River Bats take consolation

By Ted Allen

Published: July 27, 2008

The Stembridge (Md.) Riverbats won a pitchers’ duel over the New York Nine 1-0 in Sunday’s consolation final at City Stadium.

“It was back and forth, tooth and nail, the whole time,” Riverbats coach Don Novak said, noting neither team made an error. “It was a great pitching performance on both sides. There were 20 strikeouts between the two pitchers.”

Bo Loar fanned 11 in seven innings of work, tossing a two-hitter for the Riverbats.

“Bo’s not our best, but he’s got a powerful arm,” Novak said.

Stembridge managed only three hits of its own.

The Riverbats’ pitching ace, Joe Harbach, was unavailable after throwing nine innings in the opener against the winners’ bracket champion Long Island Tigers, a 5-3 loss in 10 innings.

“That was a tough loss for us and it took a little steam out of us for the second game,” Nowak said. “We lost the first two and came back to win the last five. This was a big win for us. We felt like we should have been in this (championship) game.”

Harbach drove in the game’s only run in the consolation final with a one-out double in the fourth, scoring Jeff Johnson who had walked and stolen second.

Nowak wasn’t surprised to see a low-scoring final.

“Wooden bats usually neutralize strong batters,” he said. “This was the first wooden bat tournament we’ve ever played in.”

Aside from the final, the Riverbats did quite well offensively, led by Zack Nowak (6-for-10, six RBIs), Loar (6-10, 5 RBIs) and Dean Hicks (5-12, 5 RBIs).

Sportsmanship award

Frederick Junior American Legion, which finished third after losing to the Delco Diamonds in a winners’ bracket semifinal Saturday night, earned the NABF High School Division Mayors Sportsmanship Award. A trophy engraved with their team’s name will be sent to the Mayor of Frederick and circulated to successive team sportsmanship award winners before being presented to the Mayor of Louisville, Ky., in 2014, when the NABF will celebrate its 100th anniversary by hosting the World Series.

Stembridge (Md.) Riverbats 1, New York Nine 0

Stembridge 000 100 0 – 1 3 0

New York 000 000 0 – 0 2 0

W: Bo Loar. Record: Stembridge 5-2.

Highlights: S – Loar 7 IP, 11 strikeouts, 2 hits, 0 runs; Joe Harbach RBI 2B.