New South Wales U16s capped off their perfect Australian Youth Championship with a walkoff victory in the gold medal game against Victoria.
Clayton Campbell put the ball in play with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and final inning, and despite his solid tournament at shortstop, Jarryd Wood couldn’t complete the final out as the winning run crossed the plate.
Both teams were understandably on edge in the early frames, with Keenan Spence’s mammoth solo shot giving Victoria an early one run lead.
Chris Nielsen was immense for Victoria, as the righty gave his team every chance to win.
Nielsen’s fourth outing of the tournament was one of his best, as he cooled the hottest offence in the competition – only giving up two runs in 5.1 unbelievable innings of work.
NSW starter Blake Cavill failed to settle on the mound, as manager Scott Tunkin turned to his bullpen early.
That moved proved a master stroke, as Josh Pearl only gave up one hit and struck out six in 2.2 innings of relief.
Solomon Maguire continued his excellent form in the final, as the right fielder finished with three hits.
Neither team blinked in the late stages, as extra innings seemed a formality.
However as they have done all tournament, New South Wales failed to take their foot off the pedal and with two outs they took control.
Back-to-back singles from Travis Bazzana and Solomon Maguire had everyone on edge, and from there it was Clayton Campbell whose quality hitting enabled Bazzana to score the winning run.