Judy, BV top Ringgold for critical section win

BELLE VERNON – In a battle for second place in Section 3-AAAA baseball, Belle Vernon knocked off rival Ringgold, 7-2, Tuesday night.
With the win, its ninth in a row, Belle Vernon keeps it section title hopes alive.
“We wanted to start early and that’s what we told (the team) before the game,” said Leopards head coach Daryl Hixenbaugh. “But you have to give Ringgold a whole lot of credit because of everything they have been through. They came with a great effort tonight.”
A key to the game was Ringgold, which entered the game with seven straight wins since its last loss – which happened to be to Belle Vernon – leaving 10 runners on base.
“We couldn’t get the hit with runners in scoring position and it crushed us,” Ringgold coach Don Roberts said. “We hit the ball but we couldn’t get clutch hits.”
Winning pitcher Deven Judy went six innings forBelle Vernon (9-2, 11-3) and limited Ringgold (7-3, 10-3) to two runs while recording five outs off of the mound.
“They had a great approach against Deven but I don’t think they realized how good of an athlete he is,” Hixenbaugh said.
The Leopards scored four runs in the first inning on three hits off Ringgold starting pitcher Bo Haines.
After Cole Naylor walked to lead off the inning, Josh Hoffman doubled him to third base.
Jake Callaway singled Naylor home and Hoffman scored on a fielder’s choice off of the bat of Evan Johnston.
Ben Cole drove in Callaway with a sacrifice fly to center field and Jake Rathway scored the fourth run on a wild pitch.
Ringgold cut the deficit to 4-2 in the second inning and was aided by a BVA error.
Anthony Pampena led off the inning with a single and scored on a triple by Jacob Mayer.
“That was the only good hit they had off of Judy,” Hixenbaugh said. “Deven just battled.”
Two batters later, Mayer scored an unearned run on a Belle vernon error.
The Leopards regained the momentum as they scored three runs in the bottom of the second as they closed out the scoring for the night.
Tyler Seliga scored on a double steal, and Jordan Zilka singled home Callaway.
Ryan Varley replaced Haines on the mound but a passed ball allowed Belle Vernon’s final run to score and make it a 7-2 game.
Varley limited BVA to one hit, a Ben Cole single, over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out nine.
“Varley did a heck of a job,” Hixenbaugh said. “He was changing speeds and moving spots.”
Roberts explained the decision to start Haines on the mound instead of Varley.
“What happened last time was Ryan started against (Belle Vernon) and Bo started against South Park,” Roberts said. “We wanted to flip-flop them because we feel we have two aces.
“Tonight, Bo had too many balls up against the letters and against a good hitting team. We have to bring it down a little lower.”