D.P. Majors win Section 5 Championship

ST. CLOUD — For the first time since 2009, Dr. Phillips Little League’s Majors team will represent the area at the eight-team state tournament to declare the Florida Majors Champion, clinching its spot in convincing fashion.

After a 7-4 win against Apopka July 18 and a 22-0 thrashing of Union Park July 19, Dr. Phillips faced the host team, St. Cloud, in a de-facto Section 5 Championship Monday night, July 20.

Dr. Phillips squandered a bases-loaded opportunity in the top of the first, after which St. Cloud managed a two-run homer for the game’s first runs.

But after that, it was all Dr. Phillips, which roared back with seven runs in the second and six more in the third for 13 unanswered, ending the game after four innings by 10-run rule, 13-2.

Chase Dunlap plated Mason Wilson and Grant Houde with a bases-loaded single on a liner just past shortstop to tie the game; Chase scored on Michael Furry’s double that bounced to the left-field fence to give Dr. Phillips its lead. Later that inning, Noah Sullivan crushed a three-run homer to the top of a tall tree beyond the center-field fence.

“They’ve been playing ball for a long time, but they focus and practice a lot as far as hitting the ball where it’s pitched, and they have a good eye as far as when to swing and when not to swing,” coach Dennis Pope said. “They stayed focused at the plate.”

On the mound, Noah allowed only a walk and a single grounded through the box in addition to the homer in his three half-innings pitched. He struck out six, including all four St. Cloud batters in the third.

“He did what we expect him to do,” Pope said. “We knew that he was capable of pitching the way he did; he hit the spots when he had to hit the spots. If he put the ball over the plate, we knew the defense was going to make the plays, which they did, really.”

Michael faced just three batters to close in the fourth, striking out the final two.

Dr. Phillips’ pitches played into the infield’s hands: Every out not by strikeout was by groundout — with no errors — making the homer the only fly Dr. Phillips allowed all game.

“It’s a lot of work, a lot of practice, a lot of repetition,” Pope said. “We were practicing since June 15. Once we were able to start practicing … we were out … for three or four hours (per practice). This is the fruits of all the effort that was put in.” 

Dr. Phillips will play in Pool B — the second of two four-team pools — at the state tournament in Tallahassee, with Section 4 Champion Lakewood Ranch (Bradenton, District 26), Section 6 Champion Sarasota American (District 16) and the Section 8 Champion from southeastern Florida, scheduled to be crowned July 26. The first game is scheduled for 5 p.m. July 31 against the Section 8 Champion, followed by a doubleheader against Lakewood Ranch and Sarasota American the next day. Winning Pool B would lead to the Florida Majors Championship against the Pool A winner in one game, 10 a.m. Aug. 2.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].