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By Dean Barker Bridgewater’s team of Noah Cornwell and Jake Ariey (replacing Dylan Horne) were able to score fourteen points in the final round and take the 2023 RCBL Home Run Derby on Saturday, July 8 at Montezuma Ruritan Field. “It was all about the pitching (from Derek Shifflett), I didn’t really have to do much work,” Cornwell said. “The pitches were all in the perfect spot. Derek behind me did all the work, I didn’t really do anything.” Shifflett was happy to give up home runs to help the cause. “(Cornwell’s) the best hitter in the league, I’m proud of myself,” Shifflett said. Stuarts Draft’s Cody Bartley and Ryan Cooper led the first round with ten. Grottoes’ Cam Irvine and Daryl Lambert were in second at six. The Shockers’ Kaden Spaid and Zach Stiles, the Reds, and Montezuma’s Tristan Gordon and John Mason were tied at five. The Shockers and Reds advanced after a playoff. Elkton’s Ryan Wright and Abe Turner had three. Broadway’s Austin Whetzel and Josh Veney had two. Clover Hill’s Alex Knicely and Lane Lough had zero. The Diamondbacks put six across in the second round. Bridgewater had the second best with four. The Shockers narrowly missed a trip back to the final after winning last year, only getting three in the second round. Grottoes did not manage to put anything across. Stuarts Draft looked like they were on their way to a title with eight in the finals, but the Reds clobbered the ball to score fourteen and win the Home Run Derby.
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The West All-Stars put together a seven-run fifth inning and clobbered the East All-Stars 12-2 in the 2023 RCBL All-Star Game on Saturday, July 8 at Montezuma Ruritan Field. Reid Long of the Clover Hill Bucks picked up the win for the West on his 21st birthday, pitching a perfect third inning with one strikeout. RCBL Shocker Kaden Spaid took the loss for the East, giving up nine runs (five earned) on eight hits with three walks and a strikeout in two innings. Bridgewater’s Grey Sherfey and Clover Hill’s Luke Shifflett were both named Game MVP. Sherfey was 2-3 with two RBIs on a home run. Shifflett was 3-4 with two RBIs. “We were out here, just playing the game that we love,” Sherfey said. “It was a good night, we all had fun, and thanks to everyone that showed up.” Shifflett was honored to be there as well. “The approach doesn’t change, even if this is an All-Star Game, we’re still out here to, #1 take the victory,” Shifflett said. “You see ball, hit ball, and we did it tonight. Me and Grey grew up playing together, both Turner Ashby grads, so shoutout to Turner Ashby, and yeah, it was a great time tonight.” Harrison Madagan put the East on the board with a solo shot to left field in the top of the second. The West would respond with an RBI single from Josh Eberly in the bottom of the third. Austin Whetzel’s sacrifice fly would score Noah Cornwell to give the West the lead in the fourth. Micah Canterbury would follow it up with an RBI single to left to make it 3-1. Can Irvine’s RBI single in the fifth cut the lead to 3-2. The West responded, as Luke Shifflett hit a bases loaded two run RBI single to left. Whetzel’s grounder to shortstop was thrown away, allowing the sixth run to score. Colin McGuire’s two out grounder to third was thrown away, allowing two more runs to score. Grey Sherfey crushed a home run over the right field wall to make the score 10-2 West. A run came home on Gavin Rush’s fly ball to left in the eighth, and Carl Keenan scored the twelfth run on a wild pitch. The West had twelve runs on fifteen hits with no errors and nine runners left on base. The East had two runs on three hits with two errors and six runners left on base. The Blue team erased an 8-6 deficit in the bottom of the ninth and tied the Red team 8-8 in the RCBL Veteran’s Game at Montezuma Ruritan Park on Friday, July 7. Former Bridgewater Red Alex Stover was named the MVP for his three run home run. “It’s kind of like riding a bike, I guess; you do it your whole life, and it just comes back to you,” Stover said. “You just start warming up, and being out here, it’s so fun with all these guys. You know, it’s just natural sometimes.” The Red team got out to a 1-0 lead on a fielder’s choice grounder from #2, and a three run homer from #21 made it 4-0. Stover’s home run cut it to 4-3. All the exact statistics and names are not available due to a lack of statistics being kept. After a barrage of errors and unearned runs made the score 8-6 headed to the bottom of the ninth, the Blue team got to work, as two RBI singles tied it up. Stover had the chance to walk it off, but grounded out to second to end the game. By Dean Barker Bridgewater utilized an eight inning, eleven strikeout shutout performance from Chris Huffman to beat the RCBL Shockers 5-0 and take the first half title. With the win, Bridgewater improved to 12-5, while the Shockers fell to 13-6 and finished the first half in second