Ironbirds' Balanced Attack Bests Knights in Babe Ruth Championship

By Michael J. Steele

June 15, 2013

In a matchup featuring the two teams with league-best regular season records, the Ironbirds defeated the Knights 6-1 to win the 2013 Elk Grove Babe Ruth Championship Saturday morning at Bartholomew Sports Park.

In the first inning, it was the Knights taking an early lead. After throwing a scoreless first inning on the mound, Anthony Alves tripled to lead off the bottom of the first, his high fly ball to leftfield getting lost in the sun. Alves then scored on a gutsy, but beautifully executed, bunt single by Joe DeSoto to take a 1-0 lead.

Despite that early pressure, Kyle Ducay, the Ironbirds’ starting pitcher, was unfazed. After striking out the next hitter, he picked DeSoto off first and induced a weak groundout to stop the threat. Ducay, the winning pitcher in the championship game two years ago as a thirteen-year-old, was equally impressive this time around, spinning three sharp innings, allowing just three hits, and walking none while striking out five.

“Kyle really turned it on this week,” said Ironbirds’ Coach Larry Stone. “You could tell he wanted this game.”

In addition to his pitching, Ducay also had an excellent day at the plate, collecting two hits, driving in a run, scoring once, and stealing a base. But Ducay was not alone, as the Ironbirds used a balanced offensive attack to earn the victory, with eight different players producing nine hits.

Trailing by a run in the third, it was ninth-place hitter Josh Hames making things happen first, singling sharply to left, advancing on an error, and scoring on an RBI hit by the number ten hitter, Alex Catlett. Then, with the game tied in the fourth inning, Dante Teddington, the last hitter in the Ironbirds’ lineup, led off with a single and later scored on Ducay’s hit to make it 2-1.

The Ironbirds, though, were not finished. In the fifth, Joseph Flores doubled home his older brother, Matt, to plate a run that made it 3-1, and, in the seventh, they finally broke it open with an impressive offensive series. After Ducay sandwiched a single between two quick outs, D.J. Trafton singled to left and Matt Flores doubled both of them home. One pitch later, Charlie Hewell roped an opposite-field double to right just inside the foul line to take a commanding 6-1 lead.

“It was really special to have so many players contribute today,” said Coach Stone, “but it was like that for us all season.”

Making the offensive fireworks hold up on the mound was Ryne Sullivan, who was dominant in relief of Ducay. Mixing a sharp curveball with his fastball, Sullivan kept the Knights from mounting a comeback, issuing only two walks in four hitless innings of shutout relief. Fittingly, Sullivan’s fourth strikeout ended the game and capped his team’s championship season.

“I just felt like…as soon as I struck him out, it was relief,” said Sullivan. “I like to pitch, and it obviously worked out.”

For the Knights, Matt Heffron singled, Jake Tryzinski played an excellent defensive game at shortstop, and the battery duo of Alves and DeSoto was strong as always throughout the loss.

“[The Knights] were a good team, but all our guys really did it for us,” said Ironbirds Manager Chris Allen after the game. “Today was a lot of fun.”