High Plains 15U Babe Ruth Wins Area 1 for a State Berth
July 23, 2004
The boys High Plains 15U Babe Ruth team played their area tournament in Rockyford placing second overall but winning the area 1 title and advancing to state which will be the 23rd – 26th in Gunnison.
High Plains opened the tournament against the host team, Santa Fe, winning 5-1. The game was closer than the final score indicated as neither team scored through 4 innings of play. In the bottom of the 5th, SF scored one unearned run. After a scoreless 6th, HP found themselves still down by one run going into the 7th. HP finally kicked into gear scoring 5 runs. Matt Seay and Kevin Lindholm reached on walks and with one out, Kellen Sramek, had an RBI single bringing in Seay to tie the game. It looked like that might be all HP could muster after a hit into left field was caught for 2 away. But, Wes Richardson reached on an error scoring Lindholm. Sramek came home on a wild pitch. Jacob Buck decided to keep the streak going with a tremendous triple that scored Richardson. Josh Crow reached on a walk and Denton Talbert had an RBI single that scored Buck. That would be it for HP but those 5 runs were more than enough. The first batter for SF grounded out and Demetrius Gilmore, the winning pitcher for HP, struck out the last 2 batters.
Jacob Buck and Wes Richardson were on the mound for HP the next game, which was against Fremont County. Both pitched very well with Buck allowing one hit and Richardson allowing 2. Neither pitcher allowed an earned run. FC’s only run came from an error. HP scored 11 runs off of 2 singles each by Lindholm, Buck, and Gilmore, and a single each from J. R. Miller and Richardson. Final score HP 11, FC 1.
East Central West proved to be a tough team and made for another exciting game. After 5, HP was down 3-1. With doubles by Gilmore and Richardson in the 6th and a couple of errors, HP tied it up 3-3. In the top of the inning, ECW scored one run and HP was down by 1 going into the bottom of the 7th. It didn’t look good for the home team as the first 2 batters struck out. HP wasn’t finished yet. Sramek, Gilmore and Justin Horn walked. So, the stage was set, bases loaded, 2 outs and Richardson was at the plate. A full count came all too quickly and we were down to 1 pitch. With runners going, Richardson hit a single into right field scoring Sramek and Gilmore and HP was assured a place on the bracket for state with this 5-4 win.
After a day off, HP came back Monday night to face LaJunta who had to win their way back through the losers bracket after losing to ECW earlier in the tournament. After avenging their loss to ECW with a decisive 14-3 win, LJ seemed to be on a roll. HP worked hard through 5 innings with no errors and the score was tied 3-3. HP’s 3 runs came in the 2nd with a single from Gilmore and walks from Horn, A.J. Bolin and Seay and Talbert reached on a fielder’s choice scoring Gilmore. Lindholm had an RBI single scoring Horn and Talbert came home on a passed ball. During the rest of the game, Lindholm, Sramek, Gilmore and Miller each had singles and Horn had a double but HP couldn’t capitalize on those hits stranding 6 runners total. Defensively, HP had 5 errors in the last 2 innings and LJ scored 13 runs defeating HP 15-3. For the next game, Sramek, Gilmore, Richardson, and Miller all had singles and Talbert had 2 doubles but HP again couldn’t take advantage of these hits stranding 7 runners and scoring 2. LJ scored 7 runs in the 3rd and HP couldn’t seem to recover losing 11-2.