Riverside rallies past Rumford for Silva Tournament title

Win District 2 All-Star baseball event

EastBayRI.com ·

RIVERSIDE — Just when all hoped looked lost, the Riverside 9-10 Little League All-Star team scored seven unanswered runs to take the District 2 Ron Silva Tournament championship 9-7 over cross-city foe Rumford Tuesday evening, July 25, at Forbes Filed.

“We came together about a month ago and we said we were going to work hard and we worked hard,” Riverside manager Brian Rutkowski said. "We practiced in rain and indoors. We are the champs.”

To start the game, Nolan Lorenz started on the mound for Riverside and kept Rumford off the board in efficient fashion. Riverside responded by helping out their pitcher with two runs as Gavin Palombo and Brian Rutkowski Jr. both reaches base on walks. Ben Ward proceeded to bring them both home with a two-run double that put Riverside up 2-0.

However, Rumford answered back quickly in the top of the second as they earned a bases loaded situation with two outs. Corbyn Peidoux and Will Haggerty both would walk, bringing in two runs. This was before Jordan Castro was hit by a pitch to bring in another, setting Riverside’s deficit at 3-2 .

After a quick defensive inning for Rumford, their bats came alive in the top of the third again when Tyler Dececco hit a triple that brought in a run before he scored on a past ball to up Rumford’s lead to 5-2.

Rumford's hot streak continued with a double from Evan Atwood and a passed ball allowed them to put Riverside in a 7-2 hole.

In between innings, Riverside manager Rutkowski gave his team a noticeable pep talk that concluded by him saying, “this isn’t over.” Those words clearly rang loud and true to his team as an error started a run for Riverside that was followed by a two-run single for Rutkowski Jr.

Another defensive error for Rumford and just like that Riverside shrunk their rivals lead to just 7-6 at the midway point.

In relief, Kyle Desrosiers kept Rumford off the board in the top of the fourth. Riverside stayed hot at the plate as LJ Stembridge hit a two-run triple to give Riverside its first lead since the first inning. Will Pierce followed that up with a hard hit double of his own that brought in another run to give Riverside a 9-7 and complete an improbable comeback.

Two more scoreless innings by Desrosiers with only one base runner in the final two frames for Rumford, and Riverside could celebrate a District 2 Championship.

While Rumford didn’t come out on top, their manager couldn’t be more proud of his own team and the opposition in a budding rivalry.

“These two team battled hard throughout the year and I can’t say enough about this rivalry we have going at such a young age,” Rumford manager Ed Wencis said. “This team showed a lot