Pleasanton-based TNT baseball, an 11U travel baseball team, swept through weekend play with a perfect 5-0 record and first tournament win. TNT recorded wins over the Elk Grove Gunners (19-10), San Jose Union Rock Hounds (13-8), Elk Grove Gunners (8-1), SV Bulldogs (9-1), and Castro Valley East Bay Hackers (19-11) in the final.
TNTÃs Mitchell Daniels was named tourney MVP. In the semifinal game, Daniels threw a very rare complete game against the SV Bulldogs, allowing only one unearned run, two hits, no walks and seven strikeouts. Daniels also led TNT in hitting with a .571 batting average including five extra base hits. Daniels’ big effort set up the showdown versus the higher seeded and powerful Hackers.
In the final game, TNT exploded for 12 first-inning runs and fended off numerous run scoring attacks by the hard hitting and feisty Hackers. Daniel Slominski and JD Clarke pitched well enough for TNT, setting up the closer AJ Curtis who shut the Hackers down over the final two innings while striking out the last batter in dramatic fashion.
Other top hitters for TNT were AJ Curtis (.462), Ben Case (.429), Ryan Milligan (.364), and JD Clarke (.308). TNT also got excellent pitching and defensive efforts from Kevin Elliott, DB Vidal, Justin Hooper, Terry Mitchell and Grant Soyka.
