By Sandy and Jack LaBranch (Submitted Release)
The West Hartford Renegades captured the 20th Annual Ken Hungerford Invitational Tournament championship in thrilling fashion with a 7 inning walk-off victory over a very strong Wethersfield team Sunday night under the lights at Wolcott Park.
The Renegades took an early 1-0 lead in bottom of the first inning, as Ryan Farley led off with a single and stole second base. Gabe Salomons then advanced Farley to third base with a ground out, and he would then score on a Tim Cotter ground out.
Wethersfield answered right back in the top of the 2nd. With 2 outs and nobody on base, two Renegade errors allowed an unearned run to score, tying the game at 1.
The Renegades jumped right back on top in the home half of the 2nd. Chase Rancourt singled to start the inning, but was erased at second base on a Timmy Andrews fielder’s choice. Jack Livingstone then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance Andrews to second, who then took third on a wild pitch. Andrew Skwiot followed with a walk. With 2 outs and a full count Gage Doormann delivered a hard ground ball up the middle to score Andrews and put the Renegades back on top 2-1.
Wethersfield jumped ahead 5-2 scoring 4 runs in the top of the 3rd. A lead off single followed by an error put runners at the corners with no outs. A ground ball to 3rd scored the tying run, but resulted in a double play as the runner from first was out trying to advance to 3rd base on the throw to first base. A couple of 2 out walks followed by a home run added 3 more runs for the visiting team.
In the bottom of the 3rd Cotter hit a long home run to center field to get the Renegades back within 2 runs at 5-3.
Renegades starting pitcher Rancourt shut down Wethersfield in the top of the 4th inning in his final inning of work. Rancourt pitched 4 strong innings allowing 3 hits and striking out 2 batters and allowing just 1 earned run.
The Renegades continued to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the 4th. Rancourt led off with a single and stole second. He then advanced to 3rd on an Andrews ground out to the right side and scored on a groundout by Livingstone to make it 5-4. With 2 outs and nobody on, Jay Falvey and Will Fox both singled, but the Renegades could not push across the tying run.
Griffin Van Rye took the mound in the 5th inning for the Renegades and pitched wonderfully, shutting down Wethersfield for 3 innings allowing just 2 hits and striking out 5 batters.
In the bottom of the 5th with 1 out, Salomons reached on an error and stole second. Cotter advanced him to 3rd base with a ground out to the right side and with 2 outs Van Rye doubled to left field to score Salomons to even the score at 5-5.
Neither team would score in the 6th inning, fittingly sending the game between 2 strong, evenly matched teams into extra innings.
Wethersfield got 2 runners on base in the top of the 7th inning, but Van Rye would bear down and strike out the next two batters then induce a fly ball to left field to end the threat.
Matt Lazor led off the bottom of the 7th with a hard single to left field, and after an out, Salomons singled to center field to put runners at first and second. Lazor was then caught stealing 3rd, but Salomons advanced to second on the play. Cotter and Van Rye were both then intentionally walked to load the bases with 2 outs. Rancourt then delivered the winning walk off hit, singling to centerfield on the first pitch he saw.
The Renegades will now begin preparations for their season ending tournament at Cooperstown Dreams Park in Cooperstown, New York, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Renegades and all of WHYBL would like to thank our tournament sponsors, Slider’s on Newington Road and South Main Wine and Spirits on South Main St. Also special thanks to Ken Hungerford for inspiring this tournament and continuing to be a presence in our town and as a part of our league. Finally, thanks to Zach Dobbins and his crew for doing a great job organizing and scheduling and keeping the field in great condition for all the games.
