Countryside Cougars Roll Past River Ridge at Dunedin Spring Classic

It was a pitcher’s duel all the way.

River Ridge’s starting pitcher Thomas Peterson gave up a couple runs in the first inning off of an Eric Russel single to center field. After that, runs were hard to come by.

Countryside eventually beat River Ridge 4-1 Tuesday night to advance to the winner's bracket. They play East Lake today.

Both starting pitchers Peterson of River Ridge and Dominic Monda of Countryside had great games. Peterson pitched six innings, stricking out nine and giving up three runs. Monda pitched a complete seven innings, punching out 13 batters and giving up only one run.

However, Monda was able to get himself out of tricky spots while Peterson was not.

“He’s a battler,” Countryside coach Kemo O’Sullivan said of Monda. “We know that when he gets guys on base he bears down and he’s gonna bring it.”

And Monda brought it.

In the bottom of the second inning, he walked the first two batters and they both stole bases. Monda was looking at runners on second and third with no outs. He came back and struck out the next three batters in a row.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the first two batters reached base and moved over to second and third. Again, Monda faced runners on second and third with no outs. After getting Joseph Schiro to ground out, Monda struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

Peterson pitched very well for the Knights but the hyper-aggressive base-running for the Cougars made the difference in the game.

Vinny Ballantoni of Countryside was on a crime spree. He was hit by a pitch his first at bat. Then he stole second base and tagged up to reach third. Ballantoni would be the first run across for the Cougars. He reached first base again in the fifth inning, stole second base and zipped over to third on a sacrifice. He got a single in the seventh, reached second base on a wild pitch, then stole third base. He would eventually score the last run of the game for the Cougars.

“We scouted River Ridge a little bit and we knew that they were gonna struggle behind the plate… so we went after them,” O’Sullivan said.

Base running was not a problem for River Ridge. Their problem was bringing them in. They stranded seven runners on base, six of them in scoring position.

“It’s been an ongoing problem for us this year, bringing runners in,” said River Ridge coach Jack Homko.

On deck:

The Cougars move into the winner’s bracket and play East Lake today at 5 p.m. on field five.