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Ridgway Senior League All-Stars advance to Northern Tier championship |
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Tuesday, 07 July 2009 |
By Greg Reedy
Sports Editor
JOHNSONBURG - The Ridgway Senior League all-stars advanced to the Northern Tier championship with a hard-fought 8-6 win over Johnsonburg Monday at Knothole Recreational Park.
"It's been a long time since the 13- and 14-year-olds have gone 3-0," Ridgway coach Doug Mitchell said. "It's a great feeling. Johnsonburg never quit. It's exciting for the team and exciting for the town."
Ridgway opened the game with Jesse Reynolds scoring on a wild pitch to give the all-stars a 1-0 lead. Reynolds would finish with a 4-for-5 evening, two RBI and three runs scored. The team extended the advantage in the second. Slade Horner walked to lead off and after a flyout, Tony Leithner walked and Reynolds singled to score both runners for a 3-0 lead. The trouble with walks by Johnsonburg continued as Joe Jaques walked and Josh Mitchell was intentionally walked for the second time. After a strikeout, Sam Roselli was walked with the bases loaded to score Reynolds and give Ridgway a 4-0 lead. Johnsonburg walked a total of 15
batters including the five intentional walks to Mitchell.
"I think we had a total of 10 walks and they all scored," Johnsonburg coach Jeff Peterson said. "We don't walk them, they don't win that game. They played well, we played well."
The third inning saw Ridgway continue to dominate the early play. Reynolds scored on a wild pitch and John Wildnauer singled to score Jaques for a 6-0 lead.
Johnsonburg scored its first run on a fielder's choice off the bat of Mitchell Holmberg in the home half of the third.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Ridgway took a 7-1 lead. Leithner led off the inning with a walk. After two straight singles from Reynolds and Jaques, Mitchell was intentionally walked with the bases loaded to score Leithner.
"That's smart coaching," Peterson said. "As far as I'm concerned, these other teams that pitch to him, that' s not smart coaching. When kids get home runs and four and five RBI a game, you got to do what you got to do. The kid's a real good ballplayer. He's big and he's a home run hitter. He plays Legion baseball, he's going to hit these pitchers. You can't pitch to him and we're not going to pitch to him. If we meet them again, I'm not going to pitch to him. It's plain and simple. The rest of these kids are going to have to beat us just like they did tonight."
In that particular situation, coach Peterson said he was worried about a bases-clearing hit which would have blown the game wide open. He said the intentional walks are a sign of respect.
"If I let him hit, he could have cleaned them off and hit a grand slam or hit a shot in the gap to score three runs," coach Peterson said. "I don't do it to be mean to the kid or the fans or anyone else. That's respect what I'm doing to him. It's not an insult. The kid's a good ballplayer and I'm not going to let him beat me. If there's a big lead, that's when you pitch to those guys. Let him take that shot. If he hits a solo home run, it doesn't hurt you. If the game is tight, you can't afford it. Take it as respect, he does a great job. I'm proud of our kids, they did a whale of a job."
Johnsonburg started to turn the momentum in the fifth. Devon Zilkofski walked to lead off the inning and after a flyout, a pair of Ridgway errors loaded the bases.
"We did have some mental errors that we haven't had in the three games prior to that," coach Mitchell said.
Frank Kocjancic hit into a fielder's choice to score Zilkofski and put Johnsonburg within five. Even though the Johnsonburg all-stars couldn't put any more runs up in that inning, the Rams felt the momentum start to turn.
In the sixth, Mitchell Vallone led off by being hit by a pitch. C.J. Herbstritt singled to put two runners on and after a flyout, Zilkofski walked to fill the bases with Johnsonburg all-stars. Cole Peterson walked in Vallone to cut the lead to 7-3. Quinn Luhr hit into a fielder's choice to score Herbstritt and Holmberg came up with a two-run single to plate Zilkofski and Luhr.
"They knew we were coming," coach Peterson said. "They were sweating bullets because they knew we were coming. One more hit in that inning and we would have taken the lead and then the game would have been over because we were on them."
Coach Peterson said he was pleased with the way his team hit.
"Overall hitting, we only had one strikeout," coach Peterson said. "That's just goes to show we put the ball in play and we were hitting the ball hard, just right at people."
Ridgway was patient at the plate in the seventh inning. Jaques and Josh Mitchell both walked and Wildnauer was hit by a pitch. Roselli walked with the bases loaded to score Jaques and give Ridgway an important insurance run and a two-run lead.
Johnsonburg went down in order in the home half of the seventh.
Ridgway will await its opponent but knows it will host a game Monday at the Ridgway Little League fields. Johnsonburg will play on Thursday against an opponent to be determined at a site to be determined. Coach Peterson feels the team has a good shot at seeing Ridgway again.
"We're going to be back, we're going to get in more of our starting pitchers and hopefully we can get our sticks going against whoever we come up with," coach Peterson said. "We'll be ready for whoever's next and hopefully we can come back to here again and get a shot at these guys again. Overall, I'm proud of these kids today. They didn't quit, they could have laid down."
Ridgway AB R H BI
Jesse Reynolds ss 5 3 4 2
Joe Jaques 3b 2 2 1 0
Josh Mitchell 1b 0 0 0 1
John Wildnauer p 4 0 1 0
Sam Roselli rf 1 0 0 2
Joe Hoffman cf 5 0 0 0
Slade Horner 2b 3 1 0 0
Evan Nourse lf 3 0 0 0
Tony Leithner c 2 2 0 1
Jake Klawuhn 1 0 0 0
Mason Stark 1 0 0 0
Totals 27 8 6 6
HBP: Wildnauer. SB: Reynolds 2, Jaques, Horner 2.
Johnsonburg AB R H BI
Cole Peterson 2b 3 0 0 1
Quinn Luhr p 4 1 1 1
Mitchell Holmberg ss 4 0 1 3
Frank Kocjancic c 4 0 1 1
Taylor Feronti lf 4 0 0 0
Mitchell Vallone 1b 3 1 1 0
C.J. Herbstritt cf 3 1 2 0
Kyle Sheldon rf 1 0 0 0
Devon Zilkofski 3b 1 3 1 0
Bill Bliss 2 0 0 0
Totals 29 6 7 6
2B: Vallone. HBP: Vallone.
Ridgway 132 010 1 - 8 6 3
Johnsonburg 001 014 0 - 6 7 0
Ridgway IP H R BB K
Wildnauer 5 3 2 1 1
Reynolds 2 4 4 1 0
Johnsonburg IP H R BB K
Luhr 1.1 1 3 4 1
Feronti 2.1 3 3 6 2
Kocjancic 3.1 2 2 5 3 |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 30 July 2009 )
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