The Junior Foresters roster includes Dylan Kelley, Ryan Fisk, Nick Baker, Evan Kling, Colter Nisbet, Daniel Barraza, Jed Donelan, Sam Drew, Ethan Usher, Davey Demeter, Ryan Fidel, Charlie Cuykendall, Jake “Gato” Monroe, Antonio Andrade and Trey Tank. The team is coached by Casey Cloud, right.
Pitching and defense rule the weekend for the Santa Barbara Junior Foresters 14u Baseball Club as they won the Xtreme Diamond Sports Central Coast Fall Championship at Bob Kildee Park in Camarillo this past weekend.
The Foresters beat Oaks Baseball 4-3 in the Championship Game. Oaks got off to a quick start against Junior Forester starting pitcher, Colter Nisbet, plating two runs in the top of the first inning and another in the second. The Foresters scraped back for one run in the bottom of the second on a single by Nisbet, a passed ball, a groundout and an error.
The middle innings proceeded to be a pitcher?s duel between Oaks, Nisbet and Nick Baker who relieved Nisbet in the top of the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, having only managed the one hit, the Foresters centerfielder, Jed Donelan, who had earlier robbed Oaks? catcher of a homerun with a sprinting, leaping catch in the fifth inning, lined a one-out double into centerfield. Third baseman, Evan Kling, worked a seven pitch walk, bringing the man of the hour, Nisbet to the plate with a chance to pull the Foresters even. Nisbet laced the first pitch he saw into the right-center gap for a triple, scoring Donelan and Kling. As Nisbet slid into third base to beat the relay from the outfield, the throw glanced off of his back and out of play. The umpire immediately signaled the play dead and directed Nisbet home with the winning run.
Baker finished off Oaks baseball with a one, two, three top of the seventh, including a emphatic strikeout to end the game.
?Great pitching,? said Foresters Manager, Casey Cloud. ?Excellent defense all weekend? and timely hitting. It?s clich?d, but in this case absolutely true. We hung in there against a great, dominant pitcher. We had to scrape for the first run. I?m proud of the boys. Proud of how they played all weekend. They handled themselves well, stayed in control and just played steady, good baseball.?
The Junior Foresters earned the top seed in the tournament by winning two pool play games. The Foresters beat Oaks Baseball 3-2 behind six shutout innings from Gato Monroe and three RBI from Sam Drew and also beat Santa Clarita Centennials 4-0 behind Trey Tank?s strong five innings on the mound.
In the semi-finals, The Junior Foresters walloped the Newbury Park Thrashers 10-1 behind another strong outing from Ryan Fisk.
The Junior Foresters were managed this weekend by Casey Cloud and coached by Bill Pintard and Cody Evans.
