Red Raiders Hold Their Own At Ripken Tournament

The Huntley Red Raiders 12-U traveling baseball team may have lost the war, but they returned from the 12-U Big Kahuna Tournament in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina last month with a few battle victories of which to be proud.

The Red Raiders, one of 21 teams from around the country competing in the pool play tournament, began with a 20-3 thumping of the Bel Air Braves then found themselves on the other end of a thumping, falling to the Manchester A’s, 19-2.

In their next contests the Red Raiders rebounded and defeated Tsunami Baseball 7-4 and the International Baseball Academy 11-10.

“The highlight of our trip was beating the second-ranked 12-U team in the state of Louisiana,” said Red Raiders coach Steve Kurcz of his team’s win over Tsunami Baseball, which went on to capture the Big Kahuna Tournament title. “Then we beat another nationally ranked team ­­– the International Baseball Academy from Florida.” 

The Red Raiders then concluded pool play with a 20-5 loss to the Athletic Republic Star.

All of the Red Raiders’ contests were against North Division opponents with the Red Raiders (11th seed), the Athletic Republic Stars (2nd seed), Tsunami Baseball (5th seed), the Manchester A’s (7th seed) and the International Baseball Academy, (14th seed) each advancing to the championship bracket. The top five teams in the two other divisions also advanced.

In the first round of the championship play, the Red Raiders (3-3) fell to the sixth-seeded Magic City Orioles 13-6.

“(The tournament) started off really well for us and ended on a downer in single elimination play,” Kurcz said.

Unfortunately, the eleven-member Red Raider squad was neither at the full strength when they entered championship play nor during it.

“Going into the playoff round we had some key injuries to a couple of key players,” Kurcz said. “We basically played with eight and one half guys in the playoff game.”

Still, the Red Raiders came home with a good assessment of their talents, as three of the teams in their division advanced to the tournament’s final four. Tsunami Baseball beat Lehigh Valley Venom and Sandy Springs Storm before downing the Athletic Republic Stars for the title. The Stars had reached the title game by beating the International Baseball Academy.

Additionally, the Bel Air Braves, another North Division team, won the Great Eight Consolation Bracket.

“I think the tournament really gave the kids an opportunity to play against first class competition and you got to see how rank yourself against some of the better teams across the nation,” Kurcz said.

The Red Raiders 12-U team was coached by Kurcz, Tony Kunde and Bill Reid and consisted of: Joe Boland, Sean Farney, Liam Ganon, Joe Jernigan, Noah Konie, Troy Kunde, Aaron Kurcz, Alex Leadbeter, Danny Smith, Tyler Larsen Ben Wronski.

“Jernigan had a rubber arm. When some of the other kids couldn’t go, he pretty much pitched every game,” said Kurcz, who also cited the play of Kurcz and Konie.

“Leadbeter had a really good playoff,” he said. “He got hurt (hyper-extended knee) in the playoff game and we really missed his bat.”

The trip, funded in part by Kosta’s restaurant in Algonquin, also was a lesson in baseball history as the complex in which the teams played had fields "symmetrically" designed after some of baseball’s legendary stadiums like The Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field.

Among the fields the Red Raiders played on were: Shibe (Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia), Navin (Navin Stadium aka Tiger Stadium in Detroit), and Huntington (Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston).

“(The kids) got a kick out of it because there were plaques explaining the background of the baseball stadiums,” Kurcz said. “And even though the kids are 12-years old, I think they got it because the kids that play in travel baseball, they follow the sport, too. So they may not have heard of Ebbetts Field, but after they played there I think they took great appreciate to the field dimensions and the history behind it.”

The 12-U Big Kahuna Tournament was one of many annual tournaments hosted by Ripken Baseball, a baseball venture by Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken and his brother, Billy, a former major leaguer.