Pamby Beats Planet Pizza in Babe Ruth 13 Prep

The Ridgefield Babe Ruth 13 Prep season concluded on beautiful Friday night at Playground Field in a much anticipated game between the top-seeded Planet Pizza and second-seeded Pamby Motors.   

Pamby topped Planet Pizza 5-2.

The game started with Giffin Jones on the mound for Planet Pizza and Adam Kelemen (my son) up at bat in the lead off spot for Pamby. Kelemen, as he did all season, worked the count to his advantage and reached base on a walk. With Pamby playing aggressive, Kelemen was able to reach third on consecutive steals.  

Ben Peters then plated Kelemen with the first hit of the game, and Pamby took an early lead.

A sacrifice by Craig Burke allowed Peters to take third and threaten Planet once again. Pamby continued to make Jones work on the mound as Doug Goldstone scratched out another walk. He immediately took second. Then  Zach Black came up and put the ball in play with a hot shot to short and an error by the short stop allowed Black to reach first, Peters to score from third and Goldstone to advance to third.   

A walk to Julian Trozzi on a full count pitch loaded the bases for the hot hitting Robbie Fornshell. Never finding the pitch in the zone he was looking for, Fornshell worked out a walk for an RBI and plated Goldstone for the third run of the inning.  

With bases still loaded, Planet first baseman and pitcher Bret Susser took the mound. Looking to see if Susser had found the strike zone, James Piniella patiently worked out a walk and plated Black for the fourth and final run of the inning.

Pamby, looking to keep Planet back, started the bottom of the first with strike-throwing Julian Trozzi on the mound. Trozzi quickly asserted himself, striking out the first two Planet batters. Then Matt Mead rapped a single into the gap in right center for the first Planet hit of the game.  

Trozzi recorded the third out of the inning when clean up hitter Jones tapped back to the mound.

With Susser back on the mound to start the second inning, Pamby once again found themselves with their leadoff man, Kelemen, back on base and running. But this time, a perfect throw by Mead and a well placed tag by Zach Fogg resulted in the first out of the inning at third. Peters then singled for his second hit of the game. When Burke walked, Pamby looked to threaten again. But Susser worked effeciently, getting both Goldstone and Mike Latorreto out to end any threat.  

Trozzi returned for his second inning of work. Then, in the top of the third, Trozzi's first hit of the day put some pressure on the Planet pitching staff.  However, a fielder's choice and ground out ended any hope of Pamby's extending their lead.   

The bottom of the third saw the first real threat for Pamby, after a walk to Owen Isely and a hit by Alex Madore made it seem that Planet might punch in their first run. But the next batter, Tom Redmond, grounded out. Trozzi would leave the game having pitched for three innings giving up no runs and only two hits.  

The fourth inning saw pitching changes for both teams. Alex Madore came in for Planet and only allowed a walk to Kelemen, who moved to third  on steals. Facing both Peters and Burke with a runner in scoring position, Madore was able to get Pamby batters to fly out and ground out.

The bottom of the fourth saw Peters enter for Pamby to face the top of the order for Planet. A battle ensued as Fogg worked the count to his advantage and walked to put the lead-off runner on for the first time in the game for Planet. Fogg then moved into scoring position with a steal of second and when Mead rapped his second base hit of the game, Fogg scored, giving Planet its first run.   

Jones then singled, extending the Planet threat and putting runners on first and third. Peters, working to hold back Planet, got Susser to ground out to short, scoring Mead to bring Planet within two runs. Paul Garlick then came to bat, scorching a ground ball to second that was snagged by Fornshell in the defensive play of the game, who then tossed the ball to Latorreto end the threat in the fourth.  

Madore stayed on the mound to pitch the fifth. He once again kept the lead off man off base, only giving up a long single in the gap to LaTorre. With momenutum clearly on their side, Planet came to bat in the bottom of the fifth. Needing to make a tough decision, Pamby Manager Ray Piniella and Coach Steve Black decided to hand the ball over to their closer, Doug Goldstone, to pitch the final three innings.  

The decision looked wise as Goldstone collected the first two outs of the inning on strike outs. However, Planet didn't go down without a fight, working out back to back two walks for Isely and Mortinger. With a runner in scoring position again, Goldstone settled back in and got Madore to strike out.

At the start of the sixth, Planet called upon Mead to finish out pitching the game. Not wanting to get deep in the count with Mead, Fornshell took an early pitch and laced it to left field for lead off double. Facing down Mead, the coaches asked David Mason to lay down a bunt. Executed to perfection, Mason dropped down a bunt in no man's land to notch his first hit of the game. Fornshell was able to score after the ball was misplayed at first, making the score 5 to 2 with Pamby in the lead. Pamby was able to put some additional pressure on Planet after Peters worked out a walk, advancing Mason to second. But Mead jammed Burke on an inside pitch and he popped out to third to end the inning.

The bottom of the inning started out promising for Planet as Tom Redmond dropped in a single over the second baseman's head to get the lead off runner on. Goldstone worked quickly to strike out Fogg and got Jack Maydan out at first. Mead, who had put the ball in play in all his at bats, reached on error to put Jones at the plate as the tying run.  

An epic battle ensued, with closer vs. clean-up hitter and Goldstone winning the battle with a strike-out of Jones to end the sixth. 

The final inning saw Pamby holding onto a 5-2 lead but looking to add some insurance runs. With Latorre reaching on a walk, it looked like Pamby was back in action, but a fielder's choice erased Latorre at  second. Trozzi would notch his second hit of the game, but any chance of threat would end when Fornshell lined out to third to end the inning.  

Planet's hope for a rally looked promising as the inning started with back-to-back singles by Susser and Garlick. With the tying runs heading to the plate and the go ahead run on deck, Planet sensed a potential comeback, but Pamby trusted that their closer would bring home the victory. With two on no out, Goldstone went back to work striking out Lutz, Andrei and Isely to end any chance of a Planet comeback. 

With the final out, Cavan Briody—who was nursing a season-ending injury—rushed out meet his teammates, who celebrated the hard fought championship at the pitchers mound.