SHOCKWAVE Baseball

Summerville, SC - July 20-July 24, 2011

The Shockwave 13U were able to beat the heat and finish 2^nd in a 19 team USSSA Global World Series held in Summerville, SC. Shockwave finished pool play with a perfect 4-0 record and entered bracket play as the two seed. 

In the first bracket game, the Shockwave won on a walk off single by infielder Lake Lybrand. Other key plays in the game included a sacrifice bunt by Nicky Winterstein and a two out hit by Cordes Baker. Brice Kirven pitched a solid 5 innings and Baker closed the door. Layne Ailstock also made many nice defensive plays at first base to help secure the win. 

The Shockwave then came out Sunday and found themselves down 4-0 to the Motor City Hitdogs from Detroit Michigan. The Shockwave never lost focus and was able to come back and win the game 8-6. Justin Spittler was able to throw a complete game.  The Shockwave then ran into a solid Mavericks Baseball team from Florida. The Mavericks ended the perfect run and the Shockwave finished 2^nd in the Global World Series. The Shockwave finished with a 6-1 record.

The bulk of the pitching for the Shockwave was done by the following: Treyce Bouknight (10.1 innings), Justin Spittler (10 innings), Brice Kirven (8 innings), Grant Connell (7 innings), and Cordes Baker (5 innings).

The hitting stars for the Shockwave were Justin Spittler (.556), Lake Lybrand (.421), Layne Ailstock (.385) and Brice Kirven (.350).

This second place finish was a total team effort and other team members included Rhett Bane, Justin Davidson, Joey Allen and Jamison Wright.

SC Shockwave ride the wave

Published: Wednesday, July 06, 2011

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The SC Shockwave 16u team came into Wednesday’s first round of the Perfect Game 16u BCS Finals playoffs riding its own kind of wave after earning the tournament’s No. 1 seed.  

SC Shockwave used outstanding pitching performances to hold six pool-play opponents to a combined 10 runs and were getting set to face the 6-4-3 DP Cougars in a first-rounder, a team that had scored 48 runs in its 5-1 run through pool play.  

Playing at the main stadium at Terry Park, the Shockwave fell behind the Cougars, 3-2, in the top of the sixth inning but rallied for four runs in the bottom of the frame. They held on for that 6-3 win and advanced into Wednesday afternoon’s quarterfinals.

Shockwave head coach Curtis Hudson saw the victory in the same light as he saw his team’s previous six.

 “It was a good game, a well-played game, and I’ve been telling them all along it comes down to throwing and catching – whoever throws and catches the best,” Hudson said. “(The Cougars) had a tough inning there throwing and catching and we plugged the gap a few times and broke it open. We did a great job of showing some grit there at the end.”

Hudson, speaking with a folksy Carolina accent, got a little philosophical when he talked about the Shockwave’s chances of advancing to the championship game.

“We might not be playing (Thursday) afternoon, but we came in with that expectation,” said Hudson, who has 25 years of experience as a college and high school baseball coach and is a high school teacher in Myrtle Beach, S.C. “If we don’t make it, it’s not a failure. I don’t look at it that way.

“I’ve had very high expectations of myself all my life,” he continued, “and I tell my kids every day in the classroom that I succeed every day but I’m not a success, and I fail every day but I’m not a failure – that will all be decided when I pass along and it won’t matter then one bit because I won’t be here anymore.”

SC Shockwave 16u – one of eight teams under the Shockwave Baseball (Summerville, S.C.) umbrella – came here with a 13-man roster and 11 of those players pitched at least an inning in the Shockwave’s first seven games.

Hudson used all 11 of those arms with great success in the six pool-play wins:

Game three saw right-handers Hayden Haflin and Brody Gibson and lefty Stephen McKnight combine for a 10-strikeout six-hitter in a 5-3 win over the South Florida Stingers. That was followed by a seven inning complete game one-hitter from left-hander JD Waite in a 1-0 win over SWFL 16u Grey.

They outscored their first seven opponents, 42-13, meaning they gave up fewer than two runs per game. That was as impressive of a stat as you could find as the 16u BCS Finals moved into the round-of-eight Wednesday afternoon.

And enjoying life at the PG 16u BCS Finals. 

 “It’s been a great experience, we’ve grown up a little bit, and. wow, we’re 7-0,” Hudson concluded. 

CONGRATULATIONS to the NATIONAL CHAMPION 15u SHOCKWAVE on WINNING the CABA WOOD BAT WORLD SERIES!!!   

(July 16 – 23, 2011)

College of Charleston - Charleston, SC

In one of the hottest weeks of the year, The SC Shockwave 15U team was even hotter. 

After trailing 1-0 in the first inning of the first game of the tournament, the Shockwave never trailed again, sailing through nine games without losing a game and outscoring their 9 opponents by a combined 68 to 21.  The final win came over a highly touted Arena Starz team from Belair, Maryland as starting pitcher Elliot Lance held off the Starz 7-1 to deliver the CABA Wood Bat National Championship trophy to the Shockwave trophy case.

Lance pitched into the seventh inning as the heat index climbed to 116 degrees at Patriots Point.  Pitcher Bubba Martin came in to close the deal in style by striking out the final two Starz batters.

The Shockwave concluded pool play with wins over Round Trip, Diamond Devils Blue, the Richmond Braves, the Tennessee Dores and the Niskayuna Indians.

In the single elimination bracket tournament the Shockwave followed up with wins over East Cobb Rawlings and the Diamond Devils Black to earn a berth into the championship game against the Arena Starz on Friday.

Catcher Tyler Romanik earned the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award for batting an incredible .529 including the tournament’s only home run, a massive shot over the center field fence against the Tennessee Dores.  Romanik would lead the team in RBI (7) and runs scored (11).

Other top hitters for the tournament included OF/P Austin Hoard (.375 ), P/3B Lance (.375), SS Cody Bowen (.348), P/2B Daniel Branham (.333), P/1B Brandon Hood (.304).

Will Porter and Chris Padgett did a great job covering the outfield all week, filling in for CF Deandre Heath, one of the team’s best players.  Heath was held out of the tournament for precautionary measures after suffering from heat exhaustion the previous tournament. 

Defensively, the Shockwave was as stifling all week to their opponents as the oppressive heat was.  The boys flashed some leather and made several key double plays to end rallies throughout the week. 

Pitchers Lance, Branham and Hood each picked up two wins on the week while pitchers Hoard and newcomer Cody Lewis got victories in each of their starts.  Lewis, a talented pitcher off of the Shockwave 14U team was called up to replace Heath on the roster.  Lance would earn the tournament’s Most Valuable Pitcher award for his performance.

The following Instructors have limited availability for Individual or Group/ Team instruction (bios available on the "Coaches Bios" page):

PITCHING

JEFF RIDGWAY (Charleston/ Summerville) – (843) 614-2221 or jeffridgway@shockwavebaseball.net

HITTING & FIELDING

DREW MEYER (Charleston/ Columbia) - (843) 499-1803 or drewmeyer@me.com

RATES: Contact the instrctor directly for rates and availibility.   On average $30 per lesson