Broadneck Bruins Win 11U Baseball Championship

The Broadneck Bruins 11U travel team capped a rewarding season from June 19-21 by hoisting the Anne Arundel Baseball Cooperative (AABC) championship tournament trophy, going 4-0 against squads from Lake Shore, South River and Severna Park.

The Bruins rode a flawless defense, potent offense and the four-hit pitching of Davis Tankersley and Caleb Wolf to open the tournament with a 13-3 win over the Severna Park Green Hornets. After a tight first inning that saw the Bruins take a 3-1 lead, Brooks Young, Charleston Chelius and John Kime opened the bottom of the second with consecutive singles and David Thompson delivered a stinging double to right field. The Bruins plated five in the inning and never looked back. Chelius collected three hits and James Rader tallied four RBIs in the win.

In the second game, the Bruins went up 7-1 after two innings and coasted to an impressive 13-5 victory over a tough Lake Shore Blue Sox team. Though the defense stumbled a bit, the pitching quintet of Graeme Cloud, Sean Anderson, Dylan Gwaltney, Kime and Thompson held the slugging Blue Sox to only two hits. Thompson and Cloud each had two hits for the victors, and Rader, Thompson and Kime drove in two apiece.

Looking to avenge their first-game loss, the Green Hornets came out firing in the semifinal contest, taking a 6-3 lead after three innings. As they have done all season, however, the Bruins refused to fold. Rader again notched two RBIs as his team fought back, but they entered the bottom of the final frame trailing 8-6. Wolf led off by golfing a two-strike pitch to left for a single. A single by Young and walks to Anderson, Chelius and Kime knotted the score. With the bases loaded and one out, a Tankersley pop-up resulted in an infield fly rule call. The ball got loose on the play, and third-base coach Michael Tankersley seized the moment, sending the speedster Young home for the winning run in a thrilling 9-8 walk-off victory.

Pitching dominated the championship game against the South River Seahawks. Tankersley was again superb, hurling five innings of one-run ball, and Gwaltney snuffed out a late Seahawks comeback attempt to close out a 5-3 victory. Cloud and Thompson doubled.

Throughout the four-game run, Hank Kirby showed grit, skill and toughness, quietly turning in one game-changing performance after another behind the plate. After a late-season change of residence took catcher Cullen Ruef off the roster, Kirby stepped up, catching every inning of the final three games, and as one of the coaches put it, blocking almost every errant pitch “like a stone wall.”

Tankersley and Thompson were named to the all-tournament team.

Bruins head coach Jay Kime summarized the weekend, saying, “This is a special group of players, coaches and families. Our team motto is ‘Better Every Day,’ and these boys proved that consistent effort, commitment to each other, and small but continuous improvements over time lead to meaningful results. What makes this tourney especially rewarding is that every single player contributed to the team’s success and had a lot of fun doing it. Our coaching staff couldn’t be prouder of this team. We’re excited to see where their character, work ethic and love for the game take them in the years ahead.”

Kime was assisted by Michael Tankersley, Dan Gwaltney, Kevin Kirby and Don Harrison.