San Diego, CA- With day three and pool play officially in the books, Saturday provided more exciting action to decide who will be playing facing off in the championship, third place game, and fifth place game at 2025 Pathway Prospect Games at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Game One
Black hangs on to early lead despite Navy's late surge
Pathway Black 6, Pathway Navy 5
Things got started fast Saturday morning thanks to 2024 Prospect Games MVP, Angelo Viera, taking one deep into center field off the second pitch nearly climbing over the wall.
Viera's double was followed by a single from Brodie Maye, giving Navy a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the first.
Jansen Moreno, a 2026 grad from California, scored for Black in the bottom half of the inning, after an RBI double from Talan Spier.
Black got things going offensively in the bottom of the third via a Liam Delgado sac-fly and Nathen Canfield's double to make it 4-2.
Black tacked on their final two runs in the bottom of the fourth, taking advantage of a series of errors by the Navy squad, that secured them a spot in Sunday's title game.
Game Two
Royal tops Navy in extra inning thriller
Pathway Royal 8, Pathway Navy 5
Pitchers showed out in the first three and a half inning, holding both teams scoreless, thanks to starting pitchers Jackson Elser for Royal and Carson Hunt for Navy.
Navy was the first to strike, in the bottom of the fourth, when Cameron Thornton doubled to left field, driving in Viera and Kooper Beebe.
Royal got two runs on the board off a single from Dane Reed that led to a pair of errors to knot it up 2-2.
Navy responded with two more runs in the fifth after Max Mckee was walked in with the bases loaded, followed by a sacrifice fly from Viera.
After a quiet sixth inning, Royal loaded the bases with zero outs and took full advantage. Brayden Reiner hit a sac-fly to left field, allowing Kai Wagner to score and cut into the lead at 4-3.
With two outs and a 2-2 count, Nathan Montion caught Navy by surprise & stole home to tie it up 4-4.
After a quiet bottom of the seventh, a series of errors, which would have ended the inning opened the floodgates for Royal, recording four runs after the first half of extra innings, making it 8-4.
Despite scoring one run in the bottom of the eighth, it was not enough as Navy fell to Royal, 8-5, and locking Royal into Sunday's championship game.
Game Three
Strong fourth inning from Columbia gives Red first loss of the week
Prospect Red 8, Prospect Columbia 4
Red got off to a quick start when Hazen Elton, a 2026 grad out of Lehi, Utah, stepped up to the plate taking the third pitch he faced deep into center field for a home run.
Pitchers and defense held strong for both teams, until the bottom of the fourth when Columbia set the game on fire with a seven-run swing. Thanks largely to series of walks, stolen bases, errors and clutch hits from Mason Standifird and Chase Rivera.
Prospect Red made a push in the seventh inning, due to opportunistic base-running and capitalizing on errors, however it was not enough to stay undefeated.
Game Four
Prospect Gray out-duels Columbia in a low scoring match up
Prospect Gray 3, Prospect Columbia 2
Nicholas Richardson, a 2026 grad out of Bluffdale, Utah, accounted for the first run on the board with a sac-fly that allowed a Rivera score.
Josh Draney and Cutter Christiansen locked down things on the mound, for Gray with eight combined strikeouts.
Red pitchers were also impressive, highlighted by Rivera who recorded four strikeouts and threw three scoreless innings.
Jackson Weir's sac-fly to center field brought in Cohen Nelson for the game winning run.
Championship Sunday
Prospect Navy @ Prospect Columbia, 8:00 a.m.
Prospect Gray @ Prospect Red, 10:30 a.m.
Prospect Black @ Royal 1:00 p.m.
*All games will be streamed live on Gamechanger*
