Ridge 15U Babe Ruth Heads Tues. PM to State Semifinal

The following information was submitted by the team managers for the Ridge Babe Ruth 15-year-olds.

The Ridge 15U Babe Ruth All-Stars on Monday night secured themselves a spot in the semifinal for the Babe Ruth State tournament by beating Union City 13-3 at Weehawken. The game is 6 p.m. on Tuesday in Weehawken, the team managers said.

The winner of the semifinal game will head to the state tournament final, now scheduled for Thursday. That winner would head onto the Babe Ruth regional tournament facing other states' teams, and then could potentially reach the Babe Ruth World Series, according to information from the team.

The playoffs among six teams in New Jersey before Sunday's game started and was delayed and ultimately suspended due to game a lightening strike in the area.

However the team brought its own version of thunder to the game on Monday evening. Union City had struck first blood in the top of the first inning on Sunday with a triple and single with two out. In the bottom half of the stanza, Liam McArthur had led off with a walk and he "stayed" there until play resumed on Monday.

Ryan McLaughlin was promptly hit by Union City pitcher Kevin Alzamora's first offering and before you could blink, Ridge put a 5 spot on the Board. Connor Scherzer and T.J. Rusiniak all had RBIs, and the big blows came from a two-run, bases loaded double from Pete Matarazzo and a two-run double by Bobby Moscow.

Ridge chased three Union City pitchers in the first, and sent two more to the showers in the second scoring five more runs. Ian Solomon had the first RBI with a bases loaded single and Scherzer and Matarazzo added their 2nd and 3rd RBI's in two innings. Catcher Don Komondy drove in the fifth run of the inning.

In the third, Liam McArthur led off with a double down the left field line and was quickly sent home with a Ryan McLaughlin single. Solomon brought in McLauglin with his second hit of the game — a single to left field.

T.J Rusiniak drove in Solomon for his third RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to left field. Union City rallied for two runs in the top of the fifth but Don Komondy and Grant Hellings teamed up to prevent a steal of third to end the game. Ridge again secured the victory invoking the tournament's mercy rule —

T.J Rusiniak pitched a complete game for Ridge, scattering five hits and only allowing one earned run to earn the victory.

Liam McArthur had three hits and scored three times and Ian Solomon scored three runs of his own. Bobby Moscow had three RBI's and Scherzer and Rusiniak also scored twice. Kevin Menarguez scored a run and Cole Haiback added a hit in the Ridge barrage — ending up with a score of lucky 13 runs.