The 2016 Rancocas Valley League season got underway Wednesday night as the Cinnaminson Reds began their RVL title defense by taking down Willingboro 1-0 in extra innings.
The Reds picked up a win in their opener over the Townsends for a second straight season. Is it a harbinger of things to come? Who knows, but it’s definitely a good start.
Cinnaminson won their league-leading 18th title last summer and will go for 19 this season, which is the 70th for the RVL.
Things did not go well for the Reds offensively, until the bottom of the ninth.
Willingboro starter Chris Rollins was downright dominating. Rollins racked up 16 strikeouts across 8.1 innings pitched. He allowed just three hits, two of them in the bottom of the ninth.
“He’s new to the league. Has played professionally for the Newark Bears,” manager Frank Sirolli said. “He was getting the fastball up there high 80s, probably touching low 90s. It was hard to catch up. First at-bats of the year, he was just throwing hard.”
Neither team tallied a ton of hits, even with the game going two extra innings. The RVL plays seven innings of regulation ball.
Delran native and alum Troy Hunter got the start for the Reds in his league debut.
“He’s a tough kid. I didn’t say too much to him. He gave us a great start,” Sirolli said. “That’s pretty ballsy. He’s 18. He gave us more than I was bargaining for tonight.”
Hunter just completed his freshman season for Lebanon Valley College.
“Hitters are a lot smarter. The baserunners are a lot smarter just picking things up early. It’s a lot different,” Hunter said compared to pitching in college.
Hunter threw five innings of scoreless baseball. He allowed five hits and struck out two. He also fielded his position well to get out of jams.
Hunter worked to get ahead and stay ahead from the gitgo and his gameplan worked.
“Early I was starting to get ahead. I threw my breaking ball pretty well,” Hunter said. “Most of the time it stayed low and was breaking knees.”
“He (catcher Bill Dove) had a good plan going forward just following the sequences and mixing pitches up.”
Veteran Jim Goodwin relieved Hunter to start the top of the sixth. Goodwin pitched out of jams in the seventh and eighth. He got out of a jam in the eighth by getting the final out on a wild pitch.
“You know what you’re getting every time he goes out there,” Sirolli said of Goodwin. “He has three or four pitches he can throw for a strike. You just know what you’re getting. We knew we had to go to Jimbo and that he’d take care of it.”
“You’re getting quality innings from him every time he gets on the mound. He’s very, very reliable.”
Goodwin threw a wild pitch, Dove recovered and tossed to Goodwin, who was covering home plate. Goodwin tagged the Townsend runner barreling in from third for the final out of the inning.
Goodwin went four innings in relief for the win, striking out five and allowing no hits. He walked three.
The only hit the Reds could muster through the first eight innings was a bloop single by team manager and centerfielder Sirolli.
Dove hit a one out double to left-center to start the rally in the bottom of the ninth. Joe Sirolli reached on a fielder’s choice to short as Dove advanced to third on a throwing error by the shortstop.
With one out, Mike Wasco stepped to the plate for the Reds. Wasco delivered the game winning hit, a single to the left-center gap that scored Dove from third as the Reds walked off winners in their RVL opener.
“Some of the guys who’ve been here for a while are looking around saying, ‘what’s going to happen tonight?’ You’re missing 10 guys and we just hung in there,” Sirolli said. “We played tough. It’s kind of picking up right where we left off from last year.”
Wasco was 0-for-3 with a double play and two strikeouts prior to his at-bat in the ninth. Dove was 0-for-2 with a strikeout and a walk prior to his one-out double in the ninth.
The Reds hit the field again on Sunday, May 15 at 7pm with a home game at Memorial Park against Riverside. Cinn City Sports will have coverage of the game so be sure to follow us on Twitter for live updates throughout.
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