The Urbana Ramjets 10-U baseball team captured a 12-U tournament championship at the recent Late Summer Classic hosted at Knisley Field in Springfield.
Urbana overcame four separate deficits in the tournament’s final game, a thrilling 13-12 extra inning win over the Springfield 12-U All-Stars. Springfield grabbed 1-run leads in the top of the sixth and seventh innings on the strength of solo home runs, but the Ramjets responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth to send the game into extras and two more in the bottom of the seventh to walk-off as champs.
Trailing 11-10 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Urbana’s Hunter Lawson led off with a single to center. Lawson advanced a base on a balk, a wild pitch, and later scored the game-saving run on a dropped third strike throwing error by the Springfield catcher.
Again, Urbana trailed by one entering the bottom of the seventh. Blake Shaffer drew a leadoff walk. Caizen Anders was hit by a pitch, and Nathan Deitrick loaded the bases with a one-out single to right field. Ramjet third baseman Noah Sizemore fouled off several 0-2 pitches before looping a soft line drive to right field, plating Shaffer and Anders with the winning runs.
Urbana also overcame deficits of 5-0 and 9-5 in the championship game against the 12-U All-Stars.
Lawson led the offensive attack with 3 hits and 4 RBI, Michael Beard was 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI and Callen Oder was 1 for 2 with an RBI. Anders earned the win on the mound, scattering 4 hits over the final 4 frames. It was his second win of the day in relief on the mound.
In a semifinal matchup with the Clark County 12-U All-Stars, the Ramjets called Anders’ number in a 6-6 game with the go-ahead run aboard in the fifth inning. Anders struck out the first batter he faced and induced an inning-ending groundout to get out the Ramjets out of a jam. In the bottom half of the inning, Urbana exploded for 6 runs on 9 straight hits to earn their spot in the championship.
The Ramjet 10U squad ended its 2023 season with a Midwest Ohio Baseball League Championship, a pair of tournament runner-up finishes, a pair of tournament titles and 33 wins.
Team members include: Caizen Anders (West Liberty-Salem), Nathan Deitrick (West Liberty-Salem), Harrison Sutherin (West Liberty-Salem), Hunter Lawson (Urbana), Noah Sizemore (Graham), Michael Beard (West Liberty-Salem), Callen Oder (West Liberty-Salem), Jackson Musser (Urbana), Dillon Musser (Urbana), Blake Shaffer (Urbana) and Bentley Deam (West Liberty-Salem). Ramjets 11-U team members Nash Williams (Springfield Northeastern) and Floy Jackson (Graham) joined the 10-U squad this weekend for the 12-U tournament.
