullets travel from Tampa, Florida and persevere to win the Tournament. The umpiring and other people in the local Tennessee were very nice and accommodating and made the experience that much more special. GO Bullets!

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