WESTFIELD – Camfour and ITI were locked close through three and a half innings at 2-1 until Camfour went up to bat in the bottom of the fourth. Camfour was able to add on three runs, all coming with two outs, in order to extend the lead to 5-1.
Camfour never looked back as they earned the 6-3 victory for the Babe Ruth Amanti Cup Championship. Camfour was determined to have the trophy in their hands this season.
“We got eliminated early last year and it was tough but we worked hard this year,” said catcher Tanner Koziol.
Matt Pelletier started off the bottom of the fourth with a walk as ITI pitcher Mikey Hall then threw two consecutive wild pitches to allow Pelletier to take third base. A walk from Adam Garstka then put runners on the corners. David Roundy was able to open up the game with a double to right field which scored both Pelletier and Garstka, tallying the score at 5-1.
Tanner Koziol seen here at the plate. Koziol had two RBI’s in Camfour’s win. (Photo by Kellie Adam)
Camfour was able to increase the lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth. Bryant Keeney hit a hard groundout to third base that was fielded nicely but dropped at first base, with an error resulting on the play. The error allowed Keeney to steal second. Keeney showcased his good speed on the next pitch when he stole third base. Fred Murray drove in Keeney with a groundout to second.
ITI’s best chance came in the top of the 6th inning. Jagger Paroline led off the inning with a walk. Owen Jurczyk grounded out to second but a wild throw from the second basemen allowed Paroline to take third and Jurczyk to reach second.
The bases were then loaded when Tobey Barlow drew a walk. Camfour pitcher Luis Enchategui threw a wild pitch to the backstop that allowed Paroline to score and cut into the lead at 6-2. Walter Figueroa drew yet another walk to load the bases for the second time in the inning. ITI was quickly taking advantage of Enchategui’s struggles.
“He (Luis) had a little trouble finding the plate those first couple of batters in the sixth,” said Manager Jeff Koziol.
Luis Enchategui was one of several Camfour players who were aggressive on the basepaths. (Photo by Kellie Adam)
As the bases were loaded with no outs, Mikey Hall grounded out to short and the force play was made at second which allowed Jurczyk to score and put ITI down just three runs.
Just when it looked like ITI had Camfour and Enchategui on the ropes with runners on the corners and one out, Enchategui was able to get a strikeout and a groundout to end the dangerous threat from ITI and keep the score at 6-3. Enchategui’s ability to hang in there and get the backup from his defense couldn’t have been more important.
“That was huge for us, that was the inning defensively that kind of won the game for us,” said Tanner Koziol.
Koziol and Roundy had two RBI’s each in different innings to really help spark the Camfour offense.
A key aspect to setting up a lot of the runs for Camfour was being aggressive on the basepaths. Camfour had 13 steals in total.
“The more pressure we put on the other team, the more mistakes their probably going to make,” said Tanner Koziol. “The more mistakes they make, the more we can capitalize and get runs.”
Aiden Burke pitched four strong innings for Camfour as he allowed just three hits and one run. Enchategui was able to finish off the last two innings of the game while Jack Lamirande pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Burke.
Camfour is seen right after the game holding the Amanti Cup trophy. (Photo by Kellie Adam)
Mike Hall pitched four innings, giving up three runs, three walks, while getting three punchouts. The ability to get runs off Hall was another important situation for Camfour.
“Three runs off Mike Hall is huge because he’s an all-star pitcher and we were pleased with what we got off of him today,” said Manager Koziol.
The victory for Camfour couldn’t have been sweeter for the players and the coaching staff.
“We’ve never won an Amanti Cup Championship so this is something special,” said Manager Jeff Koziol. “This is kind of my last year coaching in Babe Ruth and it was just kind of a nice way to go out.”
