The A’s of the San Benito County Babe Ruth League picked a fine
time to play their best game of the year. Led by a formidable top
four hitters in the lineup, the No. 4 seed A’s put the metal to the
horsehide to whip the No. 5 Marlins 11-1 in six innings in a
playoff game at Vet’s Park Tuesday night.
The A’s of the San Benito County Babe Ruth League picked a fine time to play their best game of the year. Led by a formidable top four hitters in the lineup, the No. 4 seed A’s put the metal to the horsehide to whip the No. 5 Marlins 11-1 in six innings in a playoff game at Vet’s Park Tuesday night.
The victory pushed Steve Ross’ lads into Saturday’s semifinal vs. the 2nd-seeded White Sox at 1 p.m. Unfortunately for the A’s, they’ll have to do it without one of their top hitters, Travis Ross. Ross won’t be available for duty this weekend for he’ll be in Arizona as part of a Junior Olympics program.
All Ross – who batted third in the order – did to help wreck the Marlins was to triple a run home in the first inning and double in two more in the third, scoring twice himself.
“We have a chance to beat the White Sox,” said Travis. “Doug will have to pitch a good game.”
The A’s (11-4-1) will send their hard-throwing ace Doug Conte to the mound on Saturday. Conte, who bats cleanup, did just fine with his bat Tuesday night, going 4-for-4 with four runs batted in. He also scored two runs.
The A’s had great production out of their leadoff hitter, Kevin Graham. The left-handed hitting Graham went 3-3 with three RBI’s with a run scored. The A’s second place hitter, Ronnie Fhurong, went 1-4 with two runs scored. That makes a combined 10-of-14 with 10 RBI for the top four batters in the A’s lineup.
“They hit the ball,” said Marlins manager Joey Escamilla Sr. “There’s not much more one can say.”
Fhurong, only 13 years of age, pitched extremely well, giving up just six hits in six innings with three strikeouts. He walked just one. The baseball-savvy Fhurong even picked off the Marlins James Macfarlane off first base in the sixth inning after Macfarlane had singled.
“Ronnie has had the best coaching these past few years, all the way through Little League,” said Steven Ross. “He’s sucha solid player. He pitched a gem tonight. I don’t recall him having an error while playing shortstop this season, either.”
The Marlins, the visitors, actually struck initially with their only run in the top of the first. Joey “Tito” Escamilla cracked a double over Graham’s head in left field for a double. Jimmy Souza legged out an infield hit complete with a head-first dive into first base. Macfarlane’s fielder’s choice grounder plated Escamilla.
The A’s immediately responded in the bottom half of the first against Souza to take the lead for good. Ross boomed a three-bagger to deep right-center field to score Fhurong, then Conte singled to left field to tally Ross. A five-run fourth officially broke the game open as the A’s sent 10 batters to the plate.
Escamilla Sr. wasn’t too disappointed with the defeat.
“These kids have come a long way,” said Escamilla. “The two years before this, they won a total of five games and finished in last place both years. This year, we went 8-9 and made it to the playoffs. We have nothing to hang our heads about.”
Ruthian notes: Saturday’s other semifinal game starts at 10 a.m. with the top-seeded Cubs squaring off with the sixth-seeded Giants. The championship game is this Sunday at 10 a.m. at Vet’s Park….The run which technically ended the game due to the 10-run mercy rule was scored by Jake Verissimo. Verissimo touched home on a ground ball to third by Matt Hamilton as the play went to first base with no outs and the bases loaded….The game was played well defensively. The A’s made zero errors, while the Marlins made just one miscue and that was in the final inning…..Souza picked off Conte off first base in the third inning.
Marlins 100 000 – 1 6 1
A’s 211 502 – 11 15 0
Souza, Macfarlane (4) and Garcia; Fhurong and Smith. WP-Fhurong. LP-Souza. 3B – Ross (A). 2B – Escamilla (M); Ross (A). 4 hits – Conte (A). 3 hits –Â Graham (A). 2 hits – Escamilla, Macfarlane (M); Ross, Smith (A). 4 RBI – Conte (A). 3 RBI – Graham, Ross (A).