place. “I just worked on getting ahead and putting hitters away when I had the chance to,” Huffman said. “(The) big thing (was) keeping guys off the bags, and, you know, limiting my walks, because they do have a couple of speedy guys who can take bags whenever they want to.” The game was the closest of the three games these two teams have played, with the score 2-0 until a seventh inning three run blast from Reds right fielder Corbin Lucas sealed the deal. “I was already 0-3, so screw it, what’d I have to lose? I’m just going to swing out of my shoes,” Lucas said. “I got one up in the air, the wind didn’t hurt it or help it, and it was enough to get out.” The Reds will open the second half at the Broadway Bruins on Sunday, July 9 at 6:30 pm. The Shockers will return to action when they host the Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks on Tuesday, July 11 at 7:30 pm. The Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks came alive with two runs an inning in the fourth, fifth and sixth to defeat the Grottoes Cardinals 6-1. With the win, the Diamondbacks finished the first half at 8-12 and seventh place, while the Cardinals fell to 11-9 and ended the first half in fifth. Trevor Vernon picked up the win to improve to 1-1, pitching seven shutout innings with four hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Tucker Garrison took the loss to fall to 4-3, giving up six runs (five earned) on twelve hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Logan Duff went 2-4 with two RBIs from a fifth inning home run to lead the D-Backs. Ryan Farris was also 2-4 with two RBIs. Grayson Bush went 4-4 with an RBI. For the Cardinals, Whit Scafidi went 2-4 with one RBI off a ninth inning solo home run. The Diamondbacks will start the second half at the RCBL Shockers on Tuesday, July 11 at 7:30 pm. The Cardinals will host the Elkton Blue Sox on Tuesday, July 11 at 7:30 pm. The Broadway Bruins were leading the Clover Hill Bucks 6-2 in the bottom of the third inning when electrical and lightning delays forced the game to be resumed later. Jaylon Lee hit a two run home run for the Bruins in the top of the third. RBI singles from Luke Shifflett and TJ Johnson cut the Broadway lead to 6-2 in the bottom half before the delays ensued. The game will be made up from where it left off on Saturday, July 22 at Clover Hill. A time is to be determined. The Bruins finished the first half 11-7 and in fourth, while the Bucks finished 11-6 and in third place. Broadway will begin the second half at home against the first-place Bridgewater Reds on Sunday, July 9 at 6:30 pm. The Bucks will open the second half at home against the Montezuma Braves on Tuesday, July 11 at 7:30 pm. By Dean Barker The Broadway Bruins overcame an early deficit to defeat the RCBL Shockers 7-3 on the road on Wednesday, July 5. With the win, the Bruins improved to 11-7, while the Shockers fell to 13-5. “(We) put together good outings on the mound between our starting staff and our relieving staff, and just put the ball across the plate,” Bruins head coach Bryce Strawderman said. Micah Canterbury picked up the win to improve to 2-1, pitching six innings and giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. Joseph McNamara pitched two scoreless innings with no hits, two walks and no strikeouts. Karson Jennings shut the door in the ninth, allowing just one batter to reach with a hit-by-pitch and striking out two. “It’s always big to have a starter go long, (it) saves us up in the pen so we can get ready to go for tomorrow,” Jennings said. “As always, you know, the offense putting together good swings puts together for a good game, and we showed it today with the win.” Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks infielder Calen Owens was named Week 6 RCBL Player of the Week. Owens had twelve hits, six RBIs and a home run during week six. Coach Les Sandridge said “Calen has been working hard in the cage and making adjustments.” RCBL Shockers pitcher Kirk Messick was an honorable mention, getting two wins on Saturday, July 1 against the Montezuma Braves after driving eight hours from Myrtle Beach. Messick retired his one and only batter faced in the first game and pitched a complete game shutout with just four hits in the second game. By Dean Barker The Grottoes Cardinals traded runs early with the Broadway Bruins before taking the lead for good in a 7-4 road win on Monday, July 3. With the win, the Cardinals improved to 11-8, while the Bruins fell to 10-7. “We got timely hitting, that’s what we’ve been struggling with some this year, get the big hit when we need it,” Cardinals head coach Tim Nicely said. “Our pitchers threw well, got us out of some jams and pitched a lot of good pitches.” Adam Dofflemyer got the win to improve to 3-1, pitching five innings and giving up four earned runs on nine hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Eli Lam pitched three and a third innings, giving up runs on three hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Noah