DES MOINES —
The Appanoose County Aces went undefeated to win the 2012 Iowa 11AA USSSA State Tournament June 30-July 1.
The Aces opened tournament pool play with wins against the fifth-ranked Johnston Sabercats 5-3. Another win against the Dubuque Hornets gave the Aces a trip to the gold bracket as the No. 4 seed.
The Aces picked up a 13-2 win over the Johnston Stingers to open gold bracket play.
The Aces would pick up an extra inning win against the Fairfield Cougars 9-8. Kayden Kauzlarich picked up the game tying hit. Brady Kauzlarich would drive in the winning run with a squeeze play.
In the semifinal round, the Aces beat the Linn Mar Lions 13-5. Appanoose picked up a 7-6 win over the Clinton Kings to win the state title.
Throughout the tournament, Tucker Babbitt, McCain Oden, Brady Kauzlarich, Griffen Cosgrove and Casen Butz made appearances on the mound for the Aces.
Offensive highlights in the tournament included a homerun and a ground rule double by Oden, and a ground rule double by Babbitt.
The Aces won the tournament with just nine players, enough to fill a lineup but not enough for any substitutions. Head coach Terry Kauzlarich said he nominated all nine players to the All-Tournament Team after the tournament was completed because “everyone did their part.” Typically, Terry said, only a couple players from the team are nominated for the All-Tournament team by the coach.
Filling out the roster for the Aces was Kayden Kauzlarich, Babbitt, Brady Kauzlarich, Truin Hawk, Cosgrove, Oden, Canon Riggall, Merrick Mathews and Casen Butz.
In addition to Terry, Travis Hawk and Curt Cosgrove help coach the squad.
