Red Sox complete unbeaten season, best Giants for Ottawa Little League 10U title

OTTAWA – It’s always a monumental task in any sport throughout any level of competition to complete a season unbeaten.

In fact, it’s a quite rare and lofty milestone.

However, the Ottawa American Anne’s Hideaway Red Sox did just that with an unblemished 18-0-1 record after a dominating 10-1 victory over the Ottawa American Thrush Sanitation Giants in the Ottawa Minor Division (10U) City Championship game Saturday evening at Varland Park.

“These kids put in so much work, practiced in indoor facilities when it was raining this spring and that’s what it’s all about, seeing all that hard work result in an undefeated season and ultimately a championship that we’re all so proud of,” Red Sox coach James Markey said.

“We beat a very good team tonight. We tied with the Giants [9-9] back in April, then beat them [15-6] a couple of weeks ago, so we knew it wouldn’t be easy going against them for a third time. But we came out, pitched incredibly well and hit the ball when we needed to in order to lift the championship trophy without a loss.”

The No. 1-seeded Red Sox limited the Giants to only three hits on the day as starting and winning pitcher Jack Markey hurled 4 1/3 innings allowing only one run and three hits with eight strikeouts before reaching his pitch count of 75.

From there, Crosby Timm closed things out, holding the No. 3-seeded Giants (14-4-1) hitless the rest of the way while recording a pair of strikeouts.

“That’s a really fine team we played for the third time this season, and they were definitely the better team tonight with some great pitching that we couldn’t get on top of,” Giants coach Ryan Myers said. “But I’m super proud of our kids because they all improved as the season went on and getting to the championship game was a huge accomplishment.”

The Giants got on the board first in the top of the opening frame. With one out, Kellen Meyers reached on an infield single and went to second on a groundout by Rocco Affrunti. There, Deklyn Thompson touched Jack Markey with a run-scoring single to center that plated Meyers. But Thompson’s safety was the only Giants’ hit that would reach the outfield during the proceedings.

In the bottom of the first, the Red Sox countered with four runs off of Giants’ starting and losing pitcher Cam Taylor, who tossed admirably, allowing five runs and five hits while striking out eight.

Ty Hopkins (two hits) led off with an infield single, and Timm walked before Markey (double, home run) blooped a two-base hit down the left-field line that scored Hopkins to tie the score. Then with two outs, Timm scored on a wild pitch before Trapper Love (two hits, three RBIs) plated Markey and Ethan Farabaugh with a two-run single to give the Red Sox a 4-1 lead.

“To get four runs back in the bottom of the first after they got off to a lead was huge,” coach Markey said.

The Red Sox added two runs in the second with one out as Jace Sandoval was hit by a Taylor pitch and eventually scored after Hopkins’ run scoring single to left. Hopkins later scored after an error to make it 6-1.

The Red Sox added some insurance in the fifth with four runs off Giants reliever Affrunti. With one out, Markey blasted a ball to deep left field and was on his horse from the jump resulting in an inside-the-park-homer that put the Red Sox ahead 7-1.

From there, the Red Sox added three unearned runs after two Giants’ errors and run-scoring singles from Love and Cole Bressendorf.

All that was left was for Timm to strike out the final batter of the contest after the Giants loaded the bases.

“It’s a great feeling for us for sure,” coach Markey said. “This is what Little League baseball is all about.”