Burtner picked up the save, striking out the last two batters of the game. Bryce Turner took the loss to fall to 0-1, pitching the first four innings and giving up six runs (one earned) on nine hits with one walk and one strikeout. Karson Jennings pitched two innings and gave up one earned run on four hits with one walk and no strikeouts. Dalton Benson pitched two scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk with no strikeouts. Grant Landis pitched a scoreless ninth with no hits, no walks and no strikeouts. After leadoff singles from Dalton Nicely, Cameron Irvine and Dylan Nicely in the first inning, Garret Huffman hit a sacrifice fly to center to put Grottoes up 1-0. The Bruins would respond in the bottom half with an RBI double to left from Micah Canterbury. With two outs in the ninth, a soft grounder from Dalton Nicely to first was too much for the Bruins infield, bringing home Clayton Michael for the Cardinals’ second run. Broadway put the run back on the board in the bottom half with an RBI sacrifice grounder from Ozzie Torres. A two out bases loaded triple from Michael gave the Cardinals a 5-2 lead in the third. “I’ve really been struggling lately, so I was just trying to put a ball in play and hit something hard to try and boost the offense and get the win,” Michael said. In the bottom half, Carl Keenan drove in one with a bases loaded single to center, and the Bruins cut it to one when Brody Bower grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Eli Lam singled with runners on the corners to make it a 6-4 Grottoes lead in the top of the fourth. Luke Tomajcyzk’s sacrifice fly to left would extend the Cardinals lead to 7-4 in the sixth. Hunter Devers and Keenan walked with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and Bower’s single to right loaded the bases, but Burtner came in and struck out Ethan Burgreen and Jayden Nixon to end the game. “I know my defense is gonna go out there and always try to make good plays behind me,” Burtner said. “Very talented defensive team, as well as offensive. Adam and Eli both threw the ball very well tonight. Just going out there and trying to attack with the fastball early, try to keep it low and just blow it by them.” The Cardinals had seven runs on fourteen hits with two errors and twelve runners left on base. Dalton Nicely went 4-6 with an RBI. Irvine was 3-5. Dylan Nicely was 2-4. Eli Lam was 2-5 with an RBI. Tomajcyzk was 1-4 with an RBI. Michael was 2-5 with three RBIs. The Bruins had four runs on thirteen hits with three errors and fourteen base runners stranded. Canterbury was 1-4 with two RBIs. Colin McGuire, Deavers and Bower were 2-4. Torres was 2-5 with one RBI. Nixon was 1-4. Burgreen went 1-5. Keenan was 2-3 with an RBI. The Bruins will hope to bounce back at the RCBL Shockers on Wednesday, July 5 at 7:30 pm. The Cardinals will hope to win their fourth in a row when they travel to the Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks on Thursday, July 6 at 7:30 pm. By Dean Barker The RCBL Shockers walked off the Montezuma Braves in game one, and called the mercy rule into effect in game two to sweep a double header 6-3 and 10-0 on Saturday, July 1. With the wins, the Shockers improved to 12-4 and remained in first place in the RCBL, while the Braves fell to 6-10 and into seventh. “They’ve come out the last two nights, and they’ve just played good baseball,” Shockers head coach Nolan Potts said. “We’ve played clean defense for the most part, pitchers threw strikes today, pitchers threw strikes last night, and that’s a formula. We’ll get enough offense… throughout the game, but if we play clean defense and throw strikes, we’re gonna give ourselves a chance every night.” Kirk Messick got the win in both games to improve to 5-0, facing and retiring the final batter in the top of the seventh in game one, and pitching a complete five innings in game two, giving up no runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Messick drove eight hours from Myrtle Beach to pitch in these games. “Just used what little energy I had left on the day,” Messick said. “It’s been a long day, just throwing strikes like Coach Potts said, all you’ve got to do is throw strikes, and that lets your defense back you up.” Derek Ryan took the loss in game one to fall to 0-1, giving up three earned runs in an inning and a third on four hits with one walk and no strikeouts. Lance Tate pitched five and a third innings, giving up three earned runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts. With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the fourth, Dylan Rankin flew out to center to put the Braves up 1-0. Matt House would drive in Harrison Madagan the exact same way in the bottom half to tie the game. An RBI single from JT Stevenson put Montezuma back up 2-1 in the fifth. With two on in the bottom of the sixth, Connor Houser singled to right to score Madagan and tie the game at two apiece. JJ Loker singled to