AUGUST 21, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY RON FOX
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The Ridgewood Raiders’ bats were quieted only once in five games during their successful run to the USA East Regional U14 championship. They rebounded quickly and emphatically from that one mishap to stamp their tickets to the Junior Baseball World Series in Taylor, Mich. that began Sunday.
It is the first time a Ridgewood team has reached a World Series in any age group since 1979.
The World Series field consists of five U.S. teams, including Ridgewood, and five international squads. The Raiders’ schedule featured Pearl City, Hawaii (West Region champion) on Sunday; Johnson, Iowa (Central) on Tuesday; Weslaco, Texas (Southwest) on Wednesday; and Frederick County National East, Va. (Southeast) on Thursday.
A champion will be crowned this Sunday, provided the weather holds up during the weeklong, double-elimination tournament.
Ridgewood routed Great Valley, the Pennsylvania champ, 8-1, on Aug. 13 to take the East Region title after losing the previous day to the same team, 2-1.
“That was a clean game with great pitching,” Raiders biographer Steve Facini said over the weekend. With head coach Marc Favieri and his assistants off to Michigan for the World Series’ start, Facini served as team spokesman.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/village-fields-1st-world-series-team-since-1979-1.1395992
The coaches on this team do a great job……and the kids are unflappable.
Three way tie for second place after pool play at 2 wins and 2 losses, Ridgewood apparently had too many RA (runs against their defense) so they were bumped out of the championship game and down to fourth place. Oh well, at least they beat Southeast 6-1, and Southeast was one of the two teams that advanced to the U.S. Championship game. They were scheduled to play a consolation game against an international team.