A six-run second inning for the Washington state champions was too big a hill to climb for the BBF Lions as they bowed out of the Babe Ruth 13-16 World Series on Thursday.
The Lions struggled with early infield errors and bats went quiet as they lost 11-1 to Kelso in the semifinal of the secondary bracket of the prestigious tournament in Branson, Missouri.
Lions starting pitcher Oliver Galvin surrendered seven hits and eight runs in 11/3 innings against a strong U.S. team. Jeremy Kirk came on in relief and pitched two innings, allowing two runs and five hits. Noah McCurdy was the Lions’ final pitcher of the game, giving up one run and one hit, striking out two, in 11/3 innings of work.
Head coach Ian Griebenow applauded his pitchers and felt the scoreline understated their efforts due to untimely defensive mistakes early in the game.
“Ollie, Jeremy and Noah gave it their all on the mound and pitched really well. Hats off to them,” said Griebenow.
Kyle Griebenow continued his strong tournament, knocking in the Lions’ only run in the third inning with a powerful line drive double to left field. That scored Ted Conway, who had singled to left earlier in the inning.
After the high of the previous day’s victory – the first for the United Kingdom team against a U.S. team on American soil – the Lions came into this game with hopes of making it to Saturday’s final. Their next American opponent had other ideas, though.
Still, Griebenow was chuffed with his team’s accomplishments throughout the competition.
“We were the youngest team in the tournament,” said Griebenow. “Of the 18 players on this roster, 14 will be eligible to return for next year’s tournament. That shows great continuity of what we’re trying to build, giving people the platform to showcase their abilities.
“This has been an amazing week of learning, improvement and building team camaraderie. They are a great group of players. Their sportsmanship was singled out by many coaches and fanshere, and they should feel proud about that.
“It’s a source of great pride for our entire coaching team to see these young boys developing intooutstanding players on the field and upstanding young men away from it.”
Griebenow was quick to thank his coaching team of Richard Galvin, John Michalowski and Jeremiah Wagner, and Rod McCurdy and Malcolm Kirk who helped with team operations.
“On behalf of the coaches and operations team, from the bottom of our hearts, I’d also like to thank all the families who so graciously gave their time to help us on the ground in Branson,” said Griebenow. “To those back home, we appreciated all the positive energy you sent our way.
“To all the donors and supporters, without your generosity we could not have accomplished what we did here. Our most sincere thanks to each and every one of you, and to the British Baseball Federation for giving us this opportunity to send the team to the Babe Ruth World Series.”
The tournament wraps up on Saturday.