MYRTLE BEACH,SC-The Sandhills Lightning 14-and-under baseball team took first place at the Ripken Experience Facility’s May 15-16 Spring Fever Tournament .  Teams from North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida were represented in the event.

The Lightning opened up against the Carolina Wildcats from Wilson, NC taking a 12-4 victory. 

Leading the way was Bradley Brown who had an RBI double and a single Austin Embler added an RBI triple and a single, Tristan Helms had two singles to go along with a pair of RBIs, Mason Collins also had two singles and an RBI.

Chris Dejak had two singles, and Matt Epley had an inside the park home run.  Hayden Buffkin and Grant English also picked up RBI’s.

Defensively for the Lightning, Brown, Embler, and Epley shared the pitching duties.

Sandhills met the local Myrtle Beach Stars in the second game of pool play, but definitely had no sand in its shoes. 

The Lightning easily defeated the Stars, 14-2, in 4 1/2 innings of play. 

Each Lightning player recorded at least one hit. 

Helms led the team with a two-run inside the park home run to go along with a double.  English added a two-run triple while Brown collected RBI’s with a double and a single. Mason Collins drove in a run with a double. 

Embler and Buffkin each had an RBI to go along with a pair of singles.  Dalton Bullard and Dejak each had RBI singles while Epley reached on a hard hit ground rule double.

Four Lightning players took the mound against Myrtle Beach and allowed only one hit.  English started with Dejak, Helms, and Buffkin each throwing an inning each.

Going into the semi-finals against the Carolina Raiders, the top-seeded Lightning had its biggest challenge of the tournament. 

The team got off to a slow start, giving up eight runs before Helms went to the mound in relief in the fourth inning and shut down the Raider offense.   With Helms fanning seven and allowing no hits, the door was opened for the Lightning bats to start cracking.

Buffkin and Collins started things off in the bottom of the fourth with singles and they were driven in by Epley, who reached on an error.  

In the fifth, Dejak and Zach Burke both reached on Raider errors and were brought in by Helms’ two-run single. 

Brown took one for the team as he was hit by a pitch.  Buffkin again made a huge impact with a three-run inside the park home run. 

Sandhills tied things up in the sixth with Epley reaching on an error. English moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt, and then scored on an RBI single from Dejak.

The Raiders went into the sevemth with determination and held the Lightning to no hits to force extra innings.  A double play and a strike out quickly retired the Raiders.   Buffkin became the man starting things off with a ground rule double.  Collins was intentionally walked and with two on and no outs, Epley gave the 9-8 win to the Lightning with a RBI single.

In the Championship game against the World of Baseball team from Jacksonville, Florida, the Lightning went to work quickly and efficiently, finishing the tournament undefeated with a 7-4 win. 

Brown reached on a hard hit double and was brought in on a RBI single by Buffkin to make it 1-0 early.

In the third, Helms singled and Brown was walked. Buffkin brought both of them in with a two-run triple.  He was brought in by Collins with a single who, in turn, was brought in on a single by Epley. 

English singled and Dejak reached on an error, driving in Epley and English. 

Buffkin collected another single to finish 3-for-3 on the day. Austin Embler had the last hit of the game in the seventh. 

Collins was steadfast in his work on the mound for Sandhills. 

With the pressure of having bases loaded twice, he was able to contain the World of Baseball threat. 

Buffkin relieved him in the sixth and English closed the door in the seventh.

 The Lightning worked well under pressure in the semi-final and championship games, scoring 14 of their 16 runs with two outs.

Buffkin was chosen the MVP of the Championship Game by the Ripken Facility staff for going 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBI’s.