The Davis Crush, a U13 baseball team, won the championship at the Oct. 3 Redding Tournament for the second year in a row with an impressive 4-1 record. Sponsored by A Thru Z Baseball, a division of USSSA, the games were held at ReddingÕs Big League Dreams Sports Park.

Winning two of the three games during SaturdayÕs seeding rounds, Crush was ranked second when entering the Sunday elimination rounds. There, Crush won both games, beating the top-seeded Humboldt Renegades in the championship game, 5-2.

ÒThis team just gets better and more finely tuned with each tournament,Ó said Davis coach Tim Busbin, a former UCD player. ÒThey are maturing and coming together as a team, and thatÕs really, really great to see.Ó

In their first game on Saturday, Crush beat the Paradise Rush, 7-0, with pitcher Dustin Tillman leading the way. Tillman gave up only two hits, struck out seven and didnÕt walk a batter. He also had two of DavisÕ six hits of the game. Gavin CosgraveÕs fourth-inning triple deep into the right field corner was another game highlight.

New Crush addition James Richardson stole two bases and scored a run in that game before suffering an injury that forced him to the sidelines for the rest of the tournament.

In their second game, Crush squeaked past the Tehama County Bulldogs, 4-3. Eric Walker broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the seventh when he ripped a grounder down the third-base line to drive in a run. Ben DÕAngelo went 2-for-3, Cosgrave had another extra-base hit and Brendon Pohl drove in a run in the first inning. Both teams finished the game with five hits and no errors.

Davis starting pitcher Alex Timmons went five innings, giving up three runs on four hits, with six strikeouts. Pohl and DÕAngelo pitched one scoreless inning apiece, each adding a strikeout to the team total.

Their final game of the day ÑÊthe first matchup against the Humboldt Renegades Ñ was called after 5 1/3 innings due to time, and left the Crush two runs short of a Saturday sweep.

Peter Frame went three scoreless innings before giving up two runs, one unearned, on one hit in the fourth. Pohl went 2-for-2, including a crushing line drive to left, and DÕAngelo aimed a grounder down the middle for DavisÕ only hits in the game.

On Sunday, Crush got a rematch with the Tehama Bulldogs in the semifinals and won, 8-7. DÕAngelo and Andrew Grindall combined for nine strikeouts, while Bailey Foster and Andrew Walker made key plays in the infield. Daniel Henrickson, Timmons and DÕAngelo robbed the Bulldogs of hits with a handful of spectacular catches in the outfield.

After seven innings, the score was tied 3-3 and a sudden death tiebreaker was necessary to see which team would advance to the championship game. Up first, the Bulldogs scored four runs on three hits to go ahead 7-3.

In DavisÕ half of the inning, Busbin put Foster at second and Tillman at first and brought Cosgrave to the plate. Cosgrave drove in Foster and DÕAngelo singled to score Tillman. One out later, Pohl grounded to short and reached on a fielderÕs choice driving Cosgrave home to make it 7-6.

Eric Walker was then hit by a pitch, and Frame came in to pinch run. With two on and two out, Timmons found a hole in right field, driving in Pohl to tie the game. During the next at-bat, Timmons attempted to steal second and, while the Bulldogs attempted to chase him down, Frame came home with the winning run.

Immediately following that win, Crush faced the Humboldt Renegades again, this time for the championship. Cosgrave went 2-for-3, DÕAngelo was 3-for-4, Grindall hit 2-for-4 and Pohl, Timmons, Eric and Andrew Walker added singles, as Davis pounded out a tournament-high 11 hits in the victory. On the mound, Cosgrave, Pohl and Grindall held the Renegade to six hits and only two earned runs.

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