Back-to-back days, back-to-back walk-offs. Only this time, the final swing belonged to River Ridge.
One night after falling to Bellarmine in eight innings, the Hawks climactically defeated Yelm 7-6 Saturday afternoon. Cole Von Rueden provided the winning ground ball and scored Jax Fulton thanks to an error by Yelm.
The Tornados, technically the road team due to postponements for River Ridge earlier in the week, scored four runs in the top of the first off of Von Rueden. Parker Myers doubled to score a run, and Landan Halterman drove in two with a single. A sacrifice flyout made it 4-0 before the Hawks saw their first hitter step up to the plate.
The first hitter was Jalon Fulton, who tripled to lead off the bottom of the first. Kaiee Kopp earned an RBI on a sacrifice groundout. Kellen Waters scored Bono Larkin in the second with a single to make it 4-2.
After Yelm added another run in the third, River Ridge answered with a score of its own in the third. Down 5-3 entering the fifth, the Hawks got quality stops from Von Rueden and the defense. At one point, they retired 12 of 13 batters. Ryder Denham brought River Ridge to within one run with an RBI single to center in the fifth, and Fulton tied the game on a single to left in the sixth.
Yelm’s Jonah Smith rewarded Myers’ leadoff walk in the top of the seventh, delivering a two-out bloop single down the right field line to give the Tornados a 7-6 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Aaron Leu and Kellen Lentz both singled, and Jax Fulton was intentionally walked to load the bases with no one out. Denham grounded back to the pitcher, who threw Leu out at home. Larkin tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right field, and Von Rueden provided the winning grounder on the first pitch he saw with two outs.
“We chipped away all game. Cole got hit hard in the first then settled in for the rest of the game,” River Ridge head coach Ben Rood said.
River Ridge (2-1, 1-1 Puget Sound League) will take on Gig Harbor Monday in its home opener.
