Submitted by Jennifer Hawkins
Photos Courtesy of Mike Williams
July 21, 2015 1:00 p.m.
It would take three head to head match-ups with Marietta Bullsbay Athletic Association throughout the tournament, but the Fernandina Beach Babe Ruth Pirates won the two that counted.
After costly errors against MBAA on Saturday pushed the Pirates into the loser’s bracket, the Pirates defeated Lafayette Babe Ruth on Sunday morning. The Pirates then defeated MBAA in the second contest Sunday to force the championship to Monday against MBAA.
Marietta struck first after the Pirates committed a handful of errors on defense, scoring two runs in the third. The Pirates answered back though with Kyle Richardson reaching on a throwing error, a walk to Hogan Alvarez, Jacob Janzen hit by a pitch and Brian Morris being hit by a pitch. With bases loaded Tripp Vonnoh had a sacrifice fly to right field allowing another run to score, tying up the game. Marietta would not go down without a fight however, and pushed a few more runs across as a result of an error in the field and timely hitting by Alex Cruz and Justin Smith.
But the Pirates weren’t done either. In the bottom of the sixth, Ryan Miller was hit by a pitch to get on, advancing around to third and ultimately scoring on a sacrifice fly to left field. While the Marietta catchers were on target with pick offs, one got by the shortstop allowing Scotty Rivenbark to score from third putting the Pirates up 6 to 4 headed to the seventh inning. Marietta, having scored 10 runs in the top of the seventh inning to defeat Melrose earlier in the tournament, showed signs of life, with the lead off batter reaching on an error. But the Pirate defense tightened up, closed down the rally and defeated Marietta Bullsbay to advance to the Southeast Regional Babe Ruth Tournament in Sarasota next week.
Congratulations to Manager Jon Shave, Coach John Vonnoh and Coach Bo Alvarez.
Fernandina Beach Babe Ruth League would like to thank all of those that donated and volunteered to make the tournament a success. Thank you to Coach Ken Roland of Fernandina Beach High School for the use of his great facilities, thank you to Angie and Rex Lester for all you do for baseball in Fernandina Beach and thanks to Scott Moore, Tournament Director, Flip Fleming, Mike Janzen and Del Mathews (and the Babe Ruth 14U All Stars) for their field work. These volunteers provided a great tournament experience.
Editor’s Note: Jennifer Hawkins is a freelance business and content writer/blogger with a sometimes simmering passion for local amateur sports and photography. Jennifer grew up in Fernandina and along with her husband and two kids, continues to call Fernandina Beach home.