Lower MABA Leagues are winding down , ready for postseason

For all intent and purposes the Bantam and Cal Ripken Leagues have finished up their regular season play. The Cal Ripken Minor League (10-year-olds) and 13-year-old league are near completion, and the Junior Babe Ruth have only make-up games and one regular game left for each team. That leaves only the Senior Babe Ruth League which has at least two weeks of play before it closes down the year.

However, it’s not over. Each league has postseason play. In the case of the Bantam League, the tournament is local and already underway. In all the other leagues, All-Star teams are made from each division or league to represent the Mineral Area in district, state, regional, and hopefully, the World Series for that age group.

Two such tournaments will be played in the Mineral Area with the 15-year-old state tournament to be played at Wilson Rozier Field on July 17-20, and the Cal Ripken Minor Regional Tournament to be played on July 18-23 at the Farmington Sports Complex.

Here are a few recent games .

JUNIOR BABE RUTH

Red Sox 7, Rockies 3

BONNE TERRE — The Bonne Terre Red Sox have secured second place in the National Division of the Junior Babe Ruth League, but to overtake the Desloge Cubs for first place they will need some help. The Cubs hold a two-game lead with only three games left.

Monday night the Red Sox defeated the Leadwood Rockies 7-3. Tyler Beers was the winning pitcher. Beers pitched three innings, struck out five batters and allowed only three hits. Brian Howard pitched the last four innings for the Red Sox.

Aaron Blunt’s magic number was four, 4-4 with four RBI. Other hitters for the Sox were Ross Crocker with a double and a single, Nick Counts had a double, and Nick Fulton , Josh Jaco, Chad Moss, Russell Dunn and Beers had one single each.

Hitters for Leadwood were Jeff Abel with a triple and a single, and James Whitehead and Ethan Sitton each had one single.

The Red Sox are now 9-3 and will play their last game tonight at Potosi against the Pumas. The Rockies are now 3-7 and are scheduled next to be at home against the Desloge Cubs.

13-YEAR-OLD LEAGUE

Blue Jays 17, Raiders 5

LEADWOOD — Nicholas Hoehn pitched all but the first out of the game for the Farmington Blue Jays as they defeated the North County Raiders on Saturday. The win kept the Blue Jays one game ahead of the Leadwood Marlins in the 13-year-old league.

The three teams play a round-robin tripleheader each Saturday, and this Saturday will be the last tripleheader.

Hoehn began pitching in the first inning with only one out on the Raiders and the Raiders leading 5-0. Hoehn gave up two hits, two walks and no runs over the last four-and-two-thirds innings for the win. The Blue Jays scored three runs in the first inning, six in the second, five in the third and three more in the fourth.

Hitters for the Blue Jays were Matt Smallen who went 3-3 with two doubles, Derek Smallen 3-4 with a triple, Trey Danieley 3-4, Hoehn 3-4, Adam Blum 2-4, Logan Stevens 2-4. Tyler Thompson, Billy Joe Beard and Colten Reynolds had one single each. Hitters for the Raiders included Cody Huff 2-3, Matt Neubrand 1-2, Justin Ferguson 1-2 and Lance Davis 1-1.

The championship for the 13-year-old league all boils down to how this Saturday’s games at Wilson Rozier Park turn out for the Marlins and the Blue Jays. If the Marlins should beat the Blue Jays, it would most likely mean a one-game play-off between the two teams. If the Blue Jays should win, they most likely would win the league outright. However, at 2-8, the Raiders can play the spoiler for either team.

CAL RIPKEN MINOR

Rangers 13+, Renegades 4

Rangers 8, Renegades 0

BONNE TERRE — The Bonne Terre Rangers picked up a pair of wins in their doubleheader Saturday over the Leadwood Renegades. Nick Basler was the winning pitcher of the first game and Spencer Tiefenauer won the second game for the Rangers.

Tiefenauer was 6-6 at the plate on the night for the Blue Jays. Ryan Gibson, Dilyn Pipkin and Basler had three hits each, and Brad AuBuchon, Austin Lewis and Brett Willette each had two. Renegade hitters were Kyle Ross with two hits and Gary Groves with one.

The Rangers finish their season respectfully with an 8-4 record. The Renegades are now 2-8 and must face the first-place Farmington Lancers for their last two games of the season.