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Little League: Royals repeat as Top Team champions
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The Greater Naples Little League Royals entered the postseason hovering around .500, but coach Jimmy Nocera knew his team was better than their 9-7 record showed.
“I told them to hang in there and get hot at the right moment,” Nocera said. “If they could gel as a team, I knew they'd be tough to beat.”
The Royals, a majors-level team made up of players ages 9 to 12, didn't just get hot -- they caught fire. The team won five straight games in an eight-day span at the Top Team Classic, winning the 42-team tournament championship Saturday.
The Top Team Classic, hosted by Golden Gate American Little League at Max Hasse Park, brings together all the majors teams in Collier County and some from Lee County. It serves as the championship tournament for little league districts 27 (Collier) and 18 (Lee).
Because the field has so many teams and so much competition, its rare that any team win two straight titles. Early in the championship game, though, it looked like the Royals wouldn't accomplish the feat.
Playing the North Naples Dodgers, the Royals trailed 8-3 after three innings. After battling back to tied the score in the sixth, the Greater Naples team won the game 9-8 with a bases-loaded single in the eighth. Majors games only go six innings.
Sage Nocera, the coach's son, stepped to the plate in the bottom of the second extra frame and drew a full count. He then sent the next pitch over the second baseman's head, scoring the championship-winning run.
The decisive RBI might not have been the younger Nocera's biggest contribution. The 11-year-old fifth-grader at Lake Park Elementary took the pitcher's mound in the fourth inning -- after the Dodgers had scored eight times in three frames -- and gave up just two hits and no runs the rest of the way.
“It was a nice surprise,” coach Nocera said. “Sage has really been our No. 3 pitcher all year. I put him in after one of our hard throwers, and it messed with (the Dodgers') timing.”
The Royals started play in the Cope Memorial Tournament on Wednesday. The Cope is a 19-team tournament consisting of majors teams from only Collier County. It is hosted by Gulf Coast Little League.
Greater Naples Royals
Blake Werab*
Austen Werab*
Sage Nocera*
Reid Sanders*
Jordan Gross*
Casey Santos-Ocampo*
Gavin Hill
Bryce Morrow
John Cheffy
Jonathon Scott
Alex Hugan
Taylor Stamm
*on 2007 District 18 championship team
Manager -- Jim Nocera; Coaches -- Mike Werab, John Sanders, Aaron Gross
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