Published: July 03, 2008 01:20 am            

DISTRICT V: New Albany 9-10 baseball earns big victory

Ricky West is a big kid for his age. And he hits like it, too

The New Albany 9-10-year-old All-Star warmed up by hitting a couple of towering foul balls before connecting on a three-run home run to put the punctuation mark his team’s 19-3 victory over Silver Creek in Wednesday’s pool-play matchup at Charlestown Little League Park.

New Albany (2-0) actually trailed after two innings before ripping off the game’s last 17 runs, including 13 in the top of the fifth.

“This team seems to have trouble getting started early,” said New Albany coach John Striegel. “We’ll have to do something about that.”

But once the New Albany bats got going, there was little that Silver Creek (0-2) could do.

Down 3-2, New Albany finally got to Silver Creek starter Logan Murphy, although it wasn’t in the conventional way. West hit a sharp line drive directly into the opposing pitcher, who crumpled to the ground. After a short trip to the bench, Murphy surprisingly returned, but promptly gave up singles to West and Cal White.

“I’m not taking anything away from their pitcher,” Striegel said of Murphy. “He pitched a great game. It took us a couple of innings to catch up with him. He’s got a lot of heart.”

Cory Ogden reached on an error that scored New Albany’s tying run. Two batters later, a wild pitch allowed a run to score that gave New Albany a lead it would not lose. Matt Sogge later added a two-run double for a 6-3 advantage.

Silver Creek catcher Bret Aria delivered a deep single to the fence in the fourth, but that represented his team’s only offense until the fifth and final frame.

“I just told them I don’t want to see any heads hanging, because the kids kept fighting,” said Silver Creek coach Chris Aria.

The outcome was still in doubt when the New Albany stars opened the fifth, but it didn’t take long to get out of hand. New Albany batted went through three Silver Creek pitchers, belting hit after hit. That included back-to-back two-run doubles by Ogden and Justin Striegel, followed by a single from Timmy Redford.

After Dylan Chandler drew a walk, an RBI single by Levi Fisher loaded the bases for West.

“He’s one of our leaders,” said Striegel. “He motivates our team and gets us fired up and we use that. He’s got a good glove, and he’s got a good stick, too.”

Earlier, West had fired off a foul ball that cleared the field and landed in the outfield of an adjoining park after just curving out of fair territory. This time he left no doubt, crushing the ball to right-center field for the final New Albany runs.

West also came in to pitch the bottom of the fifth, striking out Ryan Baker before struggling against the next two hitters, ultimately issuing walks.

“We kept battling,” Chris Aria said. “Like we did against their pitcher in the last inning. We made him work.”

New Albany will meet Jeff/GRC at 8 p.m. on Monday, while Silver Creek will return to action on Tuesday, when it tries to get its first District V win against Clarksville at 5:30 p.m.





DISTRICT V NOTEBOOK

11 BASEBALL

• Wednesday saw two more pool-play contests in the division, with Jeff/GRC rolling past Silver Creek 14-8 and tourney host Charlestown taking down New Albany, 14-8.

Hunter Cartwright pitched Charlestown to victory, also hitting a triple.



13-14 BASEBALL

• HYR improved to 2-0 in a big way, crushing Clarksville 18-2.

Garrett Shanks went 4-for-5 with four runs, and two RBIs in the victory for HYR, also belting two doubles. Shanks’ teammate Conner Schellenburg also delivered at the plate for HYR, going 3-for-3 with a double, a triple and two runs scored.

Sean Smith had a double and scored a run for Clarksville, which dropped to 0-2.



11-12 SOFTBALL

• Silver Creek moved into a three-way tie for first place in the division with a narrow 2-0 victory over Charlestown.

Meanwhile, Clarksville suffered its first loss in District V play on Wednesday, falling to 2-1 after a 9-2 defeat at the hands of Jeff/GRC. Silver Creek, Clarksville and HYR are each at the top of the standings at 2-1, with Jeff/GRC just off the pace at 2-2.

Shayla Cravens pitched Silver Creek to victory, tossing a complete-game three-hitter. She also had nine strikeouts.

Charlestown starter Cassie Martin nearly kept pace, surrendering only one hit and one earned run with four strikeouts in the loss.

Emily Gray was the winning pitcher for Jeff/GRC, notching six strikeouts. She received plenty of support from Courtney Shepard, who went 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

Ariel Oehler went 2-for-3 in the loss for Clarksville.

        

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