The Raptors and Raiders met twice earlier in the season and again last Saturday in the Class 4A, Section 4 semifinal. After double-digit losses in the first two meetings, the Raptors defeated the Raiders by one run on Saturday.

“I think on Saturday, we were up and then we were down,” East Ridge coach Brian Sprout said. “We came back and there was a lot of fight in (the players). Once they got a little feeling of that, it was off and running. So I think you see that these guys have it, they can come back and play ball. It’s in them.”

There were no discouraged faces in the East Ridge dugout after what was a defensive show from Cretin-Derham Hall in the first game. Senior ace Justin Benjamin Jr. was electric on the mound, recording six strikeouts in his complete game shutout. The Raptors came out for the second game with a fire lit and recorded eight more hits than the previous game, including some bombs that opened the game up.

Mezzetti was the catalyst when he smashed a three-run homer past the center field wall to push the score to 10-4 in the fourth inning. He wasn’t the only East Ridge player to send a ball out of the park. In the inning before, junior Cole Widen went the distance himself for his only hit of the game to score two runs for the Raptors.

“At the end of the first game, we just flipped the switch,” Mezzetti said. “We just forgot about it and focused on the next thing. We started clicking after that. I was feeling great, I was seeing beach balls out there.”

A switch was flipped indeed for the Raptors, on both sides of the game. After allowing four runs in the first inning, East Ridge kept cool heads for the remainder of the contest and only let up another run in the final moments.

Staying calm and collected was the name of the game for the Raptors, preached by Sprout throughout the slog of the double-header championship.

“I kept saying it throughout most of the day and yesterday, there are going to be punches thrown on both sides,” Sprout said. “It’s just a matter of keep punching, keep going, keep going, keep going. It ain’t gonna end easy, it just doesn’t.”

Sprout said after the game one loss, he shared one major theme the Raptors could improve upon in game two.

“We talked very briefly between games and I said they played timid in the first game,” Sprout said. “And you can’t do that and compete to win, you just can’t. I think they recognized that, they knew that. And in the second game, that (timidness) wasn’t there. They were ready to go.”

The mental shift between games from the East Ridge players was evident by the way they swung in game two. It was just what they needed to grab the momentum and hold on, especially thanks to a fired-up Trevor Lee, who played closer for East Ridge.

The senior would pump his fists after each of his four strikeouts to close the game out for the Raptors. His pitching, paired with some athletic fielding from Mezzetti and crew, was more than enough to see out what was a dominant victory for a Class 4A, Section 4 title and a spot in the upcoming state tournament.

“The job ain’t done right, we didn’t play all season to just make it,” Sprout said. “We played all season to keep playing and compete to win.”  

Some dialed-in pitching from Cretin-Derham Hall’s senior ace Justin Benjamin Jr. never allowed the East Ridge batters to get into the first game of the Class 4A, Section 4 championship. His confident presence at the mound seemed to be contagious, as the Raiders’ fielders were solid as well, leading their team to a 3-0 victory in the first game.

Benjamin Jr. finished the game with six strikeouts, while allowing only five hits from the Raptors — all singles. Meanwhile, the Raiders constantly provided power hitting at the plate with eight hits in the first game. Junior PJ Jones led the offense, as he connected twice at the plate for a double and a home run that scored two of the three Raiders runs.

The Raiders’ dominant combination of power hitting and calculated defense never allowed the Raptors into the game. With the win, Cretin-Derham Hall has all the momentum heading into the second game to decide the Class 4A, Section 4 title.