Sports
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Jared Foster pitched three shutout innings June 11 as the Pro-Clean offense scored early and often against A-1 to retain possession of first place as the Cal Ripken Minor League season at Exchange Park nears an end.
Two weeks ago Pro Clean, Rotary and A-1 Heating and Cooling were locked in a three-way tie for first in the 9-10 year old league. After Pro Clean defeated Rotary, just two games remained between three teams — Rotary vs. A-1 on Friday and Pro Clean vs. A-1 on Saturday.
When Rotary defeated A-1 June 10, it put Pro Clean in the position to take control of the league race with a win Saturday.
Foster was an imposing figure on the mound for Pro Clean, pitching three innings of one-hit ball and striking out five of the 10 batters he faced. Tyrese Coffey replaced Foster in the top of the fourth. The two held the A-1 offense to a single hit and two total base runners in four innings.
“This may have been the best pitching performance we’ve had all year,” said Pro-Clean assistant coach Keith Kimbrough.
A-1’s pitching did not fair nearly as well. Starter Dylan Carmon struggled to find the strike zone early on in the contest. He walked four batters in the first inning alone, and 10 total over 3.1 innings.
Pro-Clean catcher Tucker Duke hit a two-run single to take an early 2-0 lead. Pro-Clean scored three more runs on errors and passed balls in the first.
In the second, Pro-Clean kept up the offensive onslaught. Shortstop Bryce Wallace hit a two-run single of his own, before Tucker Duke added another RBI to up the lead to 8-0.
Pro-Clean scored three more runs in the fourth and walked off the field with the 11-0 victory in four innings.
Duke led the offense, going 2-2 with a walk, three RBI, a run scored and a stolen base.
Pro-Clean entered the game just one game ahead of A-1 and Rotary for the minor league lead.
Their wins over Rotary and A-1 in the past two weeks have them just one victory away from the league title.
“These kids have been playing for first place all year,” Kimbrough said. “Today, they knew what was on the line. We told them if they wanted to win first place this is where they had to do it.”
Pro Clean will play First National Bank to clinch the league title at 7:45 p.m. Friday, June 17.
Rotary 6
A-1 3
With the league race still very much in question and facing elimination Friday night, Rotary took advantage of some clutch hitting and a strong pitching performance to keep their hopes alive.
It became apparent early on that the story of the game would be the pitching match-up between Rotary’s Colton Edmundson and A-1’s Seth Waters.
A-1 took an early 2-0 lead when two Rotary errors allowed Waters and Dylan Carmon to score with two outs. Rotary answered in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of their own thanks to a two-run single from third baseman Latrell Daily.
After A-1 tied the game with a run in the top of the third, Rotary made their move in the bottom of the inning. Waters got two early outs, but found himself in a bases loaded jam after walking two batters. Rotary first baseman Stephen Pelfrey got the pitch he wanted and struck a three-run single into right-center to take a 6-3 lead.
A-1 was able to load the bases with one out in the top of the fifth, bringing the tying run to the plate. That’s when Rotary coach Jon Edmundson turned to Pelfrey to be the hero once again. Pelfrey took over the mound duties, striking out the final two batters of the inning to end the threat.
“Pelfrey did it all,” Edmundson said. “Bases loaded with one out, he came in and shut them down. That was pretty much the win for us.”
Pelfrey went on to strike out three of the final four batters in the sixth inning to pick up the save.
Colton Edmundson picked up the win for Rotary. He went 4.1 innings, giving up three unearned runs and tallying eight strikeouts. He also went 2-2 at the plate with two runs scored.
Waters pitched well in the loss, striking out 13 batters in only five innings of work.