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After hitting the ball, Jared Ruiz thought he had missed his chance to be the hero for Rosensteel in Thursday's Frederick City Little League Baseball championship game. "I didn't think it would be a hit," Ruiz said. "I was sure I was going to just hit it into the ground and let my team down." He was wrong. Ruiz lifted a line drive to left field with two out in the last of the seventh inning, scoring the winning run and giving the East Frederick team a 4-3 win over Frederick National's Lions at Max Kehne Park. Thursday's game marks the start of the Little League tournament season. The District 2 Tournament of Champions begins at noon Saturday at Four County Little League. "This is a good start to the tournament season," Rosensteel catcher Chris Fetting said. "Both Jared and I made the 11-12 all-star team and we're pretty excited about the tournament." Ruiz, who moved to the Frederick area from New York about two years ago, had gone 1-for-3 in his previous trips to the plate Thursday, which included a one-run double in the third. He was in a good situation his fourth trip to the plate in the seventh. With one out, Travis Craney reached first on a Lions' error. Carey Ballard returned to the game as a pinch-runner and moved to second when Josh Escudero hit a grounder to shortstop. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Lions' reliever Nathan Specht struck out Fetting for the second out, bringing Ruiz to the plate. Ruiz hit a 1-0 offering from Specht, which dropped into left. Ballard scored on the play. It took a few seconds for Rosensteel to realize it was the game-winning run. When it did, Rosensteel players and coaches rushed the field in celebration of what completed an East Frederick sweep of the city's youth baseball championships. East Frederick also won the minor and machine pitch divisions for the city. "This was a big day for East Frederick ," Fetting said. "It's been a great season." Rosensteel manager Joe McNulty said Thursday's win hasn't sunk in on him yet. "I'm still in disbelief," he said. "I had no idea it would end up like this. All of the teams in this tournament were just phenomenal." It was the second Rosensteel win over Lions in the tournament. Rosensteel opened tournament play with an 8-5 win Saturday. McNulty said he was not surprised the rematch was closer. "Absolutely. We knew the Lions were going to come back strong the second time around," McNulty said. "They're a good team, they adjusted well and you know they're going to give you a good game." The Lions scored their runs in the second on a two-run double by Jake Fowkes and an RBI double from David Larson. "We got a couple of bad breaks, but that's Little League Baseball." Lions' manager Danny Miller said. "Rosensteel had a good hitter at the plate and he got a good hit at the end. You can't fault either team." Rosensteel almost won the game in the sixth when it had runners at first and third with two out. Joe McNulty singled to right, and Marshall Kayda raced for home. Third baseman Mark Sanino took the relay throw from the outfield and rifled the ball home to catcher Larson, who applied the tag on Kayda for the third out, sending the game into extra innings. "That's why I put my all-star catcher behind the plate for this game," Miller said. "He held his ground and made the tag." Austin Marrone had two hits with a double for Rosensteel. Ruiz got the win in relief with eight strikeouts. Kevin McShea was the Lions' starter. He allowed one one earned run with nine strikeouts. Specht came on in relief in the sixth when McShea reached his pitch-count limit. "Kevin pitched the best game of his life," Miller said. "It's a shame we couldn't get him a win."
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