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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/25/2019

Ozone Warriors ride hot streak

Cory Van Dyke     
Photo: Anthony Turner (Perfect Game)

MARIETTA, Ga. – At the end of June, the Ozone Warriors 16u team attended a tournament in Nashville and had a disappointing showing with a 1-4 record.

The next week, the squad competing at the 2019 WWBA 16u National Championship and went winless through the first three games of the biggest tournament of the summer with an 0-2-1 record. It wasn’t the summer the Warriors had planned, and things quickly needed to change.

“We had a come to Jesus, come to heart meeting,” Ozone Warriors coach Spencer Sorrells said. “The kids have bought in. They’ve bought in to what we’ve been teaching and what we’ve been preaching. We’re seeing the benefits right now.”

That buy in allowed the Ozone Warriors to finish the 16u WWBA with four wins against some of the best 16u competition, including the eventual pool winner, the Georgia Bombers. Now, over two weeks later, the Warriors have continued their hot streak with a 2-0 start at the 2019 PG 16u Summer Showdown Protected by G-Form.

“We started off rough in the summer,” Sorrells said. “We’ve really collected as a unit. We had a couple losses early in the summer and we really responded from it. Everybody is battling. It’s just a great team atmosphere.”

Ozone is in the driver’s seat of the pool having outscored opponents 17-0 through the two games. The latest triumph was a 10-0 victory over the Mississauga North Tigers in Thursday’s action.

Anthony Turner pitched a gem in the win, tossing five scoreless innings while scattering just two hits and four walks with seven strikeouts. The southpaw used a fastball that topped out at 80 mph as well as a big, looping curveball and a deceiving changeup to stifle the Mississauga bats.

“I was getting ahead a lot and I had nice off-speed working,” Turner said. “I had a nice defense behind me, so I was able to trust in them that they were going to make plays for me.”

While Turner kept the opposing team from crossing home plate, the Ozone Warriors had no problem themselves. The Warriors tallied 13 hits through the first four innings allowing Turner some breathing room on the bump.

“It’s a lot of pressure taken off my shoulders because I can just go out there and do me,” Turner said. “I don’t have to stress about a runner on second or a runner on third. Just go out there relaxed.”

Seaver King powered the offense with a 2-for-4 day at the plate with three RBIs. Spenser Hamblen, Andrew Shadburn, Owin Gunyon, and John Tyler Maynard all added two hits of their own.

“We were attacking ahead in the count,” King said. “It’s something we do often. We get ahead in the count and we hit the ball hard. We find spots to get hits and run around.”

The combination of stout pitching and defense plus sound hitting has been integral to the Warriors success so far this weekend. Below the surface level, there’s an even greater factor that has contributed to the team’s efforts so far this tournament.

The Ozone Warriors organization started from nothing eight years ago based out of Gainesville, Georgia. 

“We took a bunch of hometown kids that loved to play the game,” Sorrells said. “Over time we have developed some great players and now we are truly competing against some of the nation's best.”

This 16u team has stayed true to its purposes to compete with the nation’s best. Most of the players on the team are from Gainesville and the surrounding areas. When kids play for they Ozone Warriors, they know each other having played against one another during the high school season. 

It helps provide a close bond that can’t be shaken.

“It’s just a family,” King said. “We come here with no worries. We come to practice and have fun. Mess around with each other. It’s just a place to have fun.”

While the pitching or the defense might be what shows up in the box score, it’s ultimately that family-like atmosphere that could pack a punch for the Warriors the rest of the way into bracket play at the 16u Summer Showdown.

“Just keep our foot on the gas and don’t let up for anyone,” Turner said. “Never get satisfied and never get comfortable.”
 
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