By JON SCHMITT

For The Daily News

 

Throwing strikes is not an easy task; this holds particularly true when the batter stand well below 5-feet tall, but anyone who attended the Cal Ripken Minor League Championship games Wednesday night may doubt the notion.

Both team’s pitchers tossed strikes and the batters made contact, but in two games, State Farm overpowered their opponents of Biggs Trucking to become the 2015 league champs.

The double-elimination tournament set the scene for an unpredictable afternoon. Entering the game with one loss, State Farm needed two wins to take the trophy, but the unbeaten Briggs Trucking could take it in one.

State Farm took to the plate determined to prevent such defeat from ending their season. Third in the lineup, Zac Lilley took it upon himself to get the team going. After he knocked in Aven Harris and proceeded to reach second, he soon stole third and later home on a passed ball. Momentum was in their hands.

But Biggs battled back to tie, led off by walks from the keen eyes of Tres Cherry and Shane Biggs. The home team would match their predecessors to the plate in tallies, but they would struggle to keep pace throughout the afternoon. A big rip to left that resulted in a two-run, inside-the-park homer by State Farm-player Josh Kittrell formed the most drastic gap.

Though Lilley and Biggs were both hitting the zone from their positions on the mound, attention was drawn to an infraction of pitcher regulations that cost the home team the game. It would end 5-2 State Farm.

And so it was on to game two.

Clouds rolled over the sports complex as things began. A coin flip between coaches elected Biggs to the home dugout once more.

Keifer Boyd took the rubber for the squad this time, and despite a quality display of speed and precision, his effort was matched by State Farm’s active bats.

Before the bottom of the first, State Farm scored five runs off of a variety of short hits and random walks. On the defensive side of the ball, Lilley only improved his pitching. His game picked up as the wind did. He fanned seven Biggs players with his pitching, and relied on the seven boys behind him for the rest. During their tenure in the dugout, they added six more runs to visitors score.

In the end, State Farm outscored Biggs, 11-1, for a mercy rule to take effect in the fourth, claiming their title as minor league champs.