right to put the Shockers up 3-2. Kyle Armstrong led off the seventh with a single, stole second, moved to third on a sac fly, and scored the tying run on a JT Stevenson single. Luke Keister doubled with one out in the bottom of the seventh, and moved to third on a groundout from Dawson Russell. Madagan walked, and Nick Arnold walked it off with a home run to left field. “I just kept it simple, just having a good approach at the plate, trying to get a good pitch to hit every time I’m up there, and I knew the guy throwing, so I was pretty locked in, knowing what was going to come,” Arnold said. Alex Belako took the loss in game two to fall to 1-1, giving up five earned runs on two hits with seven walks and one strikeout in an inning and a third. Matthew Charles pitched two and a third innings, giving up three earned runs on three hits with a walk and a strikeout. Adam Dressler pitched a third of an inning and gave up two earned runs on one hit with a walk and no strikeouts. Matt House came home on a wild pitch in the first to give the Shockers a 1-0 lead. In the second, Keister drew a bases loaded walk to bring across the second run, and Russell would single to bring in the third. A single to right from Arnold would plate two more to make it 5-0 Shockers. A wild pitch to Frankie Ritter would allow House and Loker to come home in the third and extend the lead to 7-0. Keister’s single to center allowed Bodie Pullen to score and make it 8-0 Shockers. Keister’s grounder to third in the fifth resulted in a fielder’s choice throw into right field, bringing home the ninth run, and Pullen came home on a wild pitch to initiate the mercy rule and end the game at 10-0 Shockers. For the Shockers, Arnold was 4-7 with five RBIs on the day. Keister was 1-3 with three RBIs in game two. Houser was 3-3 with an RBI in game one. House was 2-4 with an RBI on the day. “Just trying to get in the box, look for pitches to drive and help my team win, man,” Keister said. “I got a few good situations with guys getting in scoring position before me, and got pitches I could drive and help my team win, score some runs.” JT Stevenson was 2-4 with two RBIs in game one to lead the Braves. Gavin Rush was 2-5 on the day. The Braves will be back in action when they host the Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks on Monday, July 3 at 7:30 pm. The Shockers will travel to the Elkton Blue Sox on Monday, July 3 at 7:30 pm. By Dean Barker The Clover Hill Bucks were dominant all around in a 13-1 seven inning win at the first place Bridgewater Reds on Friday, June 30. After this game, both teams are tied for second at 11-5. It was an important win for the Bucks, who had lost two in a row. “(I told my team to) just play our game like we do every game, really,” Bucks head coach Kevin Chandler said. “Just play fundamental defense, press 90 feet, have quality at-bats.” James Swart got the win to improve to 1-0, pitching three scoreless innings with one hit, two walks and three strikeouts. Jackson Sherman pitched the first four innings, giving up one earned run on four hits with five walks and two strikeouts. “I was just trying to throw all pitches in the zone, be aggressive, compete, try not to walk anybody, just throw everything I can for strikes,” Swart said. Nick Griffin pitched the first three and a third innings and took the loss to fall to 1-3, giving up five runs (three earned) on ten hits with two walks and a strikeout. Jared Peake pitched an inning and two thirds, giving up six earned runs on seven hits with no walks and two strikeouts. Mason Luck pitched an inning and gave up two earned runs on one hit with no walks and no strikeouts. Liam Simpson pitched a scoreless inning with one hit, no walks and no strikeouts. In the second at-bat of the game, John Siciliano hit a solo shot to left to give Clover Hill a 1-0 lead. Siciliano would add two more in the second with a two out, two run RBI double to the center field wall. “Just seeing balls up, get a good pitch, try to put something in play,” Siciliano said. Derek Shifflett’s two out grounder to short got through in the bottom half of the second, allowing one run to score. With two on in the top of the fourth, Luke Shifflett would rip a single to left to drive in Josh Eberly. Lucas Bauer would do the same to drive in Siciliano and make it 5-1 Bucks. With two on in the top of the sixth, Shifflett doubled to left to add some insurance, and Bauer drove him in to push the lead to 8-1. Bucks pitcher Tyler Conley singled up the middle to extend the lead to 10-1. “Well I haven’t had a ton of at-bats this year, but you know, we come out here, we’re feeling good, trying to put some good swings on some balls,” Conley said. “I actually came out to right field after the first two at-bats, and (former Buck Ty) Bocock gave me some great advice, so (I) went up there and tomahawked one through the infield and good things happened.” With the bases loaded, Josh Eberly was hit to make it a ten run game. After