MAC 15U shocks

After a winless season, the Malta Athletic Club 15U Babe Ruth baseball team made up for lost time going 2-2 in the league tournament in Havre and placing third overall in the six-team league.

Coach Ryan Judd and assistant coach Frank Benson led their young team that had many young, first-time players.

“As they played and practiced, they developed and got a lot better,” Coach Judd said. “Pitching was our downfall; we just didn’t have enough pitchers.”

Things changed as they were able to call up young Juliun Benson from the little league team that won the 12U championship one week prior.

“Juliun was our main pitcher down the stretch for the tournament, so that’s why we started to win some games,” Coach Judd said. “He wasn’t able to pitch for us because he was pitching in the little leagues. That would have really hurt his arm.”

The team was eliminated in the semifinal round last Friday night against the first seeded Optimist team 17-3 but before then they shook up the tourney winning two games on their way out.

“The other team couldn’t believe it because they got beat by Malta,” Coach Judd said. “So they were like, what just happened? It was quite a shock to them as well.”

Though they had not won a game up to the tournament, the team stayed positive.

“The attitude was great,” Coach Judd said. “The kids were just out there having fun and playing baseball. They just wanted to get out there and play. They knew that pitching was our big struggle. All it takes is one good pitcher to turn the team around.”

The team’s first playoff game was played against FLC on Monday, June 12. Malta won 10-7 thanks to a hot start.

“We scored five runs in the first inning,” Coach Judd said. “We were visitors so we are at bat first. We jumped out right from the get-go with good hitting and base-running.”

Coach Judd mentioned that base-running was the key to their first win.

“That was our key,” he said. “We stole a lot of bases. We were aggressive on the bases, which make the defense make a play or not make a play.”

The team’s aggressiveness on base has been consistent throughout the regular season.

“We like to steal bases and get our kids into scoring position,” Coach Judd said.

The game went to the two-hour time limit and thus ended in the fifth inning before the a lot maximum of seven innings of regulation.

“They were stoked,” Coach Judd said about the team’s reaction to their first win. “They were super excited. They got tons of confidence to know that they could play with those guys.”

Though MAC was off to a hot start the team was pinned against Optimist who was the top team all season. Malta failed to score in their Wednesday night clash and Optimist won 10-0.

“We played tough the whole game,” Coach Judd said. “Up until the fourth inning, it was 2-0. We had played really good defense and our pitching was awesome but they finally broke it open in the last inning to win it 10-0.”

The team was once again pitted against FLC in the elimination bracket. MAC won 7-6.

“That was a nail-biter,” Coach Judd said.

Malta fell behind 4-1 early in the game but against the team was saved by strengths that they showed in their opening game against FLC.

“Really good hitting in the later innings,” Coach Judd said. “Our bats just started to come alive in the third and fourth innings and we started scoring some runs.”

Malta had to protect a 7-5 lead late in the game.

“We were up 7-6 in the last inning and we were able to hold them from scoring any more runs,” Coach Judd said.

The team finished stronger than their regular season and Coach Judd reiterated that pitching was the key.

“A big thank you to the parents for their time and support. Thank you to Greg Skiff for his support and making this happen and the players for their desire in wanting to play and win,” Coach Judd said.