There is no greater feeling as a hitter than when your bat heats up and the baseball looks the size of a beach ball. To be that locked into the zone that your bat doesn’t ever seem to miss is what every hitter aims for, and the POWER SHOWCASE 15U championship was certainly a great time for Jacob “Cubby” Stogsdill to do it.

Returning to the showcase for the third time to defend his title from a year ago, Stogsdill delivered his greatest performance when it mattered the most. Displaying consistency with power to all fields, he slugged his way to his second straight POWER SHOWCASE championship, at Chase Field in Arizona.

“I did the absolute very best that I could, that’s how I could describe it,” Stogsdill said. “Not very many people get to come to the POWER SHOWCASE, let alone win it, or even go back-to-back. So I’m glad to be one of the very few people to do that.”

Cubby earned his place in a second consecutive finale after placing second during the preliminary round for the group of 15U hitters. He also blasted a 492-foot shot that was the longest of the group, which would have earned him the Wild Card berth as well. Instead it kept the finals down to just two contenders, as Georgia’s Tyler Hickman hit 14 homers in the preliminary round to challenge for the crown.

Having been there before certainly helped Jacob feel comfortable and confident.

“It helps a lot,” Stogsdill agreed. “I stepped in there having Finals experience from last year, and I wasn’t nervous at all.”

From the very first swing, Cubby meant business. With dimensions of 315 feet to left and right field, and 370 feet to center field, the baseballs just started flying. He immediately got on the board with a 430-foot shot, and then found his groove to hit three straight. After recording his sixth out and sitting on five homers, he next unleashed a barrage in smacking four in-a-row, including his longest of the finals at 476 feet.

Stogsdill was not finished yet. As he continued to put on a hitting clinic with home runs to all fields, he remained red hot. He hit three straight again, and then capped off his performance by bashing five straight home runs while down to his final two outs. He finished with 20 total.

“That felt amazing,” Stogsdill said. “I thought my bat wasn’t going to make it, but it ended up making it. So I ended up switching it up.”

After setting the bar so high, all that was left was to wait and see if Hickman had the magic swing to surpass such a challenging total.

“I was obviously pretty confident,” Stogsdill said. “But he put up a good number yesterday. So I couldn’t really count it as a win no matter what, just yet. But I was pretty confident about it.”

Hickman was equally impressive in his preliminary round to earn his place in the finals. He was streaky as well, and displayed plenty of power with a 105.1 highest exit velocity and a long of 429 feet.

While he continued to connect in bunches for his homers in the finale, the massive total of 20 proved too large a mark to overcome. Hickman bounced back from a slow start to bash a pair, and then connected for three in-a-row, but slowly the outs ticked away. He smacked two straight when he was down to his very last out, but when the next swing did not leave the yard he finished with eight to close well short of the blackjack magic he needed.

“I wished he could have put up more, but it is what it is, and I’m walking away with another championship,” Cubby said.

Although he was confident thanks to the mark he set, Stogsdill still felt like he waited a long time before he could celebrate for sure. Having competed in previous events when he was younger and therefore batted sooner, he confessed that he wished he could have still got going with the opening group.

“I like to get ready and then just hit immediately. I don’t like waiting around to hit,” Jacob admitted.

When your swing is that hot, who can blame you?