To the champions go the rings.
On June 23, the 8U Marathon Man O’War All-Stars baseball team earned some new hardware on the diamond at Key West’s Clayton Sterling Baseball Complex, battling to a walk-off win in the championship game of the Battle for the Keys Tournament.
Organized with four Keys squads from Key West, Big Pine Key and Marathon, the championship matchup from the two-day tourney pitted the Man O’War against Key West’s Bone Island Bombers.
In a back-and-forth affair with the team from the Southernmost City, a mid-game 3-RBI home run blast from the Man O’War’s Jaythan Bibb, his second of the season, breathed new life into his team.
Down by multiple runs with only one at-bat remaining, the Man O’War’s Isaac Simcic and Luke Blanton saved their best hits of the season for last, delivering a pair of championship-caliber clutch performances.
A 2-RBI double by Simcic landed him on second base, before a timely shot from Blanton over the Bombers outfielders’ heads drove Simcic in for the walk-off double.
“I’m very proud of my team,” Blanton told the Weekly, adding that he was “kind of both” nervous and calm walking up to the plate with the game on the line. “Everybody stepped up their A-game right after Jaythan hit the home run over the fence.”
“The boys worked hard to be prepared for this tournament, and when it came time to take care of business, they did,” said coach Ryan Irwin. “They played with grit and determination. It was a nail-biter until the last at-bat. The second the ball left Luke’s bat, our boys and fans erupted. It was a storybook ending.”
Photos by Aldo Diaz and Chelsey Perry.
