Babe Ruth teams head to Ohio Valley Regional
Jul. 18—The Beckley Babe Ruth League crowned its annual Bambino champion last week, the tournament named with an obvious nod to the baseball legend.
Several members of the final two teams — champion ServPro and Chick-fil-A — have their sights set on winning another championship this week.
The league's 13- and 14-year-old all-star teams will vie for Ohio Valley Regional championships, albeit at different destinations. The 13-year-olds left early Tuesday for the 660-mile trip to Janesville, Wis. The 14s will be making a more manageable jaunt to Lexington, Ky.
Both tournaments will begin with pool play on Thursday.
The 13-year-old tournament will only have one pool made of seven teams. Beckley, coached by Rick Barbero, Chris Farrish and Donald Varney, will take on the Crown Point (Ind.) Dogs at 1:30 p.m., then face host Janesville at 6:30 p.m. Both times are Eastern.
All teams will advance to single elimination bracket play on Saturday. The championship game is set for Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
The 14-year-old tournament will have three pools of three teams. Beckley, coached by Jamie Wilhite, Gary Gray and Robert Williams, will kick the whole thing Thursday at 9 a.m. against Plainfield, Ind. The second game of pool play will be Friday at 4:30 p.m. against Lexington.
The teams will then be seeded 1 through 9 on Saturday for single elimination. The champion will be decided Sunday at 2 p.m.
The winners will go to the Babe Ruth World Series. The 13s will go to Glen Allen, Va., Aug. 10-20, while the 14s will play in Stafford/Fredericksburg, Va., Aug. 3-13.
The Beckley 13s are made up of Kaleb Barbero, Owen Brown, Kolton Eades, Preston Eades, Anderson Eades, Will Farrish, Johnathan Moore, Blake Pugalee, Kyler Quesenberry, Collin Howell, Jacob Varney and Ben Ziolkowski.
Playing for the 14s are Jaxon Adams, Jacob Claypool, Jackson Gray, Brayden Keith, Grant Lawson, Austin Long, Gage Price, Shawn Tyree, Tyler Wilhite, Brady Williams, Degan Williams and Justin Williams.
Several local businesses and individuals have made donations to the league to help fund the teams' trips.
The 14s advanced to regional play by defeating Huntington in a best-of-3 tournament. Beckley won the first game 6-0 before dropping Game 2 12-1. A 12-3 win the next day wrapped up the tournament.
The 13s qualified without playing a game. Huntington forfeited, sending Beckley to regional play without having any on-field experience together. However, the 14s and 13s played a scrimmage Sunday evening.
ServPro, the No. 3 seed in The Bambino, defeated No. 1 Chick-fil-A 12-2 in five innings last Friday to win the championship. Maddex Sims had two doubles as part of a 4-for-4 day for ServPro. Parker Williams drove in two runs.
Williams was also the winning pitcher, surrendering four hits and two earned runs over five innings. He struck out four and walked five.
Several players on the field that night are now all-stars: Will Farrish (ServPro, 13), Kolton Eades (ServPro, 13), Preston Eades (ServPro, 13), Tyler Wilhite (Chick-fil-A, 14), Austin Long (Chick-fil-A, 14), Jaxon Adams (Chick-fil-A, 14), Gage Price (Chick-fil-A, 14) and Blake Pugalee (Chick-fil-A, 13).