Siciliano grounded into a double play, Kevin Navedo doubled to center to drive in two, making the final score 13-1. The Bucks had thirteen runs on nineteen hits with no errors and ten runners left on base. Siciliano and Shifflett were both 3-5 with three RBIs. Navedo and Bauer were both 3-5 with two RBIs. Conley was 2-5 with two RBIs. Eberly was 1-4 with an RBI. Koice Quintanilla was 2-3 with two walks. TJ Johnson went 2-5. Alex Knicely was 0-2 with a walk. Every Buck in the starting lineup reached base safely. The Reds had a run on five hits with no errors and twelve base runners stranded. Shifflet was 1-4 with an RBI. Chris Huffman was 2-3 with a walk. Jordan Yankey was 2-3. The Reds will hope to bounce back when they host the Elkton Blue Sox on Saturday, July 1 at 7:30 pm. The Bucks will look for their second straight win when they host the Grottoes Cardinals on Saturday, July 1 at 7:30 pm. By Dean Barker In a battle of #1 at #2, the Bridgewater Reds avenged a 10-2 loss last week to the RCBL Shockers, beating them 9-1 on Wednesday, June 28. With the win, the Reds improved to 11-4 and took first place in the RCBL, while the Shockers fell to 9-4, fell into second place, and saw their eight game winning streak come to a close. “They’ll get down, but they’ll come right back and do what they need to do,” Reds assistant coach Dennis Miller said. Derek Shifflett got the win to improve to 4-0, pitching four scoreless innings with three hits, two walks and two strikeouts. Chris Huffman pitched the first four innings, giving up one earned run on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Brett Tharp pitched the ninth inning, giving up an unearned run on one hit with one walk and no strikeouts. “They hit the ball well, I mean they put the ball in play, our defense just made a lot of good plays,” Shifflett said. “Luke (Keister) over there, he had (roughly) four line drives that should’ve been hits that weren’t. He put the ball on the right side of the field all day, we just made plays.” Huffman agreed with Shifflett that the defense was key. “I didn’t really have my best stuff tonight, but you know, just battle through it; you’ve gotta battle through things like that and (I) relied on my defense a little more tonight, and they played really well behind me tonight. Derek and Brett came in and shut the door, so it always helps when you’ve got good pitching coming in behind you.” Kaden Spaid took the loss to fall to 0-1, pitching five innings and giving up seven runs (six earned) on three hits with six walks and four strikeouts. Jaden Click pitched three innings and gave up two earned runs on six hits with no walks and two strikeouts. The Reds got on board in the first, as a two-out grounder to third from Huffman was thrown away, allowing Brett Tharp to score from third. Harrison Madagan and Nick Arnold would double back-to-back in the top of the second to tie it up, although Arnold was thrown out trying to stretch his into a triple. A solo shot from Noah Cornwell made it 2-1 Reds in the bottom of the second. Caden Swartley’s sacrifice fly to left drove in Liam Simpson to extend the Reds lead to 3-1. “It was another 3-0 count, so I had a feeling another fastball was coming, so I don’t want to miss this one,” Cornwell said. “I (swing 3-0) every time, so if it’s there I’m swinging at it.” Caden Swartley and Jordan Yankey hit back-to-back RBI singles to make it 5-1 in the sixth. Tharp was hit with the bases loaded to push the lead to 6-1. Cornwell doubled off the left field wall to make it 8-1. Tharp doubled in the bottom of the eighth, stole third, and came home on a wild throw from the catcher, pushing the lead to 9-1. In the top of the ninth, Bodie Pullen reached on an error at second and Haden Madagan came home for their second run, but that would be all they could push across. The Reds had nine runs on nine hits with three errors and eight runners left on base. Cornwell led the way, going 3-4 with three RBIs. Swartley was 1-3 with two RBIs. Simpson was 2-4. Yankey was 1-4 with an RBI. Tharp was 1-3 with an RBI. Huffman went 1-5. The Shockers had two runs on nine hits with an error and ten base runners stranded. Harrison Madagan was 3-4. Haden Madagan was 2-4. Arnold was 1-4 with an RBI. Connor Houser and Pullen were both 1-4. Frankie Ritter was 1-5. “Kudos to them for coming out after the game we had on Saturday,” Shockers head coach Nolan Potts said. “We beat them pretty good, they came out and responded, they had two big guys on the mound. We knew we were going to see Chris and Derek, and weren’t able to get anything going, but you know, (after an) eight game winning streak, one game’s not going to bring us down, so we’ll get back to it on Friday night.” The Reds will be back in action when they host the Clover Hill Bucks on Friday, June 30 at 7:30 pm. The Shockers will look to bounce back at home against the Broadway Bruins on Friday, June 30 at 7:30 pm. |
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