Rough Day For Ridge Manor

WESLEY CHAPEL - Ridge Manor has experienced better days recently in Dixie All-Star play. Friday night was not one of them.

Facing elimination in the Senior Boys (age 14) District 6 Tournament at Wesley Chapel District Park, Ridge Manor suffered a loss at the hands of Sumter, 32-0 in 4 1/2 innings.

Following a 21-1 defeat to Oak Griner Wednesday night, Ridge Manor finished the double-elimination tournament with a 0-2 mark.

"We didn't play like we're supposed to," Ridge Manor Head Coach Jimmy Miller said. "These guys know how to play the game. We just didn't do it. We didn't execute."

Long inning

This one got out of hand very quickly, as Sumter (2-1) sent an astounding 20 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning.

By the end of the frame, Sumter had tallied 16 runs, taking advantage of five hits, three errors and seven walks.

"It was rough to watch," Miller said. "I think for everybody it was rough to watch."

At one point four straight batters drew bases-loaded walks, after another run had come in when Ian Papenheim took a pitch off the helmet with the sacks full.

The biggest hit came off the bat of Clay Simmons, who in his third plate appearance of the inning lined a three-run double into right-center field.

Dillon Hagins hit a two-run home run to left-center and Jario Lozano added a grand slam in the second, as the lead swelled to 26-0.

Ridge Manor received back-to-back singles from Levy Berchfield and Tyler Gaskin in the second, and Andrew Zabriskie was hit-by-pitch to start the game. Coty Cramer added a leadoff single in the fourth.

Sumter pitchers Hagins, Chase Sanders and Trenton Martin combined to retire all but one of the remaining batters by strikeout, tallying 14 whiffs in all.

"It's disappointing to see these guys out there practicing everyday, then get out here and they didn't execute the plays," Miller said. "They know how to play.

"There's nothing I can say. We're done. I'll just tell them to keep their heads up and we'll be back next year."

Sumter advanced to a Saturday contest against the lone undefeated team left in the field, Spring Hill.

"It was a lopsided game, but I've got to take my hat off to the kids," Sumter Head Coach Brian Simmons said. "They showed up and played and had sportsmanship the whole game.

"I hate a game like this because then we've got to play a tough team and it's going to be tough to get our focus back. We'll be playing a good team tomorrow. We've got to come focused and ready to play ball."