MARIETTA, Ga. - A persistent and sometimes heavy rain Sunday morning resulted in unplayable field conditions at the East Cobb Baseball Complex and forced the cancellation of the semifinal and championship games at the 17u/18u, 16u and 14u/15u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational.
Championship, runner-up and third-place teams from each tournament were determined by tie-breaker criteria outlined in the tournament rules. Most Valuable Player and Most Valuable Pitcher Awards were presented based on players' performances in games played Wednesday through Saturday.
TGBA 17u (5-0) earned the championship in the 17u/18u PG-EC Invitational and the East Cobb Blue Jays (5-0) finished as runner-up. The East Cobb Astros 16u (5-0) and the Alabama Seminoles (4-0-1) shared third place honors.
Alabama Seminoles top prospect Keegan Thompson earned Most Valuable Player honors after hitting .643 (9-for-14) with one home run, three doubles, five RBI and four runs scored.
East Cobb Blue Jays right-hander Bryan White was named the Most Valuable Pitcher after going 2-0 while scattering nine hits, striking out 14 and allowing no earned runs in 12 1/3 innings of work.
The top-seeded Indiana Prospects (5-0) won the 16u PG-EC Invitational championship and the East Cobb Astros 16u Gray (5-0) were runner-up. Third place was shared by the Dallas Tigers Vanlandingham (5-0) and the North Alabama Vipers (4-1).
East Cobb Astros 16u Gray shortstop Wesley Jones was named the16u Most Valuable Player. Jones hit .556 (5-for-9) with three doubles, eight RBI and four runs scored, and boasted a .889 slugging percentage and 1.427 OPS.
Most Valuable Pitcher honors went to Dallas Tigers Vanlandingham right-hander Michael Kopech from Mount Pleasant, Texas. Kopech threw 8 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs (1.62 ERA) on five hits with 15 strikeouts, while walking just one.
The Iron Pigs (5-0) entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed and earned the 14u/15u championship. The Double Day Giants (5-0) finished as runner-up and the East Cobb Astros 15u (5-0) and East Cobb Tigers (5-0) shared third place.
Catcher Joey Bart from the East Cobb Astros 15u was named 14u/15u Most Valuable Player after going 8-for-14 (.571) with seven singles and eight RBI. Double Day Giants righty Russell Klein was named the Most Valuable Pitcher after an eye-popping tournament in which he allowed seven hits and two earned runs (0.91 ERA) while striking out 25 in 15 1/3 innings.