Big Dance Hits Little Ridge Manor

Today marks the start of the biggest event in the history of the Ridge Manor Dixie Youth League.

Appropriately, the host team from Ridge Manor will take on cross-county rival Spring Hill American at 11 a.m. today at Ridge Manor Community Park.

With that, the AAA Majors (ages 11-12) All-Stars State Tournament will get underway, with 10 more teams from across the state taking part in five games on the first day of this double-elimination event.

The winner goes on to the World Series beginning Aug. 4 in LaGrange, Ga.

"We're very excited about having all this talent come to our park," said Troy Thompson, league president for Ridge Manor and the tournament director. "We've got to put East Hernando County on the map.

"The county has been a big support, getting the park ready. We're doing it for a challenge, to help raise some money so we can buy some new equipment."

After having no all-star wins at any age level prior to last year, Ridge Manor has won a handful of games at the T-Ball (ages 5-6) and AA Rookies (ages 7-8) levels the past two seasons.

Hosting this tournament establishes another benchmark in the building up of this small-town program.

"Hopefully it brings some economic benefit, because we are a small community," said Scott Ulery, head coach of the Ridge Manor All-Stars. "Other leagues in our district have larger populations to choose from.

"To have this opportunity to have a State Tournament come to Ridge Manor, it brings attention to us and our community."

Waiting to play

Ulery will bring a team to the field consisting of Marshall Aske, Nate Avalos, Kevin Bard, Adam Buckner, John Bryant, Kayla Carter, Barry Chadwell, Casy Gillespie, Ray Linville, Pete Mobley, Bobby Smith and Austin Sullivan.

This will be the second all-star team from Ridge Manor to ever participate in a State Tournament. Last season, Ridge Manor fielded a Pre-Majors (ages 14-17) team that went straight to states.

Because it's hosting this tournament, Ridge Manor bypassed the District 6 Tournament that took place June 23-29 at Millennium Park in Wildwood.

Thus, the team has not played an official game before today, limited to a couple scrimmages against the Hernando Youth League team several weeks ago.

"The speed of the game will be much faster and I don't think the kids know that," Ulery said. "I think we're really at a disadvantage. I think we should have played in the district tournament. I don't like that rule at all. What we're here to do is play ball.

"After sitting out with two months of practice in this heat, we're expected to compete with teams that have been playing games and playing tournaments."

Ulery believes he has "the best all-star team we've ever had" because of the maturity of his players, who he said have mostly played together going back to the AAA Minors (ages 9-10).

He feels he has solid pitching led by his son, Chadwell, who he said struck out 110 batters in eight games during the regular season. He also said his team has excellent speed, particularly in the outfield.

"Our defense, last year in the district tournament when I coached them," Ulery said, "the teams we played didn't score a run on us the first three or four innings.

"Our defense is strong, it always has been. Ridge Manor just can't score any runs on their pitchers. So we've put an emphasis on batting the last few weeks."

What about facing Spring Hill right off the bat, a team that finished second in the District 6 Tournament?

"Anybody you play, you know they're going to be good," Ulery said. "So why not play somebody in the same county? We look forward to seeing Spring Hill. We're OK either way. The kids are looking forward to playing some ball."

Been there before

Unlike Ridge Manor, the Spring Hill American roster has plenty of players with State Tournament experience.

"They've been there before," Head Coach Shawn Laferty said. "Starting off with Ridge Manor, hopefully we get by that and keep rolling. They seem confident. Obviously we wanted to win the district, but it didn't happen."

Instead Spring Hill lost to South Lake twice, 15-3 and 11-3, to finish the tournament at 4-2. However, Spring Hill out-scored its opponents 31-7 in its wins.

Vito Tambasco led the way offensively, hitting .429 with three home runs and nine runs batted in. Josh Lopes had a team-high batting average of .583.

On the mound, Tambasco went 2-1 with a 1.33 earned run average, striking out 10 in nine innings. Evan Webster went 2-0 with a 3.75 ERA and Blake Laferty posted a 1.38 ERA in 8.2 innings of work.

Yet when Tambasco came up with a sore arm in the title game, Laferty had to juggle his pitching staff. Of greater concern, though, was his team's offensive execution.

"The philosophy on hitting of some of our kids needs to change," Laferty said. "They've got to be aggressive. If the first pitch is a strike, hit it."

In a way, Spring Hill has something of a home-field advantage minus any of the responsibility of running the tournament. Could that play into the team's favor?

"I think that plays to our advantage," Laferty said. "We're in our backyard. We get to sleep in our own beds. I think that's an advantage.

"They seemed really relaxed. That's good and that's bad. We'll try to find something to tweak them and really get them going. Hopefully this week we really turn it up."

Though Spring Hill didn't win its district, there is precedent for it to win it all this time. The only state title in league history came from a 2005 AAA Minors Spring Hill National crew that finished third in its district.

"We've got to get through these first couple games, then we're capable of doing anything," Laferty said. "I think we're capable of winning it. I'll take a state championship over a District 6 championship any day.

"We wanted to win the district. We were disappointed when we didn't. But there's a bigger prize out there."

COMING ATTRACTIONS
WHAT: Dixie AAA Majors (ages 11-12) All-Stars State Tournament
WHO: Avon Park, Hardee County, Hiland Park, Liberty County, Okeechobee, Paxton, Ridge Manor, Spring Hill American, South Lake, South Walton, Wahneta and Wewahitchka.
WHEN: July 12-19
WHERE: Ridge Manor Community Park.
AT STAKE: State championship and spot in Aug. 4 World Series at LaGrange, Ga.

Ridge Manor AAA Majors (ages 11-12) All-Stars
Name Position
Marshall Aske                      C/2B
Nate Avalos                          P/SS/C
Kevin Bard                            RF/2B
Adam Buckner                      SS/P
John Bryant                          CF/SS
Kayla Carter                          C/LF
Barry Chadwell                     P/1B
Casy Gillespie                       3B
Ray Linville                           RF
Pete Mobley                         RF/CF
Bobby Smith                         1B/P
Austin Sullivan                    LF/2B/P
Head Coach: Scott Ulery
Assistant coach: Steve Carter, Lori Carter

Spring Hill American AAA Majors (ages 11-12) All-Stars
Name Position
Ryan Keith P/LF
Keagan Kreier           3B/LF
Blake Laferty           P/SS/2B
Brandon LaMondra        3B/1B    
Josh Lopes              CF
D.J. Parfitt            P/RF
Matthew Rhineberger     CF/2B
Danny Schonborn         P/SS/2B
Vito Tambasco           P/C/SS
Austin Treverton        C/P/LF
Gabe Vazquez            1B/RF
Evan Webster            1B/P
Head Coach: Shawn Laferty
Assistant coaches: Jim Keith, Rich Webster