Riptides resilience in Central Park fixtures

After a three-week break, the South West Baseball League resumed on Sunday, and the Torrington Riptides travelled to Wilson Field in Plymouth’s Central Park for two games against the Plymouth Mariners.

Torrington played well in both games but the Mariners – a long-established team currently chasing the league leaders, Exeter – were just too strong in game 1, scoring five runs in each of the four innings played.

Although the Riptides also had some success at bat, with doubles (hits allowing the batter to advance to 2nd base) from Fred Bart and Ed Wilmott helping to drive in five runs in the first two innings, they were unable to match Plymouth’s run-scoring pace, and Torrington lost the first game 6-20.

The Riptides came back strongly in game 2. Defensively, Torrington did better at containing Plymouth’s batters, allowing just one run in the first inning and three in the second. Torrington’s hitting also remained effective – a double from Rob Tratt and a hit from Daisy Rowlands driving in four of the six runs scored by the Riptides.

Even when Plymouth scored four in the third inning to take an 8-4 lead, Torrington pushed hard to level the score, but managed just two more runs before their third out ended the game with an 8-6 win for Plymouth.

“I’ve played Plymouth nearly 15 times,” said Riptides player-manager Jess Cooper, who previously played for the Yeovil Whirlwinds.

“I’ve never been within two runs, so I’m proud of how we played today. It was great to see the stuff we’ve been working on in training paying off and see the team growing in confidence. The Mariners had to earn every single one of their runs, we didn’t gift them anything.”

The Riptides face the Mariners again at home (at Great Torrington School) on June 8 before an away game on June 22 against the Exeter Spitfires.

To join or sponsor the team, email Jess Cooper at torringtonriptides@gmail.com