San Diego team wins 16U championship at Cecil Fielder tournament

There can't be any debate on who was the best team at the 16U Cecil Fielder Elite World Series this weekend.

Gonzalez Sports Academy out of San Diego made sure of it.

It got on the scoreboard early and finished the tournament undefeated with a 4-1 win over the Colton Nighthawks on Sunday afternoon at Desert Sun Stadium.

“Every time we go to a tournament, we go to win every single game,” GSA coach David Gonzalez said.

GSA first baseman Kevin Zamudio went 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles and 3 RBIs and was named the best hitter of the tournament. With Zamudio providing the early offense, GSA pitcher Pancho De Carlos only struck out one batter but only surrendered one unearned run and four hits over six innings of work.

“In Pancho we knew we had a reliable pitcher out there,” Gonzalez said. “We needed a pitcher in the championship and I gave him the ball, and he had a great performance.”

Gonzalez Sports Academy got some help in the first inning from the Nighthawks' defense, which committed a pair of errors to start the game — including a failed pickoff attempt to first base that let Isidro Velez score from second. Zamudio followed with a long double to left-center to give them a quick 2-0 lead.

In the top of the third, Esteban Gomez reached on a passed ball on the third strike and Arturo Amaya got on with a walk. Then Zamudio did what a player who wins the best hitter award does. He ripped another double to deep center, this time scoring two to extend the lead to 4-1.

“He's been a solid hitter throughout the tournament for us and when he's on, he's on,” Gonzalez said.

The Nighthawks got their only run of the game on a bases-loaded walk by Isaias Torres in the second inning, but after that, they didn't get a runner past second base the rest of the way against De Carlos.

Octavo Cisneros pitched a perfect seventh for Gonzalez Sports Academy to secure the win.

“He was getting a little tired and I had my lefty,” Gonzalez said about taking out De Carlos after the sixth.

Gonzalez Sports Academy defeated the Nighthawks 6-3 in pool play earlier in the tournament.