Vancouver baseball team wins Arizona tournament

The Showtime Baseball College Prep team won the championship of the Southwest Wood Bat Classics MLK Tournament in Phoenix, Ariz.

Showtime, which features high school players from around Clark County, won all five of its games during the tournament that concluded on Monday. In the championship game, Showtime rallied for a 4-3 win over an Arizona Grizzlies club.

The Showtime 18-and-under team went 1-3 at the tournament, while the Showtime 16-U squad went 2-2 in its tournament.

In the championship game, Showtime College Prep fell behind 3-0 through four innings. Tanner Jacques sparked a two-run fifth inning with a leadoff single. In the sixth, Cory Bryan, Trevor Wharton and Liam Fitzpatrick reached base before Zach Pfeifer delivered a two-out single for the 4-3 lead.
Showtime pitchers gave up only one earned run over five games. Daniel Copeland, Tyler Russell, Hunter Bruno, Zach Pfeifer, Matt Ellis and Mitch Lines pitched, with Copeland getting the win and Pfeifer the save in the championship game.

Showtime outscored its five opponents 29-5. Four players batted above .500 in the tournament. Sam Christopher had three triples in one game. Christopher and Trevor Wharton etched went 6 for 9. Liam Fitzpatrick was 7 for 10 and Cory Bryan was 5 for 9.
Showtime beat teams from Canada, Texas, Illinois and Arizona.

Showtime Baseball founder and head coach Billy Hayes said the championship is impressive given that his players have been training indoors for most of the winter. The trip to this tournament breaks up the winter and is a chance to play against some high-level opponents at the Oakland A’s spring training complex, Hayes said.