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Youth Legends Tournament Championship

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By LeagueApps
December 7, 2018
2 min

Danny Noonan lipped out, Jules Paxton couldn’t find the back of the net, Jimmy Chitwood bricked his shot, and Air Bud wasn’t a good enough boy. Single elimination tournaments put even the best competition through the wringer. From 16 down to two, here we are at the end of the road. A prohibitive favorite faces off against a plucky and determined underdog in our Youth Legends Tournament Final. Your collective votes have set this matchup, a faceoff worthy of a Hollywood screenplay.

Becky “Icebox” O’Shea embodied the kind of grit and determination required to break through barriers and shatter expectations. Nearly 25 years after she led a spirited 21-point second-half comeback against the Little Cowboys, O’Shea’s stereotype-defying performance remains relevant. In this corner, we have meritocracy on full display. You can remove any qualifier from her defensive performance. She wasn’t just great for a girl; she was a great football player, period. Will that be enough to beat out the five-tool sandlot superstar?

Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez’s road to the Youth Legends Title Game has been more home run trot than pulse-pounding bang-bang play at home plate. Every diamond he ever set foot on quickly became his playground. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do, regardless of his competition. Those famous skills took him from the sandlot to the Major Leagues. And his legacy lives on, with the next generation of ballplayers. Just look as the Milwaukee Brewers recreate one of the scenes from the movie.

Does the cool and reserved superstar deserve to go down as the G.O.A.T.? That’s not for us to say. Only the people can crown a worthy champion. So who will it be, The Jet or Icebox?