Skills on display before USSSA tournaments

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Jimmy Perkins’ strategy for his last trip around the bases was pretty basic.

“I just sprinted my heart out,” said Perkins, a member of the 11-year-old Cary Travelers baseball team, which is competing in the USSSA Open Summer National Championships.

Perkins circled the bases in 12.33 seconds to win the 11-year-old Roadrunner award as part of the USSSA Skills Competition on Friday at Lippold Park. Perkins, who will be a sixth-grader at Cary’s Prairie Hill Middle School, was 0.21 seconds faster than Jeremy Morehead of the Entre Hornets of Rockford.

The Cary Travelers and Crystal Lake American Little League each had teams qualify for Wednesday’s finals in the 11-year-old Around-The-Horn competition, a ball-throwing relay.

In the 15-year-old division, Alex Kovar, a Crystal Lake Central sophomore, took second in the Roadrunner competition and tied for fourth in the Home Run Derby.

“I was over at the Home Run Derby, but they called my name to run again,” Kovar said. “I cut the bases better the second time, and the first time I kind of tripped up on second base.”

In the 9-year-old division, Cary Travelers’ player Joshua Schuppe won the Top Gun throwing award. The Travelers’ Zach Willis was second in the Roadrunner, and Kyle Herbster was third in the Home Run Derby. The Lake in the Hills Lightning Black and Gold teams advanced to Wednesday’s finals in the Around-The-Horn.

USSSA Open Summer National Championships

Skills Competition Results

15-year-olds

Roadrunner (around the bases): 1. Oswaldo Cortez (Puerto Rico) 14.75, 2. Alex Kovar (Crystal Lake Cardinals) 14.94, 3. Mike Wilson (Hudson Valley, N.Y.) 15.13.

Home Run Derby: 1. Joe Filameno (Upper Deck) 4, 2. Jay Smith (Hudson Valley, N.Y.) 2, 3. Jordan DeLaney (Hudson Valley, N.Y.) 1.

Top Gun: 1. Shinya Micawa (Japan) 8, 2. Joe Filameno (Upper Deck) 4, 3. Jake Keefe (Black Diamond) 1.

Around-the-horn (qualifiers for Wednesday’s finals): 1. Japan #1 5.00, 2. Japan #2 5.44, 3. Puerto Rico 5.82.

11-year-olds

Roadrunner (around the bases): 1. Jimmy Perkins (Cary Travelers) 12.38, 2. Jeremy Morehead (Entre Hornets) 12.59, 3. Carson Getzelman (LITH Thunder) 12.83.

Home Run Derby: 1. Lucas Karz (Northside Warriors) 4, Jon Kruppe (Plainfield Warriors) 3, Daniel Perez (Michigan Ingham Thunderstruck) 12.83.

Top Gun: 1. Tony Rosalez (Northside Warriors) 9, 2. Bobby McMillen (Plainfield Warriors) 7, 3. Owen Siddons (LITH Thunder) 5.

Around-the-horn (qualifiers for Wednesday’s finals): 1. Crystal Lake American 5.50, 2. Plainfield Warriors 5.56, 3. Cary Travelers 5.59.

9-year-olds

Roadrunner (around the bases): 1. Alex Rodriguez (Wisconsin Rockhounds) 14.19, 2. Zach Willis (Cary Travelers) 14.36, 3. Tommy Sepulveda (Puerto Rico) 14.52.

Home Run Derby: 1. Bailey Basala (Moline Blackhawks) 5, 2. Tyler Brown (JABC, Mansfield, Ohio) 3, 3. Kyle Herbster (Cary Travelers) 2.

Top Gun: 1. Joshua Schuppe (Cary Travelers) 11, Alex Paulo (JABC Mansfield, Ohio) 10, 3. Jeffrey Heinrich (LITH Lightning Gold) 7.

Around-the-horn (qualifiers for Wednesday’s finals): 1. Puerto Rico Cardenales 6.12, 2. LITH Lightning Black 6.44, 3. LITH Lightning Gold 6.78.