Apr 27, 2018 3 min read

MONONGAHELA – The Ringgold High School baseball team ended its drought over Belle Vernon Friday afternoon as the Rams beat the rival Leopards for the first time in 2,930 days.

It had been since April 19, 2010 that Ringgold had defeated Belle Vernon, but the Rams pulled out a 4-3 win in a key Section 3-AAAA game. The first-place Rams have a two-game lead in the section with four games to play.

“This is huge because we have gone a really long time without beating this program,” said Ringgold coach Don Roberts. “They are a great team, but every time we play them, the games have been tight and I am glad that we finally closed it out.

“The last time we played them, we weren’t able to close it out late.”

Roberts was referring to Ringgold’s only loss of the season, a 5-4 decision at Belle Vernon back on April 11.

Belle Vernon coach Daryl Hixenbaugh explained what he thought was the difference in the game.

“We had a hard time finding the strike zone,” he said. “Joe (Sabolek) built his pitch count up and that happens. Other than that, we played well, had chances but just didn’t execute and that is baseball.”

The Rams got on the scoreboard in the second inning with two runs. Anthony Vavasori walked to lead off the inning and then Jake Mayer singled.

After two strikeouts by Sabolek and a walk that loaded the bases, Koby Bubash singled home Vavsori and Mayer to give Ringgold a 2-0 lead.

Belle Vernon battled back and tied the score in the third when Jake Rathway singled in Nolan Labuda and Logan Seliga, but Ringgold took the lead right back in the bottom of the inning when Bo Haines drilled a solo home run to right field that landed on the running track at Joe Montana Stadium.

Ringgold extended its lead to 4-2 in the fifth.

Haines, who was 2-for-3, led off the inning with a double and scored three batters later on an RBI single by Bobby Boyer.

The Leopards trimmed the Ringgold lead to 4-3 in the sixth when a bases-loaded walk to Labuda brought in Jordan Hartman.

A 25-minute rain delay halted play heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Had the field not been in such great shape prior to the contest, thanks to the Ringgold grounds crew, the storm would have wiped out the rest of the game, but the crew found a bag of Diamond Dry and placed it down on the field where the umpires requested it.

When play resumed, JJ Hartman retired the Rams in the bottom of the sixth but Ringgold pitcher Josh Peters retired the side in the seventh to give Ringgold the win.

Peters, the third Ringgold pitcher of the game, got the final five outs for a save. Varley pitched the first five innings and earned the win. Haines threw one-third of an inning prior to the rain delay.

Sabolek started and pitched four innings for Belle Vernon (6-3, 6-3).