Torrington High baseball routs Wilby 17-0

NVL: TORRINGTON 17, WILBY 0

TORRINGTON — The Red Raiders blew out winless Wilby 17-0 in five innings at Fuessenich Park on Wednesday amidst hidden challenges for both teams.

“To me, it’s the love of the game,” said acting Wilby coach Mike Monroe, suffering with his players through an 0-6 (0-5 NVL) season so far. “It’s not so much the score, but how you play. I try to get them to think differently about their approach to the game; every play is important. I want them to keep their heads up and stay positive.”

Torrington coach Pat Richardson has similar goals for his team.

“I challenged our team to be perfect enough defensively to keep the 0 on the board,” Richardson said. “My personal challenge was to get everybody in the game and watch our starters be team players and cheer for our bench players.”

Torrington’s Ryan Ahlman (3-for-4), in his first start in the field, hit two doubles and a single for a total of 6 RBI.

Raiders pitcher Ben Richardson’s goal was “to throw strikes and work on my pitches as much as I could,” he said. “The long wait between innings was a good lesson in how to pace myself.”

In four innings, Richardson struck out 6 and allowed no walks. C.J. Root

pitched the final inning and recorded two strikeouts.

Wilby threatened in the top of the fourth. The Wildcats loaded the bases with no outs on a Torrington (4-3; 3-3 NVL) throwing error and back-to-back

singles by Kevin Martinez and Kevin Bruno.

But Richardson struck out the next two Wildcats, then watched Casey Navin fly to left for the final out.