By: Chris Ginley
PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio- After Rocky River’s big win over Keystone in the Sectional Final, the Pirates continued the Great Lakes Conference portion of their schedule with an away game at Valley Forge. Rocky River continued their torrid offensive pace while getting production from the entire lineup.
From the start of the game, it was clear that River came ready to play. Tommy Kelly and Owen Jaite got the offense started with singles. River starting pitcher Ross Hartman cleared the bases with a home run on the very next pitch. Jack White followed suit and hit a first-pitch home run as well. Ryan Dunning and Frank Strasek both followed that up with doubles. Cam Blue, Kelly and Jaite also knocked in runs in consecutive at-bats. When all was said and done, River would get six straight hits, eight total runs, and five runs before making an out.
River picked up right where they left off in the top of the second inning. White hit his second home run of the game and Ryan Dunning hit his first round tripper on the season. It was the second straight inning with back-to-back home runs for the Pirates.
The rest of the game followed a similar script, adding three runs in the top of the third and five runs in the top of the fifth. River kept teeing off on both pitchers that Valley Forge brought to the plate, with hits and production from starters and bench players. “We wanted to get our bench guys some at-bats today. We want them to stay sharp before our district semifinal game,” said Rocky River Head Coach Daryl Sanders.
“They (Valley Forge) have been a strong team all year, with good pitching and good hitting, so we were a little concerned coming into today’s game,” said Sanders. “It was good to see us execute our gameplan so well and see everyone contribute to the victory.” He also added, “While we do not intentionally try to run up the score, we still want to play the game hard and play it the right way. We do not intentionally take extra bases or steal bases. Continuing our consistent all-around play is important at this time of the season.”
Rocky River will continue their Great Lakes Conference slate, hosting Normandy tomorrow.
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