Those waiting to see who will play Banks Chevrolet for the Concord Babe Ruth 13-15 championship were forced to wait another day after Tuesday’s semifinal contest was suspended due to darkness.
Kiwanis and Rowley played 11 innings of baseball, but with the sun setting over Rollins Field in Concord, the umpires made the decision to call the game with the score tied, 5-5. The contest is expected to be picked back up at the same location on Wednesday about 5:30 p.m., with the winner jumping right into Game 1 of championship against Banks scheduled for 6 p.m.
Rowley came in a bit short-handed with just eight available players, but still gave Kiwanis everything it could handle through 11 frames.
“These guys left it all out on the field. They played for each other and you could tell how much they cared,” Rowley coach Jake Leon said. “It’s certainly something the coaches are incredibly proud of.”
It was Kiwanis that struck first as Zach McCoy took advantage of Rowley’s two-man outfield with a double in the top half of the first inning to drive in a pair of runs. But Rowley came right back with two runs of its own in the bottom half when Kal Gaudreault tied the game with a two-RBI single.
The two sides continued to trade leads throughout.
Rowley pulled ahead 3-2 in the third on another RBI for Gaudreault before Kiwanis answered with Liam Murphy’s RBI double. Trailing 4-3 in the fifth, Rowley plated two to retake the lead on base hits from Ryan Philbrick, Cameron Brown and Gaudreault. But Kiwanis didn’t allow that advantage to last long, tying the game at 5-all with an RBI groundout for Will Chorlian.
Pitching and defense took over from there as neither side could break through over the next five innings.
“They are a great team. I really wanted to take advantage of their eight-man (lineup), but we just couldn’t do it,” Kiwanis coach Joe Russell said. “It’s fun. I’m sure the parents got a great game and we’ll just come back and do it tomorrow. Win or lose, I think the kids played hard.”