CARY, N.C.—In the fourth and final NHSI quarterfinal game on Thursday at USA Baseball’s National Training Complex, Green Hope (Cary, N.C.) bested Mountain Ridge (Riverdale, Ariz.) by a score of 8-3.
This game started off tight, but runs in every inning from the fourth through seventh helped Green Hope put the game out of reach. Defensively, Green Hope was led by starting pitcher Danny Heintz. The sophomore righthander pitched 3.2 innings, giving up only two earned runs.
Green Hope was led at the plate by dynamic outfielder Jordyn Adams. The UNC commit—who will play both football and baseball in Chapel Hill—had an excellent game at the plate, recording three hits. Adams also got out of the batter’s box well, showing plus run times to first in the 4.16-second range. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound senior also gets fantastic reads in the outfield and shows all-around great baseball IQ.
Anytime Adams got on base, it was a problem for the opposition. In an at-bat against Mountain Ridge, Adams singled, stole second, stole third and then advanced home when the throw to third got away. His ability to create offense with his speed proved to be incredibly beneficial to the Green Hope offense.
“Everytime I go up to bat, my plan is just to get on base no matter how it is, find my way on base somehow,” Adams said.
Adams has also helped bring in a pretty cool celebration for the Green Hope team, implementing the “bandage” motion from the smash-hit video game Fortnite.
Just as Fortnite has thrust itself on to the scene, Green Hope is doing the same. The host school from Cary now find themselves just one win away from reaching the 2018 NHSI championship game.
“I don’t think we were a team someone would’ve picked to reach the final four,” Green Hope coach Michael Miragliuolo said.
“Just the fact we’re showing what we’re made of—we’ve got a lot of scrappers, we’ve got a lot of unsigned guys on our team, too…I watch them match up against other people and I’m like, ‘Someone’s gotta jump on some of these guys.'”
Green Hope will go into Friday’s semifinal game poised and ready to continue their record-setting tournament, with no North Carolina team having ever previously reached the NHSI semifinals in the tournament’s seven-year history.
“We have some talented players and they’re showing it out there,” Miragliuolo said. “And I couldn’t be more proud of where we are.”
Comments are closed.