BURLINGTON — The inaugural White River Valley baseball team defeated Vergennes, 9-5, to win the VPA Division III championship Saturday at Centennial Field in Burlington.
The undefeated, top-seeded Wildcats included players from the defunct South Royalton and Whitchester squads that gelled around a common goal.
“We knew a lot of kids before and we’ve come together as a family and we play baseball really well together,” said WRV senior Jake Hewitt, who delivered an RBI triple against the Commodores. “So that’s all it really takes is love for the game and a bunch of guys.”
Several Wildcats produced on Saturday’s big stage, including Zeb Perreault, Dominic Craven and Austin Tracy, each of whom had multiple hits against Vergennes pitchers Tucker Stearns and Jarret Muzzy.
Perreault (3-for-4, 3 RBI) caught Logan Martin (five runs on five hits, four strikeouts) for 4⅓ innings before Carder Stratton came on in relief.
The Wildcats (18-0) pounced early with three first-inning runs. George Carr, Perrault and Timber Russell each scored on hits by Perreault and Jake Barry. Craven added a run in the second driven in by Stratton’s fielder’s choice.
The No. 3 Commodores (14-6) sent 10 men to the plate and did all of their damage during a five-run fourth inning, prompting the pitching change.
“I had a feeling that he would come in and handle it,” Perreault said of Stratton. “I knew our boys would handle it.”
Stratton stuck out three batters and gave up two hits.
“When I came in I was like, ‘I’m down by one, I just have to hold them to this and let our offense do their thing,’ Stratton said. “And our offense has been strong all year and it came through just like we always do. … We have a lock-down defense; our offense comes in for us after. We all just build on our defense, pretty much.”
The sophomore got the run support he anticipated, as the Wildcats scored four runs in the fifth and another in the sixth. Stratton started a fifth-inning rally by hitting a ball near the right-field foul line that bounced out of the defender’s glove. Hewitt followed with an RBI triple, Perreault added an RBI single and Tracy drove in a pair of runs.
White River’s final run came with runners on the corners and two outs. Perreault initiated a delayed steal, drew a throw down to second and got himself into a rundown that lasted long enough for Hewitt to score from third.
WRV, led by second-year coach Devin Cilley (who coached South Royalton’s final team last year), exuded its passion for baseball with a loud and enthusiastic dugout on Saturday. The Wildcats also exhibited their tenacity by rallying to overcome a deficit.
“We don’t give up,” Hewitt said. “We play to the end of the game, and I think that’s our motto. Practice hard every day. (Cilley’s) a hell of a coach. I mean really, he deserves all the credit; he works us hard. Focus on fundamentals and it pays off and we haven’t lost a baseball game all season.”
Cilley played for South Royalton and was a member of the 2010 team that lost to Blue Mountain in the D-IV championship game. He went on to play at Norwich University before joining the Royals as an assistant in ’13.
The SoRo grad explained how merging two programs made for strong numbers.
“We had new kids, and it gave us a lot of depth,” Cilley said. “Last year, when we started in the spring, we had 12 kids and then we ended up bringing five up that were eighth-graders, so we had 17 when we were done. But right from the beginning, we had 20 this year, which has been great having all the kids at practices. We can send a whole field out there and then still have a whole field to run and hit or do whatever. It’s given us a lot more options.”
Cilley paced around frequently during Saturday’s title game, but kept his nerves in check for the most part.
“I don’t know what was going on today,” Cilley said. “I’m always a wreck before the game. I felt good all day until we went down by one in the fourth inning — then I was a little bit worried. But I’m always a wreck and I had a great day. I’ve just been enjoying this all the way through and (the players are) going to enjoy it.”