TEGA CAY (SC) — “One of the beautiful things about baseball is that every once in a while you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something.”

Those words of wisdom are attributed to one of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game – Nolan Ryan – and they perfectly describe the weekend experienced by Canes Carolina 11U.

Just one month removed from an 0-3 weekend that forced the Canes to look inward for the motivation and drive to push through the adversity they faced, the squad stepped into the light with a USSSA Easton Showdown NIT championship game appearance and a renewed confidence in one another.

Saturday’s pool play started with a close 3-1 loss to Dirtbags Black, the No. 7 ranked team in North Carolina (Travel Baseball Rankings). It was in that performance you could begin the see the ceiling rising for the Canes. The team finished up pool play with a two-game split after taking down the South Charlotte Panthers, 17-12.

Saturday’s results positioned the Canes as the No. 4 seed in the tournament’s Major classification bracket, opposite the No. 1 seed SBA North Prospects, Travel Baseball Rankings’ No. 3 team in North Carolina.

What happened over a 90-minute stretch of baseball at Catawba Park served to establish a foundation for what this Canes team can be, and what the Charlotte travel baseball community will see going forward – a team that is capable of competing with anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Canes Carolina and SBA North Prospects held each other scoreless through four complete innings before the Canes recorded three runs on three hits and a walk in the fifth inning. Liam Sanders led off the inning with a double and scored the game’s first run on a single by Nash Hayes. Caden Moss then singled to score Hayes, and Benji Moss concluded the scoring by advancing home on a two-out wild pitch.

Kenneth White III would push the lead to 4-0 with a titanic solo home run in the sixth inning, his second round-tripper of the tournament.

SBA North would finally break through for a pair of runs in the final frame but would leave the tying runs on the bases as the final out settled into center fielder Isaiah Everett‘s glove.

Moss went the distance on the mound for the Canes, allowing seven hits and two runs on just 68 total pitches in a masterful performance against one of the top teams in the state – a team that had beaten the Canes 12-2 just two months earlier.

The Canes advanced to face Dirtbags Carolina, TBR’s No. 3 team in South Carolina, in Sunday’s championship game. It was the second meeting of the season between the clubs, with the Dirtbags scoring a 19-3 pool-play victory on March 18.

But this time the result was much closer, another sign of the Canes’ growth over the course of the season. Chase Willis would get the start and was staked a 2-1 lead before the Dirtbags broke through for a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the third inning. They would also add a pair of runs in the fourth to secure the final 5-2 margin of victory.

It was the Canes’ first runner-up finish of the season, its best showing to date in five tournament appearances. Sam O’Neill paced the offense with six hits and six RBI, while Malloy (six hits), Everett (five hits), and White (nine total bases) provided strong assists.