SOUTH ROYALTON — The White River Valley School baseball team extended its winning streak to 27 games Saturday, defeating Rivendell Academy, 17-2, in five innings at Alumni Field.
White River Valley (9-0) mashed in the first two innings to build a comfortable double-digit lead. The Wildcats scored seven runs on six hits in the first inning, then added nine runs on six hits in the second.
Wildcats head coach Devin Cilley was pleased to see his team start so strong.
“I’ve been waiting for them to have a good game where they all hit. And today was the day, finally,” Cilley said.
“So hopefully we can keep doing that the rest of the way. But they’ve kind of been right around on the edge all year, and they finally kind of exploded in the first couple innings today. They did a good job.”
The lead was built on those big hits — including an RBI triple by senior shortstop Carder Stratton in the first and a two-RBI double by junior center fielder Austin Tracy in the second. Aggressive baserunning was also key.
In those first two innings, WRV was dynamic and opportunistic on the basepaths, making Rivendell pay for any and all mistakes. Cilley said that phase of the game is important to the Wildcats’ success.
“We’ve been trying to run a lot and play some small ball, but also try to mix in a few doubles here and there,” Cilley said. “And if they can do what they did today, we’ll be pretty good as we go on.”
Cilley utilized his bench later in the game, as he found opportunities for guys who haven’t received as much playing time with the game out of hand. Every member of WRV’s roster played.
Rivendell (3-4) was held scoreless until the fifth, as WRV junior pitcher Dominic Craven dominated. Craven pitched four innings and gave up just two hits and one walk while striking out seven.
Craven’s curveball was particularly effective. Both he and Cilley thought that was key to the successful outing.
The long first and second innings for the Wildcats offensively posed a challenge for Craven on the mound, as the waits between innings caused him to stiffen. But he battled through it.
“Dominic threw well,” Cilley said. “That was his second start of the year, but the first one didn’t go so well; he walked a lot of people. So that was really good to see. He’ll be a big part of our pitching staff next year, so (we) try to work him in as much as we can.”
Raptors head coach Eric Reichert said he was glad the Wildcats were swinging the bat, because he’d rather get beaten by hits than by his pitchers giving up a lot of walks.
His message to the team after the game was to focus on the little things.
“They need to play and make people notice them for things like busting their butt out to their position, going all the way to the line on a foul ball, running through bases,” Reichert said. “This is a team that has not played a lot of baseball. Some kids have never played a varsity game (before this season). I’ve only got one kid who’d ever started a varsity game. But they need to start picking up habits, and the habits of effort, rather than the habits of baseball.”
The Wildcats’ winning streak dates back to the beginning of the 2019 season — the first season of White River Valley’s existence.
With the strong start to this season, the team knows its potential.
“I think we can easily make it all the way,” Craven said. “But we just gotta keep working every day, and have games like this that help and build confidence, and we’ll make it far.”
The Raptors are back in action on Thursday at home against Mount St. Joseph. The Wildcats hit the road for their next game on Tuesday at Springfield.
Seth Tow can be contacted at stow@vnews.com.