The Mid Mo Express Black 16U took home the championship during the weekend in the GB Summer Bash after finishing the tournament with a 3-1 record at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
The Express split their two contests Friday, beating the Jefferson City Post 5 Juniors Auxiliary 3-1 before dropping an eight-inning contest to the Jefferson City Post 5 Juniors by a final of 7-6.
Nolan Laughlin threw a two-hit complete game to pick up the win on the mound against the Juniors Auxiliary. Laughlin struck out 10 batters with no walks and allowed just one run.
The Juniors Auxiliary scored their lone run in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly, but the Express used an error to tie the game with two outs in the sixth.
Wyatt Wilfrey broke the tie for the Express in the seventh by scoring on a double steal, and Ethan Burt created the final margin by crossing the plate via an error.
The Juniors plated four runs in the eighth inning Friday against the Express to pick up the victory.
The Express jumped ahead 2-0 with a run in each of the third and fourth innings — Wilfrey drove in Hayden Lackman with a sac fly in the third and Laughlin drove in Burt with a single in the fourth — but the Juniors responded by tying the game with two runs in the fifth before taking a 3-2 lead with another run in the sixth.
The Express tied the game back up in the bottom half. Lackman reached base on a leadoff single and scored the tying run two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Max Howell.
After the Juniors scored four runs in the top of the eighth, the Express nearly tied it in the bottom half.
Back-to-back walks opened the frame and Buhr cut the deficit in half with a two-RBI double to left. Cummings drove in Buhr with a sac fly to make it 7-6 before a strikeout ended the contest.
Burt got the start on the mound and allowed two runs on three hits with one walk and six strikeouts, Gabe DeFily allowed one run on one hit and walk in his one inning and Blake Holtmeyer took the loss after giving up three runs on one hit and two walks in his two innings.
The Express used an 11-run fifth inning to end their contest with Eureka Post 177 JV by run rule.
The Express started fast by scoring four runs in the top of the first and two more in the second to create a 6-0 lead.
Post 177 JV responded with a run in the bottom of the second and third to cut their deficit to 6-2, but the Express scored the final 13 runs of the contest to create the 19-2 final.
The Express finished with 16 hits in the contest. Miles Bethellled the way after finishing 3-for-3 with three RBI and two runs, while Laughlin, Lackman, Justin Case and Howell all picked up two hits.
Wilfrey pitched all five innings on the mound for the Express, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
The Express scored at least one run in every inning of the championship game Sunday to avenge their loss from Friday beat the Juniors 12-2 in a run-rule victory in five innings.
Each side scored a run in the first before the Express took a 2-1 lead into the third inning.
The Express took control with a three-run third. Gavin Williamsdrove in the first run with a groundout, Lackman singled in Jackson Koch and Case extended the lead to 5-1 with a sac fly.
The Juniors scored their final run in the bottom of the third before the Express clinched the win by scoring three in the fourth and five in the fifth.
Laughlin finished the game 3-for-3 at the plate to lead the Express, DeFily scored four times and collected two hits and Lackman and Howell each added two hits.
Williams was credited with the win on the mound after throwing all five innings and allowing just two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out three.