Rockies Claim AAA Championship

The following article was provided by Marblehead Youth Baseball:

The 2011 AAA Championship Game featured the Rockies and Pirates.

The teams' respective starting pitchers Adam Sherf and Jacob Bornstein kept the game scoreless through the first two innings.

Bornstein struck out four of the first eight Rockies batters, including two strikeouts in the 2^nd inning which left Rockies runners stranded at second and third base.  Sherf was aided by a nice catch by center fielder, Paul Heffernan on a well hit ball by Bornstein to end the 1^st inning. Sherf helped himself in the 2^nd inning by setting the Pirates down in order with two comebackers to the mound and a strikeout.

The Pirates drew first blood in the top of the 3^rd inning after Charles Alexander singled, stole second and third; and came home on an overthrow into left field.  Sherf closed the door on further Pirates scoring with two strikeouts and another comebacker.

Bornstein took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the 3^rd  inning, but got into trouble by walking the leadoff hitter, Alex Bull, and giving up a double that was rocketed down the left field line by Mason Quintero.  With runners now on second and third base, Bornstein buckled down to strikeout the next two Rockies batters. With two outs and the top of the order coming up, Bornstein was looking to make Sherf a strikeout victim in order to preserve the Pirates slim lead. With two strikes, Sherf battled off four consecutive pitches for foul balls before delivering an RBI single to center field knocking in Bull.  The Rockies two out rally continued when Jacob Garfield got the game winning RBI's  by driving a 0-1 pitch to right center scoring Quintero and Sherf.   Bornstein avoided further damage by striking out another Rockies hitter and stranding Garfield at third base to end the 3^rd inning.

The Rockies turned to Finn Keaney to close out the game and protect the 3-1 lead.  Keaney took the mound in the 4^th inning as the loudspeaker was blaring I'm Shipping Up to Boston and Keaney responded in Papelbon like fashion.  Keaney dominated the Pirates by setting them down in order in the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th  innings--striking out seven of the nine batters he faced.  Keaney was aided in the 4^th inning by a good catch in right field by Quintero off the bat of Pirates slugger, Chris Gally.  The Rockies provided Keaney with two insurance runs in the 5^th inning off Pirates pitchers Charlie Suhr and Joey Ferrucci when Quintero and Zach DePaulo scored on consecutive passed balls to make it a final score of 5-1.

The Rockies road to the Championship was based on pitching, defense and timely hitting.  In the quarterfinals, the Rockies pitchers Adam Sherf and Finn Keaney teamed up to outduel Twins pitchers Ryan Dombal and Leo Fobert for a 2-1 victory.  Mason Friedman played great defense for the Rockies.  A 1-1 tie was broken in the bottom of the 6^th inning by a leadoff double by Bull followed by a steal of third base and a hard hit ball in the infield by DePaulo which resulted in a walk-off victory for the Rockies.

In the semi-finals, Rockies pitchers Charles Ahern and Joseph Dever shut out the Mariners 2-0 in a well played defensive game by both teams.  Mariners' pitchers Spencer Perkins and Griffin Kramer were supported by sure fielding from Ethan Cole, Graham Harney and Griffin Worth.  The defensive play of the game was turned by Rockies centerfielder Brian Vaughn hitting cutoff man Henry Jalbert who relayed it to catcher Jacob Garfield to cut a runner down at the plate and preserve the shut out in the 6^th inning.