West End suffers pool play loss at Babe Ruth regionals

Jake Williams did his job on the mound. He allowed just six hits and struck out five batters in six innings of work.

But the big spark Williams supplied was with his bat. Williams ripped a two-RBI single in the third inning that gave his team a 3-2 lead. Williams and Charles County, Md., used a big third and fourth inning en route to a 10-5 win over West End in the Age 13 Babe Ruth Middle-Atlantic Regionals Friday at Logue Field.

Maryland did nearly all of its damage in those two innings, collecting nine of its 10 runs and seven of its 10 hits.

Maryland trailed 2-0 entering the top of the third and No. 9 hitter Ryan Bruce got hit by a pitch and later scored on a bases-loaded walk. With the bases still full, Charles County delivered the big blow that West End didn't counter.

"I guess we just had a spark," said Maryland manager Jason Williams. "Sometimes one kid gets a hit and things happen. It's a good group of kids. They keep working hard and as long as they keep their heads right and stay confident I think they can do great things."

Maryland loaded the bases to start the fourth inning, and after Kevin Hodgson was hit by a pitch, Connor Welch drove home a run on an infield single. Williams scored on an error and Bruce brought a run home with a hit to center.

West End, 8-2 winners over Chichester in Thursday's tournament opener, committed all four of its errors in those two big innings.

"What happened was when our starting pitcher got hurt, he was really hurting bad, and came out, we kind of lost our focus a little bit," said West End manager George Lepley. "And I also think that us as coaches lost our focus. Maybe we should've made more pitching changes quicker than we did, if we do that maybe we keep the game closer and have a whole different outcome."

Ryan Orgitano hit a shot back up the middle in the first inning to score two runs and give West End a 2-0 lead but couldn't get much more going against Williams.

Williams needed 29 pitches to get through the first inning but was in control for the next five. He allowed just two more runs and five hits after the first frame.

"He's a rhythm-type pitcher," said Jason Williams. "It takes him a little time to get settled in but once he does he goes off his rhythm. He did settle in and kept them a little bit off balanced I think."

The Maryland team plays this afternoon at 2 p.m. at Logue Field against Chichester. Maryland topped Millburn, N.J. Thursday in its opening game.

Jimmy Webb enjoyed a strong offensive day for West End, going 2-for-3 with a triple. West End gets a day off today and is back in action Sunday at 5 p.m. at Winder against Millburn.

The team recently won the first ever state championship for West End last Saturday.

"I'm really confident we'll bounce back," Lepley said. "I'm going to give them the whole day off. They're not going to do anything except whatever they want to do that day, get their minds in the right frame."

Maryland004 501 0- 10 10 1

Williamsport201 010 0- 4 7 4

Jake Williams, Ryan Bruce (7) and Justin Craft, Armando Rivera (7). Kyle Datres, Ethan Moore (3), Jim Webb (3), Robbie Klein (5) and Joey Cassidy, Tyler Gardner (6). W-Williams. L-Moore

Top Maryland hitters: Alex Calvert, 2-3; Williams, 3-4; Kevin Hodgson, 2 RBI; Connor Welch, RBI; Jack Hennessy, RBI; Bruce, RBI. Top Williamsport hitters: Webb, 2-3, 3b, 3 runs; Owen Lukens, RBI; Moore, 2 RBI; Ryan Orgitano, 2-3, 2 RBI.