Mobile wins Babe Ruth title in impressive fashion

EPHRATA - It could have been a combination of reasons that led to the Mobile (Ala.) squad capturing their second consecutive Senior Babe Ruth World Series title on Saturday.

Was it their incredible pride in playing well after two subpar games to wrap pool play combined with immense talent?

Or could it have been the other teams on the field got a little too brave after seeing Mobile struggle in a 3-0 loss to San Gabriel Valley and a 7-6 win over Ottumwa (Iowa) in American Division play?

Well there may be no definitive answer, but one thing is for sure, Mobile is the champion and by knockout by virtue of a stunning 18-0 five-inning rout of Portland (Ore.) in the final at Johnson-O'Brien Stadium one day after destroying Cape Cod 10-0 in six innings in the previous day's semifinal.

James Traylor pitched a no hitter while allowing only one walked Portland batter on base and he was backed by an offense that scored nine runs in the top of the first and third innings.

Mobile (29-1) defeated Portland for the second straight year in the Babe Ruth final after winning last year's title game, 12-5.

"It was definitely not what we expected," Mobile Tony Hendrix said. "I figured we could come out and hit their pitching. Everyone had pitched their left handers at us and they threw their righty and we were happy with that. He threw hard at us and we play against a lot of those kind of pitchers in our league, especially with a lot of them being 21, 22-years old and being college kids. We were able to hit them so we thought we could hit them here as well."

Bret Underwood hit a three-run home run in the first frame for Mobile who chased Portland ace Tanner Kichler after only being able to record two outs and having all nine runs charged to him.

"Alabama just came out swinging the bats," Portland manager Joe Taylor said. "They were hot from their leadoff batter on. Our number one pitcher wasn't sharp and he couldn't locate his fastball and they crushed it. When you get down 9-0 right off the bat it was very demoralizing."

On the flip side, Traylor was rolling along as he struck out six Portland batters and was in control from start to finish.

"He had all his pitches working really well and he was hitting his spots," Hendrix said. "He mixes speed really well and having a lead really helped. After putting up those nine runs they may have surrendered a bit."

Matthew Wojciechowski hit a grand slam in the third inning and Brandon Kisler hit a solo shot to put the game out of reach for Mobile.

"All season long we have scored a ton of runs against quality competition," Hendrix said. "We didn't hit well against San Gabriel Valley. So we got some extra batting practice in on Thursday. I think it was one of the best things to happen to us since we hadn't lost all summer. We were lackadaisical and that's my fault so we turned it back on and got serious with it."

In their semifinal win, Mobile scored five runs in the bottom of the second inning and pounded out 12 hits to roll to the easy win.

Their offensive highlight came in the bottom of the fifth inning when Corey Bryan hit a solo home run and then Wojciechowski hit a two-run blast moments later.

Bryan finished with a game-high four RBI.

John Hollingsworth struck out seven Cape Cod batters to record the win for Mobile.

Portland advanced to the final with an efficient 6-2 win over Ottumwa in the semifinal round on Friday.

The Oregon powerhouse scored in each of the first four innings and added one more run in the sixth to hold off a feisty Ottumwa team.

"It comes down to pitching and defense and we changed up Austin's tempo in third inning and he shut them down," Taylor said. "We were able to score runs early and keep down a good hitting team."

Austin Richmond pitched 5.2 innings for the win, striking out nine while scattering six hits.

"We felt like we were pretty flat against Portland and disappointed in ourselves," Ottumwa manager Cal Evans said. "Our felt we were just as talented as the two teams in the championship game. We played with Mobile by one run and they stepped on Portland so it goes to show you what happens when it comes out flat. All it makes me want to do is to keep working and see if we can come back. For a small community the tournament was well run and our players loved our host families. When we left at two in the morning there were a lot of tears. We hated to see everyone split. Ephrata ought to be very happy with what they did. It was a small community that pulled off a pretty big task."

NOTES: An estimated 17-20,000 fans attended the World Series during the eight days and 25 games of action in Ephrata according to Columbia Basin RiverDogs manager and tournament coordinator, Randy Boruff.

Boruff also announced that the organizers of Babe Ruth baseball have awarded Ephrata the 2014 World Series.

"I think by Babe Ruth baseball coming here and the comments we got by scoring an 'A' the best way I could describe it was they told me if there was a model for how the 16-18 Babe Ruth World Series would be run this would be it," Boruff said. "The whole baseball field itself, the amenities of having lots of cages, practice fields close by, the small town atmosphere and the host families...everything was done well."

"That's awesome since the host families were really good," Hendrix said. "We loved it up there with the weather being wonderful and it was definitely an awesome choice for Babe Ruth to make."