GC Baseball: Kerens' Ritchie Twins D-000-000-0-minate Cross Roads
Apr. 18—CROSS ROADS — It's a fair statement to say the Cross Roads Bobcats have seen more than enough of the Kerens pitchers.
Unfortunately for Cross Roads, the CR batters never got a good look at the pitches.
In a devastating display of pitching Wednesday, the Ritchie Twins — Krayton and Kannon — blew Cross Roads away, sweeping a doubleheader on the road with two brilliant performances.
Krayton threw a perfect game, no runs, no hits, no walks and not even an error, putting up nothing but zeroes in a seven-inning 3-0 masterpiece that he could frame and hang in the Ritchie den at home.
It wasn't just perfection.
It was complete domination.
The Cross Roads batters couldn't even get a reservation at first base, let alone arrive there. It was 21-up and 21-down as Krayton sent 21 batters in a row back to the dugout, and 16 of them left the plate shaking their heads after striking out.
There's more:
Krayton needed only 86 pitches, including foul balls, and 61 of the 86 were strikes, meaning he averaged only about four pitches (4.09) a batter for the game. Maybe the Ritchies will need a couple of new frames for the den ...
Kerens' 3-0 victory must have felt like 30-0 to Cross Roads, but Cole Lancaster's team has been making every district team feel that way, outscoring district opponents 102-2 while putting together an 8-0 record.
Neches, the only district team to find the plate against Kerens, scored two runs on March 19 in an 11-2 loss. No one has scored on Kerens or the Ritchie Twins since.
Lane Lynch went 1-for-2 with a double and drove in a run, Matt Rickard went 1-for-3, scored and drove in a run and Ryan Priddy went 1-for-2 and drove in a run. Kooper Hill and Adrian Solis both had hits and scored.
Kannon Ritchie was almost as tough on Cross Roads in a 16-0 romp to sweep Wednesday's doubleheader. Kannon allowed just two singles while striking out 10 in a four-inning-Mercy Rule victory as the Ritchie Twins combined to give up just two singles while striking out 26 over 11 innings in back-to-back shutouts.
Kerens made it look easy in the Mercy Rule game, scoring two runs in the first, two in the second and three in the third before putting the game away with a seven-run fourth. Kerens had only six hits but took advantage of 13 walks to literally walk away with the doubleheader sweep.
Lynch led the way, going 2-for-3 with a double and driving in three runs, Rickard went 2-for-3, scored twice and drove in a run with a sac fly, and Kannon Ritchie went 1-for-2 with a double and drove in two runs. Conklin and Solis both scored and drove in a run
