Jon Koenigsfeld struck out seven as Ridgewood defeats Tarpon Springs 10-0 to win the district.
By GREG AUMAN
Published May 8, 2004
HUDSON - It's hard to follow a perfect game on the mound, but Jon Koenigsfeld did his best imitation Friday night.
The Ridgewood junior right-hander pitched a one-hit shutout, allowing only two batters to reach base and leading the Rams to an easy 10-0 victory over Tarpon Springs in the Class 4A District 10 championship.
"This is a big confidence builder, for me and the team," said Koenigsfeld, whose gem came two days after teammate Erik Bua pitched a five-inning perfect game in a 12-0 win against Zephyrhills. "We're really hitting the ball well these last two games, and the run support helps a lot."
The only hit for Tarpon Springs (19-8) came in the fourth inning, a bloop single into shallow center by Karl Midgette. The Spongers' only other baserunner came on second-inning walk to Wes Livernois. Ridgewood, meanwhile, had more than enough offense, especially from its Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters.
John Servidio, Aaron McLamar and Jeremy Coolidge, who went 6-for-6 with six RBIs and eight runs Tuesday, continued right where they left off. The three had five hits in their first six at-bats, with five RBIs and seven runs scored. Servidio, who hit two home runs Tuesday, mashed a solo shot to left in the third, and Coolidge put the game away with a three-run shot in the fifth.
"(Allowing) one base hit in 12 innings, two baserunners, and great defense again," Rams coach Larry Beets said. "And timely hitting again, coming up at the right time, boom, boom, boom. We've been doing a great job with two strikes of not striking out, of making them have to play us. That's something we've really worked on in the past two weeks."
Ridgewood (22-5) is making its fourth consecutive playoff appearance but hadn't won a district crown since 2001. The Rams will open the playoffs at home Tuesday against Crystal River, which lost 10-7 to Leesburg on Friday. Tarpon Springs, making its first postseason appearance since 1998, plays a regional quarterfinal Tuesday at Leesburg.
Koenigsfeld (4-1) struck out seven batters and even sparked the offense, getting the first of three consecutive singles and scoring in the first inning. Two runs came in a bases-loaded ground ball by Coolidge that went off the shortstop's glove, the first of three Tarpon Springs errors, and Joe Moll followed with a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead. Two more Rams runs would score before the Spongers mustered their first, and only, hit.
"To win this game, we were going to have to outhit them, and when you get one hit, you're not going to do that often, so whether we lost 1-0 or 20-0, it didn't matter," coach Dan Genna said. "Hats off to Koenigsfeld. That was a tremendous job. He stayed ahead of every batter, really hit his spots well all night."
