Williamsburg 12's Capture 3rd Straight Cal Ripken Title

By Kevin Hughes Saturday, July 24, 2010

Good teams are made up of multiple players who work well together.  For the third year in a row, the Williamsburg Wolfpack earned the title of Cal Ripken State Champion because of a total team effort.

The squad defeated All Star teams from Peachtree, Winchester, and Glen Allen to earn the title.  Christopher Jones had 6 hits, including 2 HRs and a double, to earn recognition as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

In the first game of the tournament, a 10-0 victory over the Peachtree team, Jones hit a 2-run homerun in the first inning to give the local boys the early lead.  After Cole Jones added an RBI sacrifice fly, Braden Ricks broken open the game with a 2-RBI single.  Christopher Jones belted his second 2-run homerun and Luke Bruce added an RBI single in the 4th inning to put the game away.

The squad also got a double from 2-time state tournament MVP Reeves Trott and hits from Austin Cohn and Evan Lowery.  Sean Hughes walked three times, scoring twice, and Roger Romero also scored.  The team got a strong pitching performance from the trio of Cole Jones, Ryan Mason, and Bruce, who combined to yield only 3 hits in shutting out the opposition.  A dazzling double play involving Trott, Noah Scruggs, and Kent Klyman provided defensive highlights.

Braden Ricks started the game-winning rally with a single in the 7th, advanced to third on a hit by Trott, and scored the game winning run on a passed ball with 2 outs.  The team needed strong defense and pitching to win the game.  Evan Lowery, Romero, and Cole Jones combined for a crucial double play to end an inning in which Winchester had the bases loaded with nobody out. They also got a good performance from starter Kent Klyman, who struck out 5 in 6 innings of work, yielding 2 earned runs.  Trott earned the victory in relief with 1 inning of no-hit baseball.

Ryan Mason and Trott combined to slam the door in the 6th inning.  Offensively, Sean Hughes drove in the first run of the game with a bases loaded single and Austin Cohn had a 2 RBI double to give the team a lead it would never relinquish.  Romero added an RBI single, Scruggs scored, and Ricks and Lowery both picked up key hits.  In addition to the triple play, the team got back to back stellar defensive plays from Romero and Hughes in the 5th, with both bare-handing balls and throwing out runners on the move.

The championship game was a rematch with Glen Allen.  Klyman was again dazzling on the mound, striking out 5 and surrendering 4 hits and 1 run in the 9-1 victory.  Christopher Jones had 3 hits, including a double, to lead the offense.  Austin Cohn hit a monster HR deep into CF to tie the game at 1 in the 2nd inning.  After Klyman and Cole Jones picked up back to back hits, Evan Lowery and Braden Ricks had RBI singles and Trott added an RBI sacrifice fly to break open the game.

Hughes and Bruce added RBI singles and Romero capped the scoring with a single to drive in two runs in the 5th.  Jones crowned his MVP performance by throwing out a runner at 3b with a great tag by Hughes. The team turned in a double play for the 4th straight game and Cole Jones made a lunging snare of a line drive to highlight the defense.