Brian Miller
WESTMINSTER — On paper last Thursday’s summer league baseball game between Ralston Valley and Standley Lake may have been just one of 25 leading up to this weekend’s state tournament.
That being said, both the Mustangs and Gators found themselves locked in a tight battle that went into extra innings, and neither side wanted to give an inch. Both teams had runners thrown out at home trying to score the winning run.
Ralston Valley’s Jon Devore broke through in the ninth inning though, leading off with a double and scoring on a sacrifice fly as the Mustangs held on for a 5-4 victory at Standley Lake High School.
“It doesn’t leave you any time soon,” Ralston Valley coach Shane Freehling said. “These experiences, these kids will remember that. It kind of etches away — ‘remember we won that game at Standley Lake in extra-innings?’ Those kinds of things just build.”
The Mustangs graduated 13 seniors off a team that reached the Class 5A state tournament last spring, and the squad was without a handful of returning varsity experience because of club baseball and football camp.
Ralston Valley didn’t back down though, even after falling behind by two runs early in the game. A three-run fifth inning put the Mustangs up by two, with the Gators scratching out runs in the fifth and sixth innings to tie it up.
Mike Maher’s sacrifice fly knotted the game at 4-4, eventually leading to extra innings. Jared Barry hit a one-out triple for Ralston Valley in the eighth, but was thrown out trying to score on a fielder’s choice.
D.J. Williams, who tagged out Barry, led off the bottom of the eighth with a single and went to second on a wild pitch. Grant Gladstone singled, but catcher Jacob Rivera just got the tag on Williams.
Devore finally broke through with the deciding run in the ninth, scoring on Jason Robb’s sacrifice fly.
“The beginning of the game my mental side wasn’t really in the game,” Devore said. “It turned around the last inning and came through big just because I had positive thoughts. That really benefitted my game.”
Ryan Greaser relieved Kyle Thistlewood — who tossed eight solid innings — and worked around a leadoff single to earn the save. Even with the Mustangs returning the core of its pitching staff in 2013, led by Daniel Skipper, the team’s young pitchers could find some work.
“Those guys are going to look at playing a valuable role next year, either getting lefty-on-lefty outs or maybe even better than that,” Freehling said.
Barry, Robb and Jacob Schaefer each had two hits to pace the Mustangs. The state tournament concludes the summer schedule until team’s return to the diamond next spring.
Freehling said even with graduating 13 seniors, Ralston Valley will still have at least 12 more seniors next season, though not a lot of varsity experience.
“Kids step up. I’ve seen it every year where I graduate a kid and I think the ceiling is going to fall in or something,” Freehling said. “Somebody else just kind of steps up. We’re looking at some of these kids to do that for us next year.”
“I’m really excited. We’re going to be really good, we’re going to be really young,” Devore added. “Everything is just going to function well because it’s a good group of guys and we work really well together.”
