Ridgefield gets rolling
Tigers hitting their stride after slow start
DANBURY — It may have taken a few games for the Tigers’ bats to awaken, but after starting the season 0-3, Ridgefield baseball is heating up.
Ridgefield won its second consecutive game Monday, cruising past Danbury 11-0 in five innings.
After managing to score only four runs in their first three games, the Tigers have produced an eye-popping 25 runs in their last two.
“We have had a lot better of an approach,” Ridgefield coach Mike Scarlett said. “The first few games we were being a little too selective and it led to a lot of strikeouts and guys left on base. We’ve been a lot more aggressive in the last two games and it’s shown out potential.”
The offensive explosion started against Stamford on Saturday when Ridgefield earned its first win of the season 14-3 behind two grand slams from Matt Bucciero.
The Tigers kept the momentum going against Danbury with 11 hits in just five innings.
Luke D’Antonio and Matt Bucciero combined to go 5-for-8 at the top of the order and Jack Bohrer hit a two-run double to spark a sevenrun second inning.
D’Antonio also earned the win on the mound, shutting out Danbury while allowing just two hits over four innings and striking out five.
“I have coached Luke (D’Antonio) since he was 10 years old,” Scarlett said. “He’s a battler out there. He’s versatile, he’ll go anywhere in the field. It is huge to know you can move guys around and we have a lot of guys who can do it.”
Thai-Ler Sestokas and Kai O’Dell were the only Hatters to hit safely as Danbury (1-4) was held scoreless for the first time this season.
“Ridgefield did a great job,” Dan
bury coach Shaun Ratchford said. “They hit the ball, the left side made great plays and third and up the middle, and that was the best pitcher we faced so far. He attacked the strike zone, kept us off balance and moved the ball in and out.”
D’Antonio and Luke Barrientos have been strong on the mound for the Tigers, which had held their own while waiting for the offense to get going.
“Our pitching has been great,” Scarlett said. “Over the course of five games our starters have combined to allow just two earned runs. They have kept us in every game and now the bats are starting to wake up.”
Despite the lackluster start there is no lack of
confidence moving forward in Ridgefield.
“We lost those three games by a total of three runs so we could have just as easily been 3-0,” Scarlett said. “We didn’t worry about the fact that we had no wins at the moment,
they continued to trust themselves and focus on the next game and the results are showing.”
“It feels great after the rocky start,” D’Antonio said. “Now we have the (Bucciero) twins out there crushing baseballs left and right and the team is coming together and getting used to playing again. You can tell the energy is up. The bus rides home are better, everything as a team is just much more exciting right now.”
If Ridgefield continues to click on all sides of the ball, that could spell bad news for the opposition.
“Every team should fear us in the FCIAC,” Luke Barrientos said. “We are about to come out big this season.”
RIDGEFIELD 11, DANBURY 0
RIDGEFIELD ........... 271 10x x—11 11 0 DANBURY .................. 000 00x x— 0 2 6 Batteries: R— Luke D’Antonio (W, 1-1), James McLoughlin (5) and Liam Bohrer. D— Aiden Hefele (L), Nick Parker (2), Kai O’Dell (4) and Andrew Shafto.