RSNE Claims County Cal Ripken Crown
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Ryder Tatro and Ethan Moran combined to strike out 10 hitters Saturday in leading Refrigerated Structures of New England to an 8-3 win over H.A. George in the Berkshire Cal Ripken League Majors Division Championship on Bud Anderson Field.
It was a clean sweep for the Williamstown Cal Ripken program, which saw Purple Valley Auto edge Ramunto’s, 5-4, in the Minors Division final earlier in the day.
In the second game of the championship double-header, Tatro got the start for RSNE and struck out eight in 4 and a third innings, allowing two hits and two earned runs before giving the ball to Moran with a 6-2 lead.
“Ryder was awesome,” RSNE coach Marshall Creighton said. “He pitched really, really well. I’m so proud of him. He threw a ton of strikes, and we played some awesome defense behind him.”
He also got some good defense in front of him.
In the top of the third with RSNE leading, 3-1, H.A. George had runners at second and third with two out when catcher Clay Creighton popped up to grab a popup in foul territory to end the inning.
H.A. George flashed some leather, too.
The Northern Berkshire Youth Baseball League squad got an unassisted double play from third baseman Mason Langenback on a line drive to end the first inning. And in the fifth, catcher Alex Zocchi and first baseman David Prengruber worked a 2-3-2 double play when an RSNE runner attempted to score from third on a dropped third strike.
But four H.A. George errors also opened the door for three unearned runs against Jackson Kirchner, who went the distance on the bump and struck out nine.
“It came down to who made the plays and who didn’t,” H.A. George coach Adam Garner said. “We put the ball in play. They made very good defensive plays. We made some errors, and that’s the difference in the score.
“[We] made good plays. It’s just timely plays, like we needed certain plays that we didn’t make, and it was two, three runs after that. That’s all it was.”
H.A. George struck first in the top of the first.
Leadoff hitter Langenback worked a walk and stole second and third bases before coming home when Kirchner reached on a dropped third strike.
RSNE erased the 1-0 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the second.
An error allowed the leadoff hitter to reach base to start the rally, which also saw Jake Perez drive in a run with an infield single.
The Williamstown squad scored three more in the third to stretch their lead to 6-1, using singles by Will Bayliss, Clay Creighton, Moran and Tatro.
Kirchner struck out three straight to stop that rally with a runner on third.
And H.A. George’s offense got back two runs in the top of the fifth, which started with Zocchi’s leadoff single.
In the bottom of the inning, RSNE scored two more runs without a base hit, taking advantage of a couple of miscues in the field and staying aggressive on the base paths, where it stole 10 bases in the win.
“We’re always going to be aggressive,” Creighton said. “When we step into the batter’s box, we’re going to swing the bat hard. When we’re on the bases, we’re going to run hard. We’re going to try to steal a lot of bases. We’re going to slide hard. And we’re going to try to put a lot of pressure on the defense.”
Both finalists finished the season playing their best ball. RSNE was 0-1-1 in its first two games before finishing on an 11-game winning streak. H.A. George also improved as the season progressed.
“They’re a very resilient team,” Garner said. “We were an average team. And they fought and fought and just got better. We beat a good Lanesborough team last week to get here. So I can’t complain about anything. They’re tremendous kids.”
