West Raleigh is one victory from a second consecutive Cal Ripken World Series 10-and-under championship.
The West Raleigh Baseball Association 10U All-Star Team rolled to a 10-0 victory over Pacific Northwest champion West Linn (Ore.) in the Cal Ripken 10U World Series at Lamar, Colo., on Thursday night.
The winners' bracket semifinals victory sends West Raleigh, the Southeast Regional champion, to Saturday's national championship game, which will start at approximately 1 p.m. Eastern time.
West Raleigh, the only undefeated team remaining, will play either West Linn or Danbury. Those teams were to meet in the losers' bracket final on Friday.
West Raleigh needs one victory to win the championship; West Linn or Danbury would have to defeat West Raleigh twice to take the title. Follow the action live.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth inning of Thursday's game, Connor Munz hit a triple to drive in three runs during a six-run outburst. The game was called after four innings because of the 10-run rule.
"Every spot in the order got on base today. That was important," West Raleigh scorekeeper and
parent Gary Feder said by cell phone after the game as happy players and their families celebrated nearby.
Great pitching also helped, Feder said. One of the highlights came from Andrew Buchholz. In the second inning, the right-hander got into a bases-loaded jam but got out of it with his third strikeout of the inning to preserve a 1-0 West Raleigh lead.
The team also played "great defense through and through," Feder said.
West Raleigh opened the tournament by defeating Southwest Regional champion Benton (Ark.) 15-2 on Aug. 15, then won 3-0 over Midwest Plains champion Waite Park (Minn.) on Aug. 16. On Aug. 17, West Raleigh, sparked by a three-run first inning, defeated New England champion Danbury (Conn.) 4-2 to reach the semifinals game.
With Friday off, the North Carolinians plan an outing to try a
Colorado barbecue dinner and to relax at a community pool. They'll also
take time to watch the game between West Linn and Danbury, Feder said, "because
there's never enough baseball."
LOOKING BACK: Last year's West Raleigh 10U All-Star Team won the Cal Ripken Baseball World Series played Abbeville, La., capping a perfect 34-0 summer All-Star season. The team defeated Buchanan, Calif., in the championship game 3-2 with a thrilling two-out, two-RBI single in the top of the sixth inning to rally back from a 2-0 deficit.
