Rising Sun Little League claims Maryland 10-11 baseball title

    The Rising Sun Little League 10-11 baseball All-Stars completed their remarkable run with a state championship.
    Rising Sun triumphed in five straight must-win games including a championship-clinching 11-8 victory over West Salisbury Saturday in Frederick.
    With its ace pitchers unable to throw because of Little League pitching limitations, Rising Sun turned to starter Xavier Gilcher and reliever Mason Craig.
    Gilcher and Craig did precisely what manager Clayton Gilcher had hoped – pepper the strike zone, challenge the West Salisbury hitters, and rely on their defense for some help.

    Rising Sun scored seven runs in the top of the first and never trailed. Jason Mock and Mason Craig each walked and Ethan Pierce bounced a single to center to load the bases. Sam Hogue hit a dribbler toward third. The throw home was too late to force Mock and Craig scored when the throw went to the backstop.
    After a strikeout, Pierce scored on a passed ball. Jon Valentine plated Hogue with a groundout to make it 4-0.
    With two outs and no one on base, Willie Jackson reignited the Rising Sun offense with a double in the left-center gap. Jeffrey Leonard walked and the runners moved up on a wild pitch. Adam Snyder then drilled a two-run double down the right field line, going to third on an error on the play. Snyder scored on a passed ball to give Rising Sun a 7-0 lead before Gilcher threw his first pitch.
    West Salisbury quickly showed they would be hanging around, scoring five runs in the home half of the first.
    Both starting pitchers, Gilcher and West Salisbury's Garrett Southern, settled down after a rocky start and threw three scoreless innings.
    West Salisbury turned two double plays and the Rising Sun catcher Mock picked a runner off first base in the fourth inning.
    Rising Sun got some breathing room in the fifth. Hogue smashed a shot that bounced off the leg of the second baseman to get things started. Brayden Patterson and Jacob Stanley both walked to load the bases.
    After a force at the plate, Joey Trout delivered two runs with a single that bounced over the head of the third baseman. Snyder blooped an RBI single to left-center, but Trout was thrown out at third on the play. The next batter, Mock, ripped an RBI double down the left field line to make it 11-5.
    West Salisbury's Jacob Hare belted a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to trim his team's deficit to three. Gilcher reached the 85-pitch limit with two outs and runners on first and second, but Craig came on to get a strikeout to end the inning.
    Rising Sun missed out on a chance to add some insurance in the top of the sixth. Hogue and Gilcher each singled with one out and Valentine walked to load the bases. But West Salisbury got a force at the plate for the second out and a force at third to end the inning.
    West Salisbury had a runner on first in the bottom of the sixth when Craig got the final out on a comebacker to his right.
    Back in the first round on Saturday, July 12, West Salisbury defeated Rising Sun 7-3 to put the eventual champions immediately into the losers bracket. Rising Sun then defeated Bethesda, Laurel, Conococheague, and West Salisbury twice to bring home the state banner.

    Complete story and photographs will be published in the July 22 edition of The Herald, available on newsstands Tuesday morning.