Carbon Blue 12U brought home the state tournament championship over the weekend, marking the fifth time the team has won the state title since they took their first championship at the age of eight.
The tournament began on Wednesday with pool play. Carbon played against North Sanpete and Emery, edging out both teams to advance to tournament play in the top seed.
On Thursday, the team had a hard-fought battle against Vernal. Carbon Blue 12U narrowly edged out the hosting team, 2-1, to advance in the winner’s bracket.
The team next took on Roosevelt. The Carbon players took a commanding win, 8-1, to advance.
Vernal fought its way through the loser’s bracket to meet the Carbon Blue team in the championship game on Saturday. The Carbon players once again put up a strong fight, taking the game and the championship, 5-3.
“They played extremely well,” said coach Shane Henrie. “Our pitching was the best pitching out of any team there.”
The team’s efforts paid off as they now find themselves advancing to the national stage in Long Beach, Calif. later this month. This is the third straight year that the team has traveled to California to take part in the national competition.
The Carbon team will be joined with a handful of other teams at the tournament. Two other teams from Utah, Herriman and Taylorsville, will be in the tournament along with two teams from Central California, a Long Beach team, a Hawaii team, the Yuma, Arizona team and the Fallon, Nev. team.
Carbon will kick off the tournament with a game against Long Beach. The following day, the team will face Fallon. Following a rest day, the team will play Herriman before facing off against Central California. If Carbon wins pool play, they will advance to a single-elimination tournament on Saturday for a chance at the championship. The champion from the tournament will move on to the world competition in Missouri.
The Carbon Blue 12U team consists of Riley Davis, Wyatt Falk, Quade Henrie, Skyler Madden, Peyton Molinar, Ridge Nelson, Maizen Prichard, Jared Saccomanno, CJ Smuin, Cameron Vasquez, Camden Wilson and Mattie Prichard. The team is coached by Zac Jones, Frank Saccomanno and Shane Henrie, and is managed by Pat Smuin.
The Carbon team is currently spearheading various fundraising efforts to fund their trip to California. Members of the community can support the team by buying food from the boys at Energy Days on Wednesday, July 4 at the Carbon County Fairgrounds. A fundraiser car wash will also be hosted on Friday and Saturday, July 6 and 7, at Castle Valley Car Wash on 100 North in Price. The boys will be washing cars from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
While some boys are washing cars on Friday, others will be at the Carbon Country Club Golf Course to be a part of the Black Diamond Tournament. The team will head up hole eight on the course.
