Print |
E-mail to a friend
FEATURED
Big day for Junior League
Huntington Blue's Cameron Roam connects with a pitch during the Little League Baseball 13-14 year-old Junior League State Tournament against Roncerverte-Fairlea Friday, July 18, 2008, at Barboursville Park.
Purchase this photoRelated:
BARBOURSVILLE -- Tri-State teams Barboursville and Huntington Blue had strong showings Friday in the Little League Baseball 13-14 year-old Junior League state tournament.
Barboursville played an early pool play game and battled through a grueling, eight-inning clash with South Berkeley to take a 10-8 victory at the Barboursville Community Park field. Huntington Blue had a much different matchup in a later game against Ronceverte-Fairlea, opening up a big early lead and crusing to an 18-1 mercy win in five innings.
Fairmont caught fire late in the mid-day game against Logan to open things up for a 11-5 win.
In action at the Cabell Midland High School field, South Putnam ripped through Summersville, 21-0, and Charleston slipped past Morgan County, 4-3.
Barboursville and South Berkeley finished seven innings in a 5-5 tie. That set up a thrilling eighth inning that included a combined nine runs scored.
The game was far from flawless, with the teams combining for 10 errors and 17 runners left on base.
Caleb Ross had played too long and too hard not to come away with the victory for Barboursville. In the bottom of the eighth inning he rocked a three-run home run out of the park.
Ross led his team at the plate, by batting 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs. Jacob Sowards was also solid, going 2-for-2.
"When I went to the plate I was ready to light it up, and I did," Ross said. "It was a really close game and it felt great to come through for the team."
Shannon Skaggs led Barboursville on the mound as the winning pitcher.
Huntington Blue took no prisoners in its game with Ronceverte-Fairlea. Anthony Brunetti landed the first blow by leading off the game with a deep homer over the wall.
But, that was just the tip of the iceberg for the big blue. After scoring four runs in the first inning Huntington Blue added nine more runs in the top of the second inning for a 13-0 lead.
Luke Adkins led the second inning offensive fireworks by hitting a deep homer. Ronceverte-Fairlea surely didn't help its cause in the inning, committing four errors and walking three batters.
After just two completed innings the game was up, done, and over with. Huntington Blue didn't let up, however, scoring four more runs for a 17-0 advantage.
"We are really coming together as a team and I think we showed that today," Huntington Blue coach John Brunetti said. "We hit the ball well today from top to bottom."
Ronceverte-Fairlea avoided the shutout by scoring in the third inning.
Anthony Brunetti led Huntington Blue at the plate, batting 3-for-5 with the homer and three RBIs. Adkins was 2-for-4 with a homer. Clark Palmer was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Brunetti was also the winning pitcher.
SOUTH BERKELEY 111 020 04 -- 8 6 6
BARBOURSVILLE 200 201 05 -- 10 9 4
Hitting: (SB) Tommy Hamon HR, 2 RBIs; (B) Caleb Ross 3-5 , HR, 3 RBIs; Jacob Sowards 2-2.
HUNTINGTON BLUE 494 10 -- 18 12 2
RONCEVERTE-FAIRLEA 001 00 -- 1 3 7
Hitting: (HB) Brunetti 3-5, HR, 3 RBIs; Adkins 2-4, HR; Palmer 2-3, 2 RBIs; (RF) Stacie 2B.
Today
At Cabell Midland H.S.
5 p.m., Fairmont vs. Barboursville
8 p.m., South Berkeley vs. Logan
At Barboursville Community Park
11 a.m., Charleston vs. Beckley
2 p.m., Ronceverte-Fairlea vs. Chapmanville
5 p.m., South Putnam vs. Clay Co.
