MOUNT VERNON — It turned out to be a productive weekend, albeit a little longer one, for the Mount Vernon All-Stars. Hosting the 2010 Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament at Memorial Park, Mount Vernon successfully defended its home field against the Springfield Warhawks in a best-of-3 series.
Mount Vernon, which took Game 1 on Friday night, fell in Game 2, 4-2, but came back with a vengeance in Game 3 and pounded Springfield, 17-1, to win the title. With the victory, Mount Vernon also won the automatic bid to the 16- to 18-year-old Babe Ruth World Series, which will be held in Newark next month.
“This is huge,” said Mount Vernon coach Rahn Wilson. “This is the first 16- to 18-year-old team to have this opportunity and we were able to do it. That speaks of the quality of players and talent in our league. The system in Mount Vernon is bar none. We didn’t do this by trial and error. We won it in our first opportunity.”
In Game 2, Mount Vernon nearly outplayed Springfield, picking up seven hits and turning three double plays, but the Warhawks managed the victory. They got a strong pitching performance from Blake Blazer, who pitched seven strong innings. He walked three and struck out six.
Springfield jumped on Mount Vernon starter Mike Moreland right from the start, posting a run in the bottom of the first. Mount Vernon got the run back in the top of the third, as Jordan Radel scored on an RBI groundout by Willie Gallagher. Radel finished with two singles in the game and Gallagher also had a single.
jhuddleston@mountvernonnews.com
