By John Shimer
Staff writer
July 14, 2009 03:58 am Nearly two weeks ago, two of Amesbury's brightest young ballplayers, Mac Short and Alex Mercier, helped the New England Firebirds win the Division 2 13U AAU National Championships — the first ever for the organization — in Orlando, Fla., at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. Seeded first out of New England, the Firebirds were one of 17 teams in the tournament and were one of two teams to make it out of pool G, sporting a 3-1 record only behind the Bristol County Eagles (4-0). The team nearly finished 4-0, but lost its second game to the South Shore Hurricanes in eight innings despite having a 5-0 lead earlier in the game. However, the Firebirds would rebound nicely. After back-to-back doubleheaders, the Firebirds got two days off due to the rain and got a chance to catch their breath before their marathon finish on July 1 featuring three straight games, a three-hour rain delay mixed in, and 24 innings overall of baseball. The first game, starting at 8 a.m., was the Firebirds' biggest challenge, as the team had to rally back from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game in the fifth inning before a three-hour rain delay. When the game finally resumed, Short got on base in the bottom of the 10th, stole second, got sacrifice bunted to third, and scored the game-winning run on a balk. In the semifinals, the Firebirds may have pulled off the upset of the tournament, knocking off Bristol County, who were 5-0 at that point in the tournament and 31-0 on the season. Jumping out to a 5-0, Mercier gave the Firebirds a comfortable margin with a two-RBI single as the team had relatively little difficulty winning the game, 6-1. And to cap off the long day, the Firebirds breezed by Diamond Dogs thanks to a pair of triples and runs by Short as well as a pair of singles and RBIs for Mercier, and the Firebirds had no problems winning, 7-0. Mercier batted over .400 for the tournament with 6 RBIs and got on base seven out 11 at-bats. Catching all but one of the games, including all three during the triple-header finale, Short hit slightly better than .370 for the tournament with five triples and was one of two Firebirds selected to the All-Tournament Team. "It was exhausting because we had to get up so early and the heat would just drain the energy out of you," said Short, who added the most fun aspect was playing in Florida having only played once outside Massachusetts before in Cooperstown, N.Y. "You had to drink all the water you had or you would be done for." Dealing with brutal humidity and 90-degree plus weather that Massachusetts residents have not had any experience with this summer, on top of the great pitching and double- and triple-headers, everything came together perfectly with only an 11-man roster, coach Scott Whitley said. "I would say going in it was a pretty tough feat to win because you have to be good and lucky at the same time," Whitley said. "Going down there with temperatures in the 90s and as a team from the north especially against local teams, it's tough to overcome, especially at the catcher position. "We were lucky we had Alex in his best hitting streak of his career down there," Whitley said. "I was joking he should move down to Florida. He just got hot at the right time." And Whitley said Amesbury has another good catching prospect coming up the line in Short. "I'd say he has one of the best arms I've ever seen at 13. He throws over 70 mph, which is about as good as most high school catchers," said Whitley, adding Short was both a horse behind the plate and at the plate. "It's pretty clear Amesbury has a good catcher coming up in the fold. The kid definitely has a college material arm, which most teams in high school would die for."
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