(Photos by Cameron Harris – USA Baseball, republished with permission)

Toward the left of that photo, #5 on the USA Baseball 18U National Team, is West Seattle High School senior Morgan McCullough, gesturing “#1” with both hands right after he and his teammates won the WBSC World Cup tournament in Osaka, Japan this weekend. We wrote on Saturday about the team making it into Sunday’s title game; Team USA was victorious over the host team, taking the USA’s third consecutive title, 2-1. McCullough, who is due home late tonight, started the game at playing second base and batting leadoff, drawing a walk to get on base early on:

His mom Jane Muxen McCullough says, “This is something he has been working for since he first picked up a bat.” We asked her what he had to say about the victory, and she relayed this quote: “It was the best experience of my life with the best teammates I could imagine. Representing the USA, the team felt we had targets on our back. We embraced that feeling and stuck together as a unit, and because of that we are gold medalists.” Morgan is the only Northwest resident on the team, whose roster you can see